Event report

On the occasion of World Refugee Day, 20 June 2021 Preparing the Conference on the Future of Europe 18 June 2021, from 12.30 a.m. to 14.00 p.m., online debate 19 June 2021, at 11.00 a.m., the moving society 18/06/2021 This document is divided into two key sections. We started it with the concrete conclusions reached throughout the event, and for its better understanding, the basic development of the debate and the views that provoked them is provided. CONCLUSIONS FIRST. The European Union must decide definitively to approach a model of migration and asylum different from the current one, not Eurocentrist, but recognise the reality of people who decide to risk everything to leave their country because they are persecuted. It carries courage, also at the political level, in the face of a model that hasn't worked for 30 years and that supports the violence and repression of those who come to our shores asking for asylum. Immigration can be beneficial for Spain and Europe in view of their ageing population. SECOND. The European Union must be aware that Spain in general and the Canary Islands in particular are the southern and western borders of the European Union. We get migrants from Latin America and Africa. And we must decide whether to take a border policy prioritising human rights or not. A contingency plan and prevention of situations of very high punctual increase in arrivals in Spain should be approved, knowing that we are a border country. It is inconceivable that it does not exist. THIRD. The European Union should spread and be more pedagogical about the fact that migrating is a right, as many Canary Islands and Canary Islands have done in the past. Migrants must be seen as an opportunity to strengthen a country and continent with an obvious demographic problem, which has existed for years. These people arrive with the intention of training and working to help their families. Before this training they need help and integration of our society, to which they arrive, and to be informed so that they can settle down and understand how the social, educational and labour system works. FOURTH. The European Union should work on draft regulations on asylum and migration without divisions. The Migration and Asylum Pact favours the outsourcing of borders and makes Europe a fortress. The pact states that Europe cooperates with Africa whenever it controls migration, and this collaboration is essential in any case. In addition, only migrants who have the right to asylum will remain. For this reason, the debate favoured the change of views over asylum, giving it a more human rights and less border protection approach. IT’S FIFTH. The European Union should take into account the situation of particular vulnerability of migrant women, to whom we do not apply the gender perspective and are always in a worse position than men for work and inclusion, especially if they have children. SIXTH. In view of the Conference on the Future of Europe, Canary citizens and organisations and the EU have to warn about the plight of migrants arriving on the continent. And especially to the Canary Islands that has always been a place of migration and exchange of cultures. The Canary Islands and Canary Islands believe that the future of the EU involves the reception, assistance and integration of refugees. SEVENTH. Europe must not trivialise migration because it is an obligation and not a decision of refugees of their own will, but because of the persecution they suffer. No one runs the risk of leaving behind his whole life and the people he cares about. OCTAVE. Europe must actively listen: The groups, associations and organisations that focus their work in the field of migration, whether by helping on the ground, assisting with legal aspects, or informing the public, want to be heard and be at the heart of high-level European debates and talks since it is these entities who know the needs of refugees and the causes of their migration. In this regard, the Conference on the Future of Europe is a good opportunity to share its observations and proposals. COME ON. COME ON. The EU must focus European aid and policies on the origin of migration and on the causes of persecution. The best solution to minimise and reduce the risk of large migratory waves that destabilise European regions, such as the Canary Islands, is to focus European aid and policies on the origin of migration and on the causes of persecution. The countries from which migrants come from must be understood and assisted in addressing the problem at source. On this issue, the EU has much to say since policies regulating migration are managed at European level and the Migration and Asylum Pact proves that the commitment of all Member States to migration is essential. TENTH. The EU must make an effort to optimise communication to the general public. The communication must be clear and transparent, with data contrasted with the aim of ensuring a good coexistence of the European population and refugees. Communication suffers from the lies of fake news and the manipulation of interests of all kinds, but especially politicians. ELEVENTH. The EU and the Member States must create an efficient asylum and integration policy that takes into account the differences and specificities of the regions that receive the most migratory pressure, especially the outermost regions (UPRs) and more if they are islands, such as the Canary Islands, but which at the same time ensures that the incorporation of refugees into European society is successful. It must be made clear that Europe is a continent of opportunities for its future, but also a place where the law is committed to protecting all citizens and maintaining order, so it must be respected. Debate