By Bruno Waterfield - 29th January 2004
Fortress Europe's anti-immigrant agenda is “de-humanising” and can kill, Kofi Annan has warned.
The Ghanaian UN secretary general has told the European Parliament that Europe's immigrant crackdown has sometimes led to the deaths of migrants.
Annan’s political intervention, made while accepting a European human rights prize, comes as the EU is taking the first steps to a common asylum policy, moves dominated by tough measures against illegal immigrants and “bogus” refugees.
“Combating illegal immigration should be part of a much broader agenda – an agenda to harness the benefits of immigration, not vainly try to stop it."
"But sometimes, the breadth of the agenda has been lost amidst shrill debates about clamping down on illegal immigration – as though that were the major purpose of migration policy,” he told MEPs on Thursday.
“The public has been fed images of a flood of unwelcome entrants, and of threats to their societies and identities. In the process, immigrants have sometimes been stigmatised, vilified, even de-humanised.”
The West African former UN high commissioner for refugees believes the absence of an avenue for legal migration into Europe is feeding a human rights crisis and putting the international refugee system under stress.
“Your asylum systems are overburdened precisely because many people who feel they must leave see no other channel through which to migrate,” he said.
“Many others try more desperate and clandestine measures, and are sometimes injured or even killed – suffocating in trucks, drowning at sea, or perishing in the undercarriage of aircraft.”
Those who get past the walls of 'fortress Europe' face discrimination and can fall prey to criminals, the UN chief told MEPs.
"The lucky ones who do get in often find themselves at the mercy of unscrupulous employers, and alienated from society," he said.
"Some resort to people smugglers to assist their journey. Others fall victim to traffickers – especially women, who are forced into prostitution in a modern form of sex slavery."
Pointing the finger, Annan is telling European governments that “this silent human rights crisis shames our world”.
“It is the sovereign right of all states to decide which voluntary migrants they will accept, and on what terms. But we cannot simply close our doors, or shut our eyes to this human tragedy,” he insisted.
“The vast majority of migrants are industrious, courageous, and determined. They don’t want a free ride. They want a fair opportunity. They are not criminals or terrorists.”
Just as immigrants have good reasons to come to Europe, Annan suggests that Europe’s economy and culture will benefit from the “inevitable movement of people across international borders”.
“Migrants need Europe. But Europe also needs migrants. A closed Europe would be a meaner, poorer, weaker, older Europe. An open Europe will be a fairer, richer, stronger, younger Europe – provided you manage migration well,” he said.
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