Migration and the refugee crisis are not unrelated to the policies implemented at an EU level

Intervention of AKEL Political Bureau member and MP A. Damianou on Immigration and the Refugee Crisis at the Meeting of the Heads of Delegation of the Parliaments of the South at the Inter-parliamentary Conference on Common Foreign and Security Policy

1 June 2018, Grenada, Spain

Today we are discussing the issues of migration and the refugee crisis. The description and numbers are dramatic. More than 65 million displaced persons according to the figures released by the United Nations. The pressing need remains that we propose and promote viable solutions to existing problems because in our view, migration flows and the refugee crisis or crises are not unrelated to the policies being implemented at an EU level.

We consider that the underlying and root causes, namely exploitation, social inequality, persecution because of beliefs, conflict and ongoing foreign interventions perpetuate a dangerous situation in our wider neighborhood. That is to say, the region of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and North Africa.

It is an urgent and immediate need for the EU to be orientate its policies in a totally different direction. It should adopt policies that promote human rights, respect international law and put the interests of the affected peoples themselves above geopolitical considerations and expediencies. At the same time, policies are needed to boost the hosting of immigrants and for international humanitarian law to be respected.

Our own role, the parliaments of the member states of the South, is important in demanding and asserting a more just and more democratic EU for the benefit of our peoples and neighboring peoples. This is indeed a difficult task, but absolutely necessary.