Clandestine migration from the south of the Mediterranean into Europe

Doc. 8932

22 January 2001

Clandestine migration from the south of the Mediterranean into Europe

Recommendation 1449 (2000)

Reply from the Committee of Ministers

adopted at the 737^th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (17 January 2001)

The Committee of Ministers has carefully examined Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1449 (2000) on clandestine migration from the south of the Mediterranean into Europe.

The Committee shares the Parliamentary Assembly’s concerns as expressed in the Recommendation and points out that the final communiqué of the 6th Conference of European Ministers responsible for Migration Affairs (Warsaw, 16-18 June 1996) referred to the need for an overall strategy on management of migration.

The Committee agrees with the Assembly about the absence of reliable data on illegal migration generally and believes that co-ordination of the various European bodies responsible for data collection could remedy that lack.

It draws attention to the work of a European Committee on Migration (CDMG) working group which, in 1999, produced a report, “Towards a Migration Management Strategy” and which, like the Assembly, stressed that “emigration is a human right”. The Committee of Ministers would point out, however, as did the report, that that right, as mentioned in Article 2, paragraph 2 of Protocol 4 to the European Convention on Human Rights, “can be exercised in conditions to be fixed by governments in legal instruments. It assumes that governments which are signatories to various conventions and expressions of human rights will apply them in the areas of their own jurisdiction”.

The Committee of Ministers would assure the Assembly that it is aware that the complex problems caused by illegal migration to and between Council of Europe member states need addressing urgently. It informs the Assembly that, to that end, the new Committee of Experts on Migration Management Strategy, which held its first meeting on 17 and 18 April 2000, has begun looking into the underlying causes of illegal immigration so as to suggest ways of preventing it. It is planned to bring, in particular, Morocco into the committee’s work from time to time.

The Committee of Ministers agrees with the Assembly that the sources of illegal migration are not restricted to North Africa and that there are arrivals of illegal migrants from, in particular, eastern Europe, South America, sub-Saharan Africa and south-east Asia. The Committee is keeping these questions under close review through the CDMG.

Like the CDMG, the Committee of Ministers believes that integrated, orderly migration management respectful of the individual’s fundamental rights is the key requirement in any policy of migration management. Such management depends on co-ordination between Council of Europe member states and migrants’ countries of origin so as to prevent illegal migration and reduce the “likelihood of people entering Europe illegally”.

The Committee of Ministers would inform the Assembly that, in 2001, the CDMG will:

- continue work on migration flows with a view to adopting guidelines for the prevention of illegal migration;

- organise a round-table conference open to all member States interested bringing together the countries of the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean to discuss and explore the scope for co-operation between Council of Europe member states and the countries of the southern shore;

- reinforce co-operation with the European Union in the context of the European Union’s plan of action with Morocco, which includes co-operation in the economic, social and political fields to cope with problems of illegal migration from that country and from time to time invite representatives from Morocco and other countries concerned to participate in the Committee of Experts on Migration Management Strategy’s work.