AND POSITIONS OF THE RAPENTS On Friday, 18 June 2021, a debate on European asylum policy was held telematically on the occasion of World Refugee Day, 20 June 2021 World Refugee Day is an international day designated by the United Nations to honour refugees and displaced persons from all over the world. It is commemorated on 20 June each year to exalt the strength and courage of people who have been forced to leave their homes in order to escape conflict or persecution. This debate has been organised by Europe Direct Canarias, the Canary Council of the European Movement, the Vice-Rectorate for Internationalisation of the ULPGC, and the European Documentation Centre of the ULL and Radio ECCA. The 18th event was presented by the Vice-Rector and the Vice-Rector of Internationalisation the two universities, Lidia Cabrera Pérez (ULL) and Jin Taira Alonso (ULPGC) and was moderated by Victoria Caro, journalist for Radio ECCA. At the beginning of the event, the two Vice-Rectors of the Canary Islands Universities, Lidia Cabrera, ULL and Jin Taira, ULPGC, stressed the need to hold these meetings and that the universities be present in the social debate on how to improve relations between peoples, how to achieve the internationalisation of our societies comprehensible with the realities of peoples. The conclusions of the participants’ various interventions are; José Segura Clavel, director of Casa África, who says that the main request of the African countries is that we treat them equally in the management of the migratory flows that can be given in connection with requests for refuge, that we be open and generous with those countries so that, seeing them as equals, they can grow on their own. For example, we must treat them equally for access to the Covid-19. Katia Van Bockel, Consul of Senegal and secretary of the Consular Corps in the Canary Islands, stressed that Senegalese in the Canary Islands are an example of integration, citizens who only seek a job and a better future for their families, but that Europe and the Canary Islands must approach African countries with another look, a look of collaboration, mutual assistance and exploitation for both parties, less Eurocentrist and more generous to all. For example, in the processing of visas for these citizens, effectiveness is essential for their interrelationship with Europe and their development. Itzíar Gómez, a lawyer at the Constitutional Court and coordinator of strategic litigation of the Root Foundation, criticised the European Pact on Migration of 23 September 2020. In voluntary shared solidarity it has already shown that it did not work, it is not mandatory, there are mechanisms to support those who are in solidarity, but one may not be without being impelled to them. Nor is there a contingency mechanism for humanitarian crises. There is no protection for returnees in the return system, with the emphasis on people, not on EU policies. Finally, collaboration with African countries must be widespread, it seems limited to countries that collaborate on returns, and the hunting of skilled migration talents can be precisely contrary to the better development of the countries of origin. José Naranjo, journalist, Father Arrupe Award of the University Institute of Migration Studies (IUEM) explains that the management of asylum and shelter is clearly deficient and a failure. In the so-called “refugee crisis” there are no such. They are crises that do not respond to the real numbers of the European population compared to the data of people arriving from Africa. In the Sahel, there are 5.4 million refugees taken over by the poorest countries in the world, Burkina Falo has 1 million refugees, without these figures being valued in comparison with the European situation and without the narrative accepting this situation. Rights and guarantees are basic. With this European policy, the myth of democratic Europe protecting people disappears. Loueila Mint Mamy, a Sahrawi lawyer in the Canary Islands, an expert in foreigners and migrations, explained that it is necessary that the voice be put to the affected, to the refugees, and in her role as current lawyer and person who lived the shelter tries to put that voice. Access to the international protection procedure is guaranteed in the EICs, but it is true that the process in the territory has been more difficult due to the pandemic. Right now access to the international procedure is taking place, but certainly the percentage granted is minimal, centered on Latin American and Mali people. Through the case of Husein Meshir, a Sahrawi activist, having the right to international protection, he was returned to the Moroccan authorities, suffering persecution precisely for his surrender while currently incarcerated in Morocco. Spain must ensure that this does not happen. On the need to address the phenomenon of migration and asylum; José Naranjo points out that courage and courage are needed. The model hasn't worked for 30 years. The purpose of the legal framework is only to close the doors. And for this there is violence and repression on the borders of Ceuta and Melilla, but also on African beaches with surveillance. No progress has been made in the real management of migratory flows. Circular migration, choice, should be provoked. The alternative we have to regularised flows to give migrants an option. Fear of bulls and the far right can cause no one to advance. Louleila Mint pointed out that migrating is not a crisis, it is a right. The development of people should be encouraged by managing their future. When you just forbid, you take people to irregularity and mafias. There are many trained people in Africa who risk their lives paying private companies because they have no other way