UN High Commissioner for Refugees urges EU to open doors to migrants
European nations are playing into the hands of human traffickers by tightening immigration policies at a time when their economies increasingly depend on migrant labor and when new factors like climate change are swelling the ranks of those eager to come, the United Nations High Commissioner for refugees António Guterres said Monday.
Guterres, who was in Paris for a debate on the effects of global warming on migration, expressed concern about opinion polls showing a growing intolerance toward foreigners across the Continent and warned that rising unemployment would probably amplify the hostility.
He urged Western, and especially European, officials to stop what he called misleading statements to voters. “Politicians do not have the courage to tell people that we need more migrants,” Mr. Guterres said, noting that “if you have an aging population, a population that lacks dynamism, it is very easy to play with fear.”
As public opinion has hardened, so has legislation. Under a European Union pact on immigration signed last year, governments pledged to deport illegal immigrants from European territory and strengthen border controls. More recently, E.U. governments agreed to start penalizing employers who use workers without papers.
Migrant groups and, increasingly, corporate lobbies assert that many sectors, like construction and the restaurant business, could not operate without immigrants, who often pay taxes and social security contributions under someone else’s name.
If there is a growing demand for migrant labor in Western economies, there is also a growing supply — and not just because of poverty and growing income inequalities in the world, he said.
Climate change is expected to unseat conflict as the main driver of mass migration in coming years, Mr. Guterres predicted, calling on rich nations to provide financial aid to poorer nations most affected by global warming. Even if the current climate talks in Copenhagen are successful, he said, the impact of hotter weather caused by cumulative greenhouse gas emissions already in the atmosphere is likely to increase the number and scale of phenomena displacing populations: natural disasters, food scarcity, water shortages and conflicts.
New York Times 14 December 2009 (in English)
Swedish EU-Presidency 2009
This website is no longer updated. It was a UNHCR Stockholm initiative meant to facilitate the monitoring of refugee and asylum issues during Sweden's European Union Presidency 1 July – 31 December 2009.
