Create an Organisation for the Management of Immigration and Asylum Requests (OMIAR)

Support for the creation of an Organisation for the Management of Immigration and Asylum Requests (OMIAR).

Since 1988 thousands of men, women and children have perished in the Mediterranean attempting the so-called ‘voyage of hope’ to Europe. Tens of thousands of others are crowded into detention centres on a temporary or long-term basis. Many await deportation to their country of origin or to one of the countries they transited an eviction that is in clear violation of international agreements for the protection of refugees and the 1951 Geneva Convention.

Authoritative reports indicate that many returned migrants face persecution and even death in these countries. Cases of bad treatment, torture, sexual abuse, rape, forced labour and murder, as well as of abandonment in the desert at the frontier of Libya and other African countries, have been reported by the refugees themselves and by independent NGOs.

These desperate people sometimes end up in the hands of criminal groups or human traffickers. They become the ‘new slaves.’ They are taken hostage and large ransoms are demanded from their families in exchange for their lives. They are the victims of all kinds of brutality in detention.

For the whole of the European Union the cost of managing these migratory movements amounts to billions of euros. One is obliged to recognize that the results are disappointing. The situation is managed with considerable difficulty by the southern European countries, which often find themselves overwhelmed by the influx of clandestine immigrants. This leads to deterioration in diplomatic relations with the countries from which the migrants come, relations only repaired by much vaunted business deals.

In the light of the above, we reach the conclusion that the human and financial costs are both exorbitant and unacceptable for Europe which boasts that it is the continent of the Rights of Man. In consequence, we declare:

1. We, people of the earth, and NGOs and politicians, express our indignation and ask the European Parliament to take serious action with respect to the immigration question and to requests for asylum. Europe is responsible for the life of each and every human being deported to a country where their future is threatened.

2. In conformity with the 1951 Geneva Convention, we ask that no clandestine immigrant or refugee should be sent back to a country where their life, dignity or integrity may be put in danger. We ask Europe to put pressure on those countries which neither respect the life nor the rights of the migrants they receive. They are human beings like us.

3. We also request the European Parliament to create an Organisation for the Management of Immigration and Asylum Requests (OMIAR). This organization would put in place a plan common to all member states, each of which would be involved and supply both means and viable solutions. Clandestine immigration concerns all countries and not just those of Southern Europe. This plan would require Europe to set up a better structure for receiving the migrants who arrive on our coasts or at our frontiers, and a more just and humane study of each case. The goal is not to welcome all clandestine immigration but to study the case of each individual without putting their life in danger.