Asylum compromise still shaky
UN: 2,500 deaths in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year
September 29, 2023, 5:20 a.m
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Around 2,500 people have died trying to reach Europe across the Mediterranean this year alone. Of the 186,000 migrants who made the crossing, the vast majority arrived in Italy, the United Nations reports. Meanwhile, the EU states are getting closer on asylum reform.
According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, around 186,000 people have already arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean this year. Most of them, 130,000, were registered in Italy, which corresponds to an increase of 83 percent compared to the same period last year. This was stated by the director of the UNHCR office in New York, Ruven Menikdiwela, in the UN Security Council. According to the international migration organization IOM, in addition to migration to Italy, migration to Greece also increased sharply – but the current figures cannot be compared with the very high ones from 2015. Arrivals in Spain, on the other hand, would be at roughly the same level year-on-year.
Over 2,500 people died or were missing in the Mediterranean from early January to September 24, the UNHCR head said. She emphasized that migrants die not only during the sea crossing, but also on land. “The journey from West or East Africa and the Horn of Africa to Libya to the starting points on the coast is (…) one of the most dangerous journeys in the world,” said Menikdiwela. Refugees making the journey from sub-Saharan Africa risk death at every stage of the journey, she explained.
According to the United Nations, the largest number of migrants departed from Tunisia, with more than 100,000, followed by Libya with more than 45,000. In addition to Italy, Greece and Spain, the boats also headed for Cyprus and Malta. According to Menikdiwela, the high migration numbers from Tunisia are also due to “insecurity among refugees following incidents of racially motivated attacks and hate speech” as well as collective deportations from Libya and Algeria. “This comes against the backdrop of a deteriorating security situation in several neighboring countries of North African states.”
Federal government agrees to compromise
In Europe, the federal government gave up its resistance to a core element of the planned EU asylum reform after weeks of blockade. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced at an EU meeting in Brussels that the coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP agreed to a new text proposal for the so-called crisis regulation. “Although we still need to make further changes and beyond, we are living up to our responsibility today,” she explained. However, there was no formal agreement on the new text. After the meeting, Faeser spoke of a “political agreement”. However, the Spanish EU Council Presidency expressed itself differently: There are some details that still need to be worked out, said Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska. The rules are a central element of the planned EU asylum reform, which is intended, among other things, to limit unwanted migration.
For example, if there is a particularly strong increase in migration, the period during which people can be held in prison-like conditions should be extended. In addition, the circle of people who are eligible for the planned strict border procedures could be increased. In Brussels, the federal government had explained its rejection of the proposal for the regulation for weeks by saying that this set of rules could enable EU states to unacceptably lower protection standards for migrants.
According to the plans for asylum reform, member states would have to register all arriving people even if there was a sharp increase in migration. A possible extension of deadlines for this would only be possible with the prior consent of the Council of Member States. The same applies to the weakening of protection standards. Even in a crisis situation, there are still a number of control options to prevent misuse. The refugee and human rights organization Pro Asyl described the federal government’s decision as a “dramatic signal that human rights no longer play a role.”
Slightly revised proposal
The basis of Faeser’s announcement was a slightly revised version of the original proposal for the crisis regulation by the Spanish EU Council Presidency. Above all, it should enable the German Greens not to make the approval seem like a major defeat.
According to the new text of the EU Council Presidency, for example, a rule was deleted that would have allowed EU countries to temporarily deviate from EU standards for material support services and access to medical care in the event of a large influx of people. In addition, applications for the protection of minors and their family members should be given priority, even in crisis situations.
The planned asylum reform should take place as quickly as possible. Because time is of the essence: there are European elections in June next year. Projects that have not yet been negotiated with the governments of the member states could then be called into question again and be delayed for a long time.