Thread: UN experts voice concern over EU immigration plan

UN experts voice concern over EU immigration plan
Fri 18 Jul 2008, 11:32 GMT


GENEVA, July 18 (Reuters) - U.N. human rights experts voiced concern on Friday at new European Union rules on illegal immigrants, saying they were not criminals and should not detained.

In a joint statement, the 10 experts said they had written to France, which holds the EU presidency, and all 27 member governments ahead of a meeting of justice and interior ministers about the plan next Thursday.

Under rules agreed by the European Parliament last month, illegal immigrants to the 27-member bloc can be detained for up to 18 months and face a five-year re-entry ban. EU states gave their blessing to the moves in May.

"Our principal concern relates to the detention regime pending removal procedures for irregular immigrants. The Directive envisages detention periods of up to 18 months, which appear to be excessive," the U.N. experts' statement said.

The proposed rules would allow EU member states to detain unaccompanied children, victims of human trafficking and other vulnerable people, according to the independent experts who report to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

"Irregular immigrants are not criminals. As a rule, they should not be subjected to detention at all," they said.

"Member states are obliged to explore the availability of alternatives to detention and detention must only be for the shortest possible period of time."

The European Commission estimates there are up to 8 million illegal migrants in the bloc. More than 200,000 were arrested in the first half of 2007, and fewer than 90,000 were expelled.

The rules have prompted accusations of xenophobia from outside the bloc and are the forerunner of efforts by France to launch a pan-EU fight against illegal migration, while promoting legal migration and a common EU asylum policy by 2010.

The U.N. experts urged EU states to strengthen the procedure of judicial review of the legality of detention.

"Established time limits of judicial review must stand even in 'emergency situations' when an exceptionally large number of undocumented immigrants enter the territory of a member state."

If immigrants lodge appeals against decisions, orders for their return should be suspended pending a ruling, they said. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Mark John and Andrew Dobbie)

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL1817216.html

The eu is correct, if they do not detain, the ILLEGALS will scurry off into the "shadows".

U.N. human rights experts voiced concern on Friday at new European Union rules on illegal immigrants, saying they were not criminals and should not detained.

In a joint statement, the 10 experts said they had written to France, which holds the EU presidency, and all 27 member governments ahead of a meeting of justice and interior ministers about the plan next Thursday

.

What countries are these experts from?

Immigration must be done in an orderly fashion based on laws or chaos and lawless will develop.

"Irregular immigrants are not criminals. As a rule, they should not be subjected to detention at all," they said.

Thank goodness we are not a part of the EU.....Guess they are still looking for an acceptable name for illegals to.

MyAmerica wrote:

What countries are these experts from?

Membership of the Human Rights Council 19 June 2008 – 18 June 2009 - By regional groups -

AFRICAN STATES LATIN AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN STATES

Angola 2010
Burkina Faso 2011
Cameroon 2009
Djibouti 2009
Egypt 2010
Gabon 2011
Ghana 2011
Madagascar 2010
Mauritius 2009
Nigeria 2009
Senegal 2009
South Africa 2010
Zambia 2011
Argentina 2011
Bolivia 2010
Brazil 2011
Chile 2011
Cuba 2009
Mexico 2009
Nicaragua 2010
Uruguay 2009

ASIAN STATES WESTERN EUROPE & OTHER STATES

Bahrain 2011
Bangladesh 2009
China 2009
India 2010
Indonesia 2010
Japan 2011
Jordan 2009
Malaysia 2009
Pakistan 2011
Philippines 2010
Qatar 2010
Republic of Korea 2011
Saudi Arabia 2009
Canada 2009
France 2011
Germany 2009
Italy 2010
Netherlands 2010
Switzerland 2009
United Kingdom 2011
EASTERN EUROPEAN STATES

Azerbaijan 2009
Bosnia and Herzegovina 2010
Russian Federation 2009
Slovakia 2011
Slovenia 2010
Ukraine 2011

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hr ... ps0809.htm