The EWL and other women’s organisations issued a joint statement on the European Pact on Asylum and Immigration that was sent to all Justice and Home Affairs Ministers in September 2008, at the time of final negotiations on the text of the pact.
Dear President, and Ministers, As women’s organisations, feminists and migrant women’s and migrant organisations from across Europe, we would like to express our views regarding the European Pact on Migration and Asylum that will be adopted at the EU Summit on 15 and 16 October 2008. In particular we would point out that it remains fundamental for further harmonization of EU policies on immigration and asylum to be based on superior human right standards, including due respect to women?s human rights and the need to develop a positive approach to migration. We are also concerned by the demand made to Member States and the European Commission to increase the amount of funding devoted to border control whilst neglecting to safeguard a balanced approach to migration which ensures legal migration opportunities and access for asylum seekers. As correctly stated in the preamble to the Pact, ‘international migration is a reality that will persist as long as there are differentials of wealth and development between the various regions of the world’. Therefore given the current imbalances, rather than decreasing the flows, these policies would lead to:- An increase in the number of deaths and violation of people trying to reach European borders by boat or by foot, with the routes becoming more and more dangerous;
- The increasing vulnerability of migrant women and men who indebt themselves to pay smugglers and traffickers to reach Europe.