out. There were 40,000 people who entered Spain irregularly. Couldn't 40,000 visas have been granted? Jin Taira said that European societies must understand that to remain one must change. A principle that will enable Europe’s improvement and development is essential. Otherwise we will not evolve. Itziar Gómez has not assumed that it is a front country and whether it wants to manage the border in compliance with the principles and human rights or not. Spain does not have a contingency plan for arrivals with very high increases, as in the Canary Islands two months ago or in Ceuta. It’s inconceivable. If we are not able to make internal commitments between the Spanish Autonomous Communities because we do not understand what role we play, we do not legitimise our requests for solidarity with Europe. José Segura, from his experience as a parliamentarian, regrets that there are no specific papers in the state and regional courts to study how to contribute and improve the Migration Pact. It doesn't seem to be a priority in Spain. It will end in an agreement, but it will be minimal. Visegrad shows that the division of the Member States is clear, which causes the pact to suffer great losses if it ends with agreement. He agrees with Itziar Gómez that the solidarity of being of all, also of the Canary Islands themselves and municipalities of the islands among them. If they are not in solidarity with those who arrive, it is also difficult to ask for solidarity from territories such as the Visegrad countries that certainly do not feel concerned by the situation. There is academic sensitivity in the Canary Islands, but there is no great involvement of those responsible for the management and in the public administrations to be involved in its solution. katia Van Bockel stressed the need for the administrations to be much more agile in the management of the documentation of the MENAs and the arrival at the age of majority in the regulation that is being modified. Itziar Gómez stressed the need to better regulate the situation of MENAs and also the essential and forgotten gender perspective, since women have a special problem that is not always applied. However, we are on the way to improving the situation and with steps forward for it. CEAR Annual Report At the end of the event Juan Carlos Lorenzo, territorial coordinator of CEAR in the Canary Islands presented the basic content of the CEAR Annual Report on the Situation of Refugee Persons in Spain and Europe. He proposed a vision respectful of the reality of asylum and less reactive with crises. Only 5 % of applicants in Spain receive protection. In Europe it is 33 %. In Spain it has focused this year on people from Venezuela, Colombia, Mali or Morocco. It is because the reactive vision has hindered Africans from gaining access to international protection. Access to rights is becoming precarious. The pandemic does not explain everything, and less can justify access to international protection. Hot returns are still taking place. 212 last year from Ceuta and Melilla. The ECHR and TC rulings do not justify all hot returns, both rulings clearly indicate that the concept of “frontier rejection” must respect full judicial control, international standards for the protection of human rights, special attention to vulnerable persons. Special attention should be paid to the group of particular vulnerability and to give international coverage to asylum seekers who appear to be entitled to asylum. On the other hand, asylum-seekers should be free of movement and not given. With regard to Africa, there had been messages that favoured racism and xenophobia. The EU has also strengthened border outsourcing, a securitisation strategy that aims to alienate people and commercialises their rights with third countries suspected of not respecting human rights. The European Pact seeks to collaborate only with countries that limit the movement of people. It seeks to make the border territories another stopper to reach Spain. For CEAR the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum means continuing a return-based policy, strengthening Frontex’s role, as well as imposing responsibility for receiving the first country of entry, without offering solutions based on shared solidarity with the countries of southern Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece and Malta). By not defining a compulsory sharing mechanism, the supposed system of solidarity between countries becomes an ‘on-demand menu’ that allows the northern states of the Union to turn the Mediterranean countries into the parapet of arrivals and receptions, with voluntary and non-binding involvement. We are reluctant to see it as a new missed opportunity for the EU to show its commitment to the protection of refugees in a balanced and fair manner. With regard to the humanitarian crisis in the Canary Islands, with the arrival of more than 23,000 people in 2020, CEAR points out that in order not to relive situations such as the Arguineguín pier or the chronification of macrocampments, migration policies are necessary with another look, planned and coordinated, not only focused on border shielding, including a system of transfers to the peninsula that is agile, transparent and without discrimination on grounds of nationality, with a lack of solidarity in Spain’s territory. In the proposals in the report published today, the main thing is the change of view on asylum. A change of paradigm and approach that allows for the most operational concrete proposals. It seems that we are not prepared to come up with this change in order to allow the rights of applicants for international protection to be respected. Access to full information in the report at: https://www.cear.es/informe-cear-2021/