Policy Paper 24
The United Nations Convention on Migrant’s rights, a luxury for the European Union?
Everywhere in Europe, the concept of “integration” of migrants is used in an increasingly restrictive sense. France, The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Greece and many other EU member states interpret it an exclusive rather than inclusive fashion. This Policy Paper focuses on the Convention of the United Nations on the rights of migrants and is the first publication of a new research program on the concept of integration in the EU. It examines the benefits of the Convention of the United Nations for Europe in the light of reforms recently adopted by certain Member States. Serving as a benchmark, the Convention helps to highlight increasingly restrictive practices in Western Europe and the dissemination of these practices by way of imitation from one member state to another.Available soon in English.
Migratory issues vie for the front page of many a European news paper. Indeed, beyond the haunting pictures of shipwrecked huddles on Spanish beaches and failed postulants crammed in immigration detention centres on the perimeter of our airports and harbours, current migratory movements are bringing into question our societies’ capacity for integration and whether they are prepared to honour their democratic traditions. They also put the European Union’s claims to a global role to the test.
The fact is that our ageing European economies’ competitivity rests on their capacity efficiently to absorb foreign workers. A harmonious working of the Single Market requires the solidarity and growing cooperation of the member states while our societies’ cohesion depends on a successful integration of legal immigrants. This being so, immigration is at the core of the European contract as often defined by Jacques Delors: “Competition that stimulates, cooperation that strengthens, and solidarity that unites.”
This Policy Paper centred on the United Nations Convention on Migrants Rights opens for us a new round of analysis on the issue of integration in the framework of our research pole “Competition, Cooperation, Solidarity” in the light of the reforms recently introduced in some Member States, Marie barral takes a fresh look at the United Nations Convention as applicable to European countries. Her paper, drafted in collaboration with Stephen Boucher under the supervision of Mario Cinalli offers a sturdy base for critical thinking. It points a devastating finger at increasingly restrictive formulae devised in Western Europe and spreading by osmosis from one country to the next. It thus brings into light the growing gap between the fine theories for external consumption, urging democratic values of tolerance, non-discrimination and open-mindedness on the one hand, and on the other, the practices dictated by preoccupations with security and exclusion.
Unsurprisingly, this Policy Paper chimes in with the European Parliament, the European economic and Social committee and numerous non-governmental organisations when calling for a ratification of the United Nations Convention by the Member States. It also arrives at the conclusion that the elaboration of a legal European immigration policy is called for as a matter of urgency. This is a way forward that Notre Europe will explore in depth in research to come.
SUR LE MÊME THÈME
ON THE SAME THEME
PUBLICATIONS
[FR] Migration: A look back at the February 9 European Council
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Moldova and the war
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Making migrant returns a pre-condition of trade openness
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MÉDIAS
MEDIAS
Le défi des migrations africaines en Europe
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Union européenne : les demandes d’asile au plus haut depuis sept ans
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Naufrage en Grèce: des élus prônent une opération européenne de sauvetage en mer
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ÉVÉNEMENTS
EVENTS
The EU’s response to Ukrainian refugees three months on
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Académie Notre Europe | “Europe of migration” session [FR]
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Académie Notre Europe : “Europe of migration” session [FR]
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Euroquestions | Ukrainian refugees: hosting in Europe and impact on European migration policy? [FR]
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EU-African Union Summit: a renewed partnership on migration and mobility? [ENG]
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Migration, asylum, mobility and integration in Europe: inseparable common values | Presentation of the report published in December 2021 [FR]
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Conference | Integration in Europe : Oxalá, Hopelijk, avec un peu de chance… | Perspectives from Belgium, France and Portugal [FR]
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EU migration and asylum policy: a fresh start?
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EU migration and asylum policy: a fresh start?
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Webinaire | Nouveau pacte pour la migration : la Commission peut-elle reprendre la main sur le dossier migratoire ?
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Webinaire | Nouveau pacte pour la migration : la Commission peut-elle reprendre la main sur le dossier migratoire ?
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Euroquestions | Relance et puissance : mots d’ordre de la rentrée européenne
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Des réponses européennes
à l’asile et aux migrations
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Paris, 17 May 2019 – Académie Notre Europe : Europe and migrations
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Paris, 16 April 2019 – Think migration and development together
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Paris, 12 February 2019 – Eurociné: Screening-debate of the movie DJAM
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Brussels, 28 January 2019 – Presentation of the Jacques Delors Institute’s report on migrations
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Pantin, 6 October 2018 – Can the European Union better manage the migration flow?
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Namur, 21 September 2018 – Migration policy and EU: which policy for Common good?
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Paris, 8 February 2018 – Eurociné: “School of Babel”
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