International Federation
for Human Rights

To reach Europe, migrants, asylum seekers and refugees can take various routes, all dangerous: via Turkey to Greece, through land or the Aegean Sea; via Morocco to reach the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla; or through Libya to Italy, which involves the extremely dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean. Since the beginning of the year, 2,856 people drowned or went missing in the Mediterranean according to UNHCR [2]. The routes change following repressive measures adopted by European member States and institutions. When one route is shut down, another opens. Building barbed-wire fences, strengthening border surveillance or militarizing the Aegean see without offering safe legal alternatives for migration will only push migrants, asylum seekers and refugees to more dangerous routes and lead to further human rights violations humans and deaths. As long as they are fighting for their survival and security, migrants, asylum seekers and refugees will continue to come to Europe. Smugglers will adapt.

European migration and asylum policies are failing. Both the EU and its member states have shown their inability to rise to the occasion and lead by example even though the challenges they face are less significant that those faced by Lebanon, Jordan or Turkey, the countries hosting most refugees from Syria. Against the backdrop of economic difficulties, the EU and its Member States persist in sealing off their external borders at all costs. Across the continent, we increasingly witness populist rhetoric and "anti-migrant" discourses and measures, which violate the dignity and the rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. The EU continues to militarize its external borders and to shamelessly outsource its responsibilities for managing migration to gatekeepers with poor human rights records trading away the rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees for what they believe is greater security. Numerous EU Member States have adopted drastic measures to repel or deter migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees : they have built visible and invisible walls, set up quotas; they do not hesitate to carry-out push backs in violation of international law; they use systematic administrative detention, including for minors, often in degrading conditions; or they have confiscated their valuables.

In his 2013 annual report on the management of the external borders of the European Union and its impact on the human rights of migrants, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, had warned that a purely repressive approach to migration would only serve to fuel fear, stigmatization, discrimination, xenophobia, and contribute “towards the rise of verbal and physical violence against migrants” [3]. On June 13, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights made the same analysis at the United Nations Human rights Council2. FIDH calls urgently on European leaders to break away from these discourses and policies based on fear and respect their obligations to protect human rights by fighting xenophobia, racism and violence experienced by migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.