After all the research carried out,in a recent interview the immigration minister claims that the majority of people trying to cross the Mediterranean are
economic migrants seeking out a better life and are not fleeing persecution in
their own countries, the immigration minister has claimed.
James Brokenshire also warned that programmes to relocate
those who reach Europe risk exacerbating the crisis when he appeared in front
of a sub-committee at the House of Lords today.
READ MORE BELOW
But his comments have drawn sharp criticism from refugee
groups, who say it is just another example of the Government trying to distance
itself from the crisis which has seen 1,800 people drown in the Mediterranean
since the beginning of the year
Mr Brokenshire said:
'In terms of the mix of people who are seeking to make that journey, our
estimate is that the majority of those are probably economic migrants, rather
than those who are fleeing persecution or some sort of civil conflict.
'Therefore it is to try to make a better life in the EU
rather than on that greater humanitarian side.'
So far in 2015, tens of thousands of people have undergone
the perilous journey across the sea from Turkey or North Africa.
Many have landed in Greece and Italy, leading to EU leaders
announcing 40,000 migrants will be relocated from the besieged countries over
the next two years.
The UK has opted out of the scheme, and instead urged the EU
to focus on tackling trafficking gangs which arrange the crossings.
Mr Brokenshire was grilled on the Government policy when he
appeared in front of the EU home affairs sub-committee.
He stood by the policy - although he was keen to point out
they were in agreement with the European agenda on the crisis on a number of
issues
But he added: 'We've not signed up to the compulsory
relocation. We think that is almost moving the problem around, dealing with the
symptoms rather than the cause.'
He raised questions about the feasibility of the plan given
that it is likely to be followed by 'secondary flows' of migrants to other
countries.
Mr Brokenshire - who said between 500,000 and 600,000
Libyans were estimated to want to travel towards Europe - also argued there was
an intrinsic 'weakness' in the scheme, as 'you might try to relocate people to
one country but the reality is they are unlikely to stay there'.
He added that such a plan was also likely to play into the
traffickers hands, becoming part of their 'false narrative', in much the same
way the assurances of rescue from the Mediterranean had become an excuse to use
un-seaworthy boats.
But Refugee Council chief executive Maurice Wren reacted
angrily to his comments.
'The immigration minister's sweeping judgment that the
majority of people arriving on Europe's shores from some of the world's biggest
refugee producing countries are economic migrants is utterly startling,' she
said.
'The Government must stop looking for flimsy excuses to
justify dealing with this humanitarian crisis at arm's length.'
0 comments:
Post a Comment