Legal News

A new report by the Home Affairs Committee says that EU action to address the migrant crisis in Europe has been “too little, too late” – with the EU-Turkey agreement “a partial solution at best”.

After a year-long Inquiry into the migrant crisis, the report also says that the agreement between the EU and Turkey to try and dissuade migrants from making the crossing to EU member states “raises serious humanitarian, human rights, logistical and legal concerns”.

The report states than an estimated 227,316 migrants entered Europe by sea in 2016 up to the beginning of July, arriving in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Spain.

The main departure point was Libya, followed by Egypt – an estimated 2,920 deaths among migrants trying to reach the EU were recorded in the same period.

According to the UNHCR, more than 65 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes by conflict and persecution at the end of 2015 – including 21 million refugees displaced outside their countries of origin.

The report says that 86% of refugees under the UNHCR’s mandate in 2015 were in low- and middle-income countries close to situations of conflict.

There were also a total of 1,255,640 first-time applications for asylum in EU member states in 2015 – an increase from 562,680 in 2014.

The top three countries of citizenship for asylum applicants in the EU in 2015 were Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq – which together comprise more than half of all asylum applications.

In 2015, there were 38,370 first-time asylum applications in the UK, amounting to 3.1% of the EU total.

In January 2016, a total of 55% of the irregular migrants arriving in the EU were women and minors – an increase of 34% compared with figures for 2015.

The report also says that, since the Inquiry formed its conclusions, there had been “a seismic change” in the UK’s relationship with the EU, following the EU Referendum on 23 June and the decision to leave the EU.

The report’s authors state, however, that EU policy on migration and refugees will remain crucial to the UK – and the future arrangements for dealing with migration will form a central part in the negotiations for the UK’s exit from the EU.

The report adds that, in the meantime, the current arrangements would continue to operate for the two years or more that that Brexit negotiation process is likely to take.

Regarding the UK’s border arrangements with Calais, the report states:

“We believe that the arrangements for juxtaposed borders and the co-operation which exists between police and border agencies on both sides of the Channel must continue.

“This is not just in the interests of the UK, but also France. Those involved in terrorism and criminal gangs do not respect borders and both countries need to be vigilant in confronting these ever-present threats.

“Maintaining the Le Touquet agreement should be acknowledged as a priority for the UK Government.”

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