Amendment No. 2 | Doc. 13867 | 28 September 2015
Countries of transit: meeting new migration and asylum challenges
Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
In the draft resolution, after paragraph 8, insert the following paragraph:
“The Assembly is also deeply concerned by the ongoing situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, Western Balkans and Central Europe. The current, incoherent EU response is having disastrous effects for refugees in transit and for Greece and other transit countries in the Western Balkans. The statement following the 23 September informal EU summit, whilst promising welcome and much-needed increases in support to countries of first asylum and transit and humanitarian agencies, focuses on keeping refugees out or at the periphery of the EU. Beyond that, however, it reveals a reluctance to accept protection responsibilities, with no mention of resettlement, and a lack of solidarity in burden-sharing between states. This suggests that overall, action will remain inadequate and ineffective. The Assembly recalls that all European states are legally obliged to provide effective protection to people in need and are prohibited from sending them to countries where that protection is not guaranteed. It considers that states isolating themselves from European neighbours behind fences and strict border controls will have serious geopolitical consequences for wider European integration.”