Weekly news roundup

This week's news roundup covers the worrying situation of African migrants adrift at sea between the coasts of Libya and Malta and the failure of EU member states to act quickly and adequately to this human tragedy. We have also gathered the newest reports on the growing Iraqi refugee crisis and what European countries can do to help ease the situation.

• The pictures of 27 African would-be migrants clinging to tuna nets for dear life in the Mediterranean for over three days, while EU governments deliberated who might be responsible for them, have finally prompted the EU to admit its policies were endangering lives. The International Herald Tribune's Dan Bilefsky reports EU Commission spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing both admitting failure and demanding member states do a better job: “We call on EU member states to do a better job of sharing the burden to avoid humanitarian tragedies.” The Commission has also announced a full investigation into the incident that left the migrants stranded at sea after their boat sank off the coast of Libya. The Maltese fish trawler had refused to take the Africans onboard to transport them to safety in Malta. An Italian boat finally came to their rescue. The situation has sparked an outcry by human rights organizations. The European Council on Refugees and Exiles, ECRE, and the UNHCR issued press releases urged Malta to accept the recent amendments to the maritime conventions (SAR and SOLAS Conventions), which aim to ensure that the obligation of the ship master to give assistance is complemented by a corresponding obligation of states to co-operate in rescue situations. Malta is one of the few countries that did not accept these amendments. ECRE Secretary General, Bjarte Vandevik said “"It is shocking and shameful to see how humans are abandoned to their fate at sea, while States of the European Union argue about who is to bear the responsibility, instead of fulfilling the humanitarian imperative to rescue and protect people facing the risk of drowning at sea." Laura Boldrine, a Rome-based spokeswoman for the UNHCR meanwhile warned states of creating a “Wild West in which human life has lost its value and people in danger are left to fend for themselves.” The UNHCR points out that another vessel with 51 to 53 Africans on board remains missing at sea, after an SOS call was issued (the BBC reports on the story here). The EU's border control operation FRONTEX is stepping up its efforts to react quickly to these incidents, though is having a number of equipment sourcing problems. At the same time, any border control measures must respect existing human rights laws and with that assure and create legal means for refugees and asylum seekers to gain access to safe third countries, some of which might be EU member states. Human rights organizations will likely reissue these claims on June 20, the international refugee day.
• Migration from Iraq and the internal displacement of those seeking to escape the sectarian violence that rocks the country remains a hotly discussed topic, as countries refuse to take on additional migrants (see our earlier story on Switzerland). One of the countries most committed to international agreements on accepting Iraqi migrants is Sweden. In its international edition, German newsmagazine, Der Spiegel, reports on the life of Iraqi refugess in the small town of Alvesta, Sweden. Author Charles Hawley chronicles the life of a few of Alvesta's 144 newest residents, who appreciate the calm respite their new home offers them. The crisis, however, is far from over. A photo gallery illustrates the hardships migrants face. The article quotes ECRE statistics according to which the number of Iraqis displaced within Iraq — already some 1.9 million — is growing by 40,000 to 50,000 each month. Well over 2 million have made it across the border to neighboring countries — Syria now hosts some 1.2 million Iraqi refugees, and Jordan has crammed in 750,000, representing an almost 15 percent boost to that country's population. The UNHCR recently awarded $2.06 million in aid for the rehabilitation of public hospitals in Damascus, capacity-building for medical staff and the provision of new medical equipment. This agreement, the fourth between UNHCR and the Syrian government, is part of UNHCR's commitment to supporting the country's response to the crisis of Iraqi refugees. ECRE meanwhile has issued a set of comprehensive guidelines on the treatment of Iraqi asylum seekers and refugrees in Europe. In it, ECRE calls for the suspension of mandatory return of Iraqi migrants to their country, as their safety cannot be guaranteed and calls upon EU member states to refrain from transferring migrants to other member countries under the Dublin II Convention (which regulates which EU country is responsible for managing a migrants’ claim based on point of entry), if that country is known to not properly consider Iraqi refugee claims. The report includes a detailed annex on the situation in all Iraqi provinces.
• If they weren't close before, they surely are spending a lot of time together. The EU interior ministers have almost settled into a groove of seeing each other every few days in a different constellation. On May 20-21 they followed German interior minister Wolfgang Schaeuble's call to the quaint Rheingau town of Eltville to discuss the future of EU Home Affairs policy after 2010. Over a few glasses of Riesling, the newly established "Future Group,' consisting of Commissioner Franco Frattini, the six interior ministers of the current and upcoming "trio presidencies," (Germany, Portugal and Slovenia, and France, the Czech Republic and Sweden) a representative of the subsequent "trio presidency" (Spain, Belgium or Hungary), and experts from individual member states, discussed recommendations on European home affairs policy after the end of The Hague Programme. The ‘Future Group’ is to compile a report to present to the Commission as a basis for a post-2010 program.
• Just two days later (some of them are starting to look like the travelling Wilbury's), G8 interior ministers met in Munich to discuss the integration of immigrants in the context of state security, among other issues. While the meeting apparently brought “major breakthroughs” on international judicial cooperation and counter-terrorism, the section of concluding document on immigration and integration leaves much to be desired: “The G8 agree that migration and integration have become everyday experiences in our globalised world. The phenomenon of major, sustained migration flows, with all the attendant problems, is here to stay.” (You don't say!!) “If migration is not to become a problem for inner tolerance and for the stability of our accustomed system of civil liberties, migrants must manage to integrate into their host society.” Indeed, now, what are you really going to do about it? I say: Talk, talk and more talk.
• Speaking of talk, The New York Times is giving its readers the means to talk expertly on the opinions of US presidential candidates with their excellent compilation of their views on the immigration question, as arguments on Capitol Hill and the campaign trail continue to fly left and right.

That's all folks..at least for now..