« Returns » Directive: Last resort, the European Parliament can still conform the text with human rights norms

13/06/2008
Press release
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A weak ahead of the vote by the European Parliament on the draft « Returns » Directive, FIDH calls on members of the European Parliament to exercise their mandate of co-legislation and amend a proposal that does not include sufficient guarantees against human rights violations.

« EU Member States succeeded in harmonizing their rules governing detention and expulsion of illegal immigrants, at the price of consenting to possibilities of human rights violations » stated Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH’s President. « The European Parliament is our last hope to redress a proposal that all civil society actors working on migrations issues have been denouncing ».

The Draft Directive on common standards and procedures in Member States for returning illegally staying third-country nationals was approved by the Justice and Home Affairs Council Meeting on June 5th. It will be submitted to the European Parliament for its approval on June 17th.

The text foresees a number of common standards and rules against the abusive return of illegally staying nationals. It nevertheless falls short of preventing a number of potential human rights violations, in organising, inter alia,

 the potentially arbitrary detention of illegal third-country nationals, due to the quasi-systematic nature of the detention, its potentially excessive length (18 months) and its justification on administrative grounds (Article 14), rules that are contrary to international norms related to the deprivation of freedoms;

 The 5-year ban from the European territory, a counter-productive measure against which legal recourses would be practically impossible (article 9), that potentially violates numerous rights (right to health, right to work, etc.);

 a double exclusion, i.e. the expulsion of third-country nationals to countries other than their country of origin (Article 3c);

 the forced expulsion of un-accompanied minors to third countries (other than their country of origin), where they would have no family or legal tutor (articles 3c et 8a);

 the detention of un-accompanied minors (article 15a);

 the exclusion from the protective guarantees of the directive of third-country nationals arrested till seven days after their entry on European territory (article 2);

 the weakening of the possibilities of voluntary return, the only real alternative to forced expulsion (article 6a).

For more information :

 FIDH position paper: « Returns » Directive: 10 recommendations for a protective harmonization in line with Human Rights, February 2008, http://www.fidh.org/spip.php?article5486

 FIDH press release FIDH calls for the suspension of the text’s adoption until it conforms to Member States international human rights obligations, May 6 2008, http://www.fidh.org/spip.php?article5624

 See also positions of FIDH partner organisationshttp://www.aedh.eu

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