Yesterday, Jean Lambert – London’s Green MEP and the Green Party’s migration spokesperson – visited the Sea-Watch search and rescue team in Malta. Their vessel should be at sea preventing people from drowning in the Mediterranean. Instead, it’s being unlawfully detained in Malta, while the Government decides whether to allow the team to get back to work.

Jean signed a joint letter to the Prime Minister of Malta, Dr. Joseph Muscat, alongside cross-party MEPs Martina Anderson (GUE/NDL) and Pieter Niedermuller (S&D). Together they urged the Prime Minister to end the unlawful detention in Malta of search and rescue boats, and give them clearance to leave the harbour. A humanitarian act such as rescue at sea is not a crime and should never be criminalised.

Read the full letter below, or in PDF format here.

Dear Prime Minister,

We, the undersigned MEPs, met last night with the crew of Seawatch and Lifeline to get an insight into the current situation of Search and Rescue (SAR) NGOs boats and aircraft that are being impounded in Malta.

It is with great concern that we call on you, as Prime Minister, to end the unlawful detention in Malta of SAR boats and the Moonbird aircraft and give them clearance to leave the harbour. A humanitarian act such as rescue at sea is not a crime and should never be criminalised. While we are witnessing an increased number of deaths at sea and a deteriorating security situation in Libya, saving lives at sea should remain the priority.

As members of the European Parliament who supported the European Parliament Position for a reform of the Dublin regulation that has at its core solidarity and responsibility-sharing, we will continue to stand with you for a fair distribution between EU Member States of the people rescued at sea. You can be assured that in the meantime, while we wait on the Council to adopt its position, we will use all the means at our disposal to convince Member States to relocate people that will be disembarked in Malta.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Lambert, MEP, Greens/EFA

Martina Anderson, MEP, GUE/NGL

Peter Niedermüller, MEP, S&D

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The European Commission is due to address the European Parliament today on how to tackle the disappearance of migrant children in Europe. Almost 90,000 unaccompanied children applied for asylum in the EU in 2015, with 2016 figures expected to be higher. The Greens/EFA group is calling on the Commission and Member States to put the rights of children first, regardless of their migration status.

Commenting ahead of the debate, Green migration spokesperson Jean Lambert said:

“It is shameful that the European Commission and member states are continuing to drag their feet on the protection of vulnerable children. The existing EU policies on asylum and migration are contributing to children, who have often travelled great distances to flee awful situations at home, being pushed out of the system with terrible consequences. We have to start putting the needs of children first, regardless of their migration status. The necessary support needs to be in place for unaccompanied children from the moment they arrive to ensure that they are safe throughout the asylum process and that their rights are upheld.

“In particular, family reunification procedures need to be clear, fast and effective. The failure of the current procedures for reuniting children with their families pushes many children into the services of smugglers – as we have seen in the situation in Calais. Beyond ensuring that children are safe and with either family or a supportive guardian, we need to do more to invest in them, and empower them to fulfil their potential as equal participants in our communities. Crucial to this is access to education for all asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children, as soon as possible from the moment they arrive in Europe.”

Watch Jean’s speech to the European Parliament in full here

ENDS

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New research published today details how voluntary organisations are struggling to fill Government gaps in the care of vulnerable families.

Reacting to the report, published by Oxford University’s Centre on Migration, Policy and Society, Jean Lambert, Green MEP for London and Green Party migration spokesperson said:

“Volunteer groups and small charities are doing incredible work helping desperate families who have nowhere else to turn, whether from the UK or elsewhere, but they are being stretched to their limits. This is a desperate situation caused by the fact the Government is not doing its job.

“It is appalling that families who have fled their homes in search of safety are not finding safety in the UK. We are a generous welcoming country and we can do much better than this. People and communities all over Britain want to welcome refugees but we need Government to match this compassion.

“The UK needs to end its failed ‘deterrence first’ asylum policy and put the funding in place that is urgently needed. We need better more humane processing of asylum claims, and we need extra funding for local authorities and the voluntary sector so they can they provide the services needed. Sadly I doubt there will be much good news for struggling voluntary organisations and the people who rely on them in today’s Autumn’s statement.”

Read Jean’s article calling for a humane approach to asylum in the Green World magazine.

