Brussels tells EU states to detain more migrants awaiting deportation

Record ID: 348952

  • Title: Brussels tells EU states to detain more migrants awaiting deportation
  • Date: 2nd March 2017
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (RECENT) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF EU COMMISSION BUILDING EU FLAGS ENTRANCE TO EU COMMISSION BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 16th March 2017 13:00
  • Keywords: EU Migration Europe Security Avramopoulos Refugees Migrants deportation
  • Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM / MUNICH, GERMANY / HOGROS, SERBIA & AUGUSTA, ITALY
  • City: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM / MUNICH, GERMANY / HOGROS, SERBIA & AUGUSTA, ITALY
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001669OV2F
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: European Union member states should detain migrants who have no case for asylum to prevent them from running away before they are deported, the chief migration official with the bloc's executive arm in Brussels said on Thursday (March 2).
    The European Union is pushing to reduce immigration after some 1.6 million refugees and migrants reached its shores via the Mediterranean in 2014-2016. It wants to prevent people from coming and deport more.
    "An effective return policy starts within the European Union. Return rates have to be improved. For example, only 36% of return decisions were actually carried out in 2015 but we don't need new legislation or new rules. We need a better implementation of existing rules in a coordinated way by all members states," Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said in presenting new proposals by the executive European Commission to increase deportations.
    Germany deported a record 80,000 migrants denied asylum last year and officials have said that figure will rise in 2017 as Chancellor Angela Merkel seeks to win back conservative voters before elections in September.
    The Commission said member states should consider longer periods of detention of up to 18 months, although Avramopoulos added that it should only be an option in cases where "migrants are not cooperating" or "there is risk of absconding".
    "Member states should also use the possibility to place migrants in detention if there is a risk of absconding and for a sufficient period to be able to complete the return and readmission procedure," he said.
    The Commission said the proposals identified areas in which member states could change their current practices to streamline relocations in line with existing laws that are applied differently in various countries.
    "Let me tell you that when we talk about detention centres, we do not mean that we're going to set up concentration centres," Avramopoulos said.
    Hundreds of migrants stranded in Serbia for months live rough near Hungary's fortified border, hoping they will manage to cross undetected and continue their journey towards wealthier part of EU countries.
    According to latest UNHCR figures in early February, there were around 7,700 migrants in the country, 6,500 of them in 17 formal reception camps, where they live in heated and serviced facilities. The rest lives rough, mostly in derelict warehouses in Belgrade or in the border area with Hungary.
    Since the beginning of the year, there have been more than 10,700 sea arrivals, according to the Italy's Interior Ministry, a third higher than the same period last year.
    Last year a record 181,000 boat migrants reached Italy and more than 5,000 died in the Mediterranean. Since 2015, more than a million-and-a-half migrants have come to Europe.
    The EU says some 70 percent of people coming via Libya from the impoverished Africa are not fleeing violent conflicts or oppressive regimes and hence are unlikely to win asylum. They are qualified as economic migrants and the EU wants to deport them.
    "Ultimately our aim is to reduce the number of irregular migrants, irregular arrivals, by making it clear to those migrants who are not in need of protection and who do not have a right to stay in the European Union, that they should not undertake a perilous journey to arrive in Europe illegally," Avramopoulos said.
    The bloc, overwhelmed by the arrivals and waging bitter internal battles on how to share the burden, has increased its efforts to cut the number of people who use smugglers' boats to make the perilous voyage.
    This includes support for the U.N.-backed Libyan government in Tripoli, efforts to boost deportations of people with no case for asylum, and working with African states along the migration trails to ensure they let fewer people pass.
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