Africa, Development & Aid, Europe, Headlines, Human Rights, Migration & Refugees

MIGRATION: Dying to Reach the EU

Tito Drago

MADRID, Jul 11 2008 (IPS) - The only positive way to deal with illegal immigration is to fight poverty, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said upon learning of the deaths of 15 Africans who had been trying to reach Europe by sea.

Zapatero gave a press conference Thursday in Athens, immediately after hearing that the migrants had died near the coast of the southern Spanish province of Almería, on the north shore of the Mediterranean.

The Zodiac inflatable rubber dinghy – barely six metres in length – in which they were attempting to reach Spain was intercepted at dawn Thursday by the maritime arm of the Guardia Civil (militarised police). It had been at sea for five or six days, and adrift for the last four days, after it was launched at an as yet unidentified point along the North African coast. Thirty-three immigrants were rescued alive, although most were in an appalling state of health.

One woman was found dead, and those rescued said that another 14 people who began the journey with them had died on the way; their bodies had been thrown overboard.

Six of the dead were adults, and nine were babies and toddlers, aged one to four. In some cases their bodies were cast into the water by their own parents “with great mourning and suffering,” Francisco Vicente, the provincial coordinator of the Red Cross, which tended to the sick and injured survivors, told IPS.

The Spanish prime minister expressed his sorrow at the occurrence, and said that his country would continue to increase the percentage of its gross domestic product (GDP) devoted to development aid. GDP channelled to aid has risen from 0.2 percent to 0.5 percent, and Zapatero predicted it would increase to 0.7 percent by the end of this legislative term, in 2012.

As for the African continent, Zapatero said: “Either we help Africa, and help in the fight against misery and despair, or our collective future as a place of progress and well-being will be called into question.”

“We are all sorry, and we can all feel sorrow, including the prime minister, but what we say and what we do must be consistent,” Khar Moya, of the Association for Solidarity with Black Africa, told IPS.

“As well as expressing sorrow and asking for support for Africa, Zapatero should change the migration policy arising from the agreement with France,” the activist said.

Moya was referring to the formal support given by Madrid to the draft European Immigration Pact. The pact was presented by France and approved Monday in Cannes by the interior ministers of the 27 member countries of the European Union, in the hope that the European Council will formally approve it in October.

The original text of the pact, proposed by France, was considerably tougher than that which was finally approved, and Spain’s participation had a great deal to do with toning it down.

Spanish Interior Minister José Antonio Rubalcaba stressed that Spain promoted amendments virtually throughout the text and “tried to make the pact reflect its vision of immigration.”

However, although the French proposal was softened, the final text takes a firm stance against foreigners arriving from outside the EU. It defines “illegal immigration” as the arrival of foreigners without the right entry papers, and “guarantees” their repatriation to their countries of origin or transit. It also calls on EU member states to cooperate with each other to expel undocumented foreigners, voluntarily or by force.

The pact also points out that the decisions of any one country “may have repercussions for its partners,” so it is essential that each EU member state take into account the interests of its partners when defining and implementing its immigration, integration and asylum policies – a clear call for strict control of their common borders.

As well as strengthening Frontex, the EU agency for external border security, the pact recommends that from 2012 biometric visas be used at Europe’s borders – every person entering or leaving the EU would have their digital photograph and inkless electronic fingerprints taken.

With regard to family reunification, the pact recommends that before states authorise the entry of resident immigrants’ relatives, they should assess their own capacity to absorb them. Under the existing rules, there are no barriers to family reunification.

Deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega said the Pact is positive, and “guarantees the rights of immigrants,” including illegal entrants.

She said Spain’s legislation on immigration is more generous than the draft pact, and will not be changed, because the draft agreed in Cannes “is not applicable to Spain.”

With respect to Thursday’s human drama, the Spanish government’s delegate in Andalusia, the region to which Almería belongs, said that he is considering granting legal status to the surviving immigrants, “exceptionally and for humanitarian reasons.”

Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos, visiting Tunisia, said he felt “torn apart intellectually, morally and ethically” over what happened in Almería, and at the same time said the Spanish government wants to avoid such tragedies with a Euro-African policy “to combat and dissuade illegal immigration.”

He said it was essential to address migration issues in a global and integrated fashion, with co-responsibility between countries of origin, transit and destination.