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The UK has a history of a ‘deterrence first’ asylum policy. It’s true that we are the world’s second largest foreign aid donor, and this is welcome. But, increasingly, giving financial aid centres on keeping refugees out of the UK for poorer countries to handle. Around 1.3 million asylum applications were lodged in the EU in 2015 – just 32,414 people applied for protection in the UK. The situation we’ve seen in Calais is a symbol of this protracted failure. I first visited refugees in Sangatte in Northern France around 15 years ago. Successive UK and French governments have tried to clear the informal camps and stop Calais being a destination for people moving through Europe. But more people have come, and the conditions have become more appalling and dangerous.

It is particularly intolerable to think of children living in such a place, cared for by volunteers, not the authorities. Children have gone missing each time the makeshift Calais camp has been destroyed. An estimated 10,000 refugee children have disappeared over the last year in the EU as a whole.

Time will tell if the Calais camp has closed definitively this time. I hope this time the closure does marks a turning point towards an ongoing humane and dignified approach to asylum.

Rather than repelling people, the authorities need to help those who wish to apply for asylum by supporting them to access the system and rapidly providing information and advice in a language they understand. Safe, sanitary accommodation and healthcare should be provided for all. As the actions of the Green Mayor of Grande-Synthe show, it is possible to do this with the support of your community.

Across Europe, we need a more flexible and welcoming approach to people desperately seeking safety and a chance to live. Importantly, asylum seekers’ preferences as to which member state they want to claim asylum in should be considered. Without taking people’s valid reasons for wanting to be in a certain country (such as family, community links or language skills) into consideration, the system will not work effectively. This is something the Greens in the European Parliament are pushing for at the moment.

I believe the UK can be a generous and welcoming country. People want to help. We need government to match this compassion.

by Jean Lambert MEP, for Green World magazine.

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Refugees in Calais and Northern France must be treated with dignity and in accordance with international law, and the British and French governments must urgently find long-term humane solutions to their plight, Green MEPs have urged today.

The call comes after the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp was again in the headlines on both sides of the Channel. Protests against the camp by local residents took place this week, the French Government announced it will completely close the camp, and there was fresh disruption to cross-Channel traffic, and now there are Donald Trump-esque plans to build a monstrous wall.

Jean Lambert, MEP for London and Green Party migration spokesperson said:

“The decision to build a wall in Calais is the latest wrong move in what is the ongoing scandal of the handling of the plight of refugees in northern France. Successive French and British governments have utterly failed to fulfil their responsibilities towards the vulnerable people who find themselves in the camps, especially unaccompanied children. A wall will do nothing to improve the security of vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers or local residents, lorry drivers and cross-channel travellers.

“Adding to the already chaotic situation will only cause more children to go missing and give more control to criminal gangs. The authorities need to gain the trust of people in the camps, provide them with the information they are entitled to, give them a sense of security, and handle their asylum claims properly.

“The UK government must get its act together. Many of the people in Calais have a legal right to be reunited with family in the UK. The slow speed at which governments are dealing with asylum claims is inexcusable. People who find themselves in these camps do not want to enter the UK illegally but they need support to access the asylum system and no matter what they need to be treated with dignity.”

Keith Taylor, MEP for the South East of England, said:

“The situation in Calais is a symptom of a problem; dismantling the camps and removing the last scraps of dignity and security from their residents will not solve the problem. Building a wall is certainly not the answer either. Only through cross-border political cooperation can we hope to alleviate what is a global crisis.

“I empathise with the frustrations of local residents, hauliers, and travellers on both sides of the channel, but we cannot allow this Humanitarian crisis to be exploited by resurgent French or British far right groups. The dehumanising campaigns against camp residents cannot become justification for abandoning our legal and moral duties to approach this crisis with humanity.

“History will not judge our nations kindly if French and British governments refuse to work together constructively on this issue. Attacking the symptoms will never solve the problem.”

Molly Scott Cato MEP, who visited the ‘jungle’ camp in Calais earlier this year and is Green Party spokesperson on EU relations, said:

“The new wall will turn out to be another hugely expensive sticking plaster that will simply result in people going further to get round it and will push up tariffs for people smugglers. Instead, the British Government should be registering applications for asylum in the camps in France to quickly identify those people with a right to enter Britain. Perhaps a wall fits better with the fortress Britain mentality which seems to be at the heart of those pushing for a hard Brexit.”

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The European Commission today set out further proposals for reforming the EU’s system of asylum rules, notably the criteria under which asylum-seekers’ applications for international protection are judged in the EU, and the rights and treatment they should receive.

Commenting on the proposals, Jean Lambert MEP, Greens asylum spokesperson said: 

“The EU has justifiably come under fire for its response to the refugee crisis but today’s proposals from the Commission will do nothing to allay this. This latest step in the ongoing review of the EU’s asylum rules represents further