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Resolution 2059 (2015)
Criminalisation of irregular migrants: a crime without a victim
1. Increasingly restrictive migration
policies, increased social exclusion and limited access to human
and social rights for migrants are all aspects of a situation which
the Parliamentary Assembly has been condemning for many years.
2. The term “migrant” retains a degree of stigmatisation with
regard to the group or person to whom it is applied, especially
when it is associated with illegality.
3. The Assembly also notes that the external border control policy
of the European Union is framed on the basis of designations that
associate migration and crime-causing attributes, making migration
an internal security matter and associating migration with a threat
to public order and the social system.
4. In this context, the Assembly underlines the importance of
the proper use of terms, namely “irregular” as opposed to “illegal”
or “undeclared” migrants. Inappropriate use of the terminology relating
to migration plays a part in reinforcing xenophobic and racist attitudes
and heightens fear of migrants, which is already being fed by the
economic crisis and political instability, in particular in the
countries of the southern Mediterranean.
5. Noting that, contrary to Directive 2002/90/EC defining the
facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit and residence (Reception
Directive), some European Union member States sanction humanitarian
assistance, thereby creating an “offence of solidarity”, the Assembly
underlines the need to end the threat of prosecution on charges
of aiding and abetting irregular migration of people who rescue
migrants.
6. The Assembly condemns any practice of courts being more severe
when trying cases where migrants are arrested, imprisoned and convicted
as perpetrators of criminal offences.
7. It also proposes that detention only be used as a last resort,
in particular for asylum seekers, when it should be as short as
possible, and that alternatives to detention should be used wherever
possible.
8. The Assembly recalls that asylum seekers are entitled to receive
international protection and to enjoy freedom of movement.
9. Given this trend and in breach of the spirit of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human
Rights (ETS No. 5), irregular migrants are deprived of the minimum
level of social rights and live in conditions far removed from the
principles of protection and human dignity and, in order to survive,
they sometimes engage in illegal activities to meet their basic
needs.
10. The Assembly underlines the need to adopt a more objective
approach based on consideration of the human being, which would
discourage any discriminatory or degrading practices towards migrants,
including irregular migrants in Europe.
11. Accordingly, the Assembly calls on the member States to:
11.1. promote and observe fundamental
rights standards for migrants, including irregular migrants;
11.2. promote the use of neutral terminology and replace the
term “illegal migrants” with “irregular migrants” in speeches and
official documents;
11.3. combat misinformation and negative stereotypes concerning
migrants; unreservedly condemn the exploitation of migrants for
political purposes in populist discourse;
11.4. apply sensu stricto to
migrants the standards concerning entry, transit and residence in
the territory of European Union countries;
11.5. ensure that asylum seekers have access to a fair procedure;
11.6. give access to the essential rights for human dignity
(medical care, education) to irregular migrants;
11.7. develop best practice guides on the arrest and detention
of irregular migrants;
11.8. put in place alternatives to detention wherever possible;
11.9. apply the principles governing administrative detention
in migrant detention centres;
11.10. take measures to step up the fight against migrant trafficking
and smuggling;
11.11. continue to consider, when appropriate, the definition
of maritime boundaries and ensure that people rescued are allowed
to land.