By IPS Correspondents
BRUSSELS, May 10 2002 (IPS)

The European Commission has proposed a multinational border force to secure the borders of the European Union.

The proposal by the European Commission (EC), the executive arm of the EU, seeks to balance demands for tighter border controls with a fair chance for asylum seekers.

The EC said in a proposal this week that checks on EU borders must be tightened if a high level of security is to be guaranteed, especially after enlargement of the EU. Up to ten countries, mailny from the former Soviet bloc, are due to join the EU in January 2004.

EC President Romano Prodi has asked for border checks to be shared between member states. At present countries control their own borders.

Calling the EU’s external border the “weakest link in the chain”, European Commissioner for justice and home affairs Antonio Vitorino says the public wants to “raise the level of domestic security in the EU.”

But the measure is not intended to block out third countries. “If we improve border controls, we will also make procedures more clear and transparent for all concerned,² he says. ³When we improved the border crossing between Russia and Finland it was a success for both sides.²

Rights groups are urging the EU not to deny the right to asylum in the name of border security. Priority to guarding borders against terrorism, organised crime and illegal immigration means the rights of asylum seekers often take second place, they say.

The European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), an umbrella organisation of 72 agencies in 28 countries, claims evidence that immigration control measures and efforts to combat trafficking and smuggling are undermining the right to seek asylum.

“Without doubt, people in fear of persecution are being prevented from leaving their countries in violation of the right to seek asylum,” the ECRE says in a report.

Policing EU borders has become a major political issue in recent years. Extreme right-wing politicians advocating tough anti-immigration policies have improved their ratings considerably in elections. But left-wing voices condemn ‘Fortress Europe’ policies that shut out asylum seekers.

Without making a direct link between the new EC proposal and the rise of the far right, Prodi says “the way to combat extremists is to have a clear policy and a clear way to carry it out.”

Irene Donadio from ECRE says “we welcome the references…to the need to respect the principles of asylum rights in the fight against illegal immigration and trafficking in human beings.” But she says it is uncertain whether a new policy on border controls would respect the rights of asylum seekers in practice.

The United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) has urged that visa requirements should not be imposed on nationals from countries where there are civil wars, generalised violence or widespread human rights abuse. But the EU visa list includes Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Iraq.

UNHCR spokesman Diederik Kramers says border controls often result in ³refugees in orbit.² Last week two stowaways arrived in Spain on a boat from Cyprus. They were turned away and they travelled to Ireland. There they were turned away by Irish and then British immigration authorities. Finally they were allowed to apply for asylum in Sweden.

Doris Peschke, general secretary of the Churches Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME), says her organisation is not against border controls as long as legal channels to enter the EU are kept open.

The CCME claims to have evidence that Italy and Greece are not respecting international refugee law. The asylum applications of boat people reaching Italy from Afghanistan, Iraq and Turkey recently were not treated individually, but collectively, it says.

The CCME says it is concerned about unjustified detentions, mistreatment during deportation and improper processing of asylum applications.

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