UN SECRETARY-General Kofi Annan received a standing ovation from Euro-MPs today for a speech to the European Parliament in which he emphasised the positive contribution immigrants have made to the EU.
Mr Annan, who made the comments during his acceptance speech following the award of the Sakharov peace prize to the UN and its Secretary-General, said migrants were 'part of the solution, not part of the problem'.
London Green Party MEP Jean Lambert, speaking after the debate on EU-UN relations which followed Mr Annan's speech, said: "Kofi Annan's received a standing ovation for a speech in which he recognised that migrants must be viewed as part of the solution - not part of the problem - to peace and prosperity.
"The Euro-MPs from all parties and from across the EU who applauded this sentiment now face the challenge of making Mr Annan's vision a reality.
"Those Labour MEPs who welcomed Mr Annan's words must return to the UK and do everything in their power to halt the Government's draconian Asylum Bill - which is premised on the opposite notion, that migrants should be treated with suspicion and deterred with the threat of detention and punishment."
Mrs Lambert, a member of the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee, added: "The Asylum Bill in its current form is unfair, discriminatory and runs counter to the principles of natural justice. No-one who applauded Kofi Annan today can credibly support it."
ENDS
Note to Editors
A full copy of Kofi Annan's speech
to the European Parliament is available on request. For more information please
contact Ben Duncan on 020 7407 6280, 07973 823358 or at press@greenmeps.org.uk