http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/world/europe/european-and-african-leaders-near-deal-on-returning-migrants.html?_r=0
European and African Leaders Near Deal on Returning Migrants
By JAMES KANTERNOV. 11, 2015
Photo
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, front left, with European and
African leaders at the opening ceremony of a summit meeting on
migration in Valletta, Malta. CreditAntonio Calanni/Associated Press
VALLETTA, Malta — The European Union was closing in on a deal
Wednesday to return more migrants to Africa, but there was skepticism
that the plan would meet the goal of reducing the numbers of refugees
arriving in Germany, Scandinavia and other destinations.
Europe sends less than 40 percent of migrants who do not qualify for
asylum back to their countries of origin. The draft deal being hashed
out at a meeting of European leaders here is aimed partly at raising
that figure.
Faced with its largest migration challenge since World War II, Europe
is increasingly trying to draw a distinction between people who are
coming primarily for economic opportunity and those fleeing war and
persecution. Yet as the summit meeting began, African leaders appeared
set on reminding their European counterparts just how tricky that
distinction can be.
Accepting returned migrants “is a difficult subject” for Africans,
said President Macky Sall of Senegal. “We have people who have often
taken chances with their lives in terrible conditions, who have
crossed deserts and the Mediterranean,” and there had been “thousands
of deaths,” Mr. Sall told reporters.
“We have to have a frank discussion,” said Mr. Sall, who emphasized
that there also needed to be a focus on allowing Africans to stay in
Europe.
Even so, more than 60 leaders of European and African nations were
expected to give their preliminary approval to the deal, which would
not prevent African migrants who qualify for asylum from staying in
Europe. Eritreans are among those who often meet those criteria.
“This action plan will fight illegal immigration and it will do more
for legal possibilities to work in Europe,” Chancellor Angela Merkel
of Germany told reporters. She said Europe had “clear demands and
expectations” for Africa.
But the focus on Africa sidestepped some of the larger challenges
associated with the flow of people into Europe. Syria, Iraq and
Afghanistan are currently among the main sources of migrants reaching
Europe, and many of them are coming through Turkey and the western
Balkans rather than across the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa.
The plan has raised deep concerns from human rights groups over the
welfare of migrants.
“You have to ask how accelerating procedures to return people can be
effective,” said Iverna McGowan, the acting director for Amnesty
International’s European Institutions office. “Of course, when you
think how desperate these people must be to risk that voyage, then
they and a lot of others in need of protection will just keep trying,”
she said.
The deal is likely to provide for €1.8 billion, about $1.9 billion,
from the European Union budget to help pay for the initiative, and to
help address the root causes of migration. More money would come from
national donations.
If successful, the plan to deport more migrants who fail to qualify
for asylum could have an impact on migrants from Syria, Afghanistan
and other war-torn countries by creating more capacity to accommodate
them in Europe, according to some experts.
“Europe wants to show that people who deserve international protection
will have a clear right to it, and that this right is not diluted by
economic migration,” said Ralph Genetzke, the head of mission in
Brussels of the International Center for Migration Policy Development.
Before the meeting here, there was skepticism among Africans about
plans to issue special documents to allow migrants to be returned to
their countries of origin. The lack of such documents is often the
main obstacle to putting migrants on airplanes back to their
homelands.
The latest draft of the deal on Wednesday evening called for more
efforts to address the absence of identification documents, rather
than create additional ones.
There should be a strengthening of “the capacity of authorities of
countries of origin to respond in a timely manner to readmission
applications, including through support to modernize civil registry
systems and fingerprints digitalization,” according to the draft deal.
In a concession to the African delegates at the meeting, the draft
states that the procedures for deporting migrants should “give
preference to voluntary return.” An earlier draft foresaw “both
voluntary and forced returnees.”
The draft also calls for the creation of “return pilot projects”
between the European Union and African countries that come with “a
tailor-made package of support.”
Received on Wed Nov 11 2015 - 22:01:32 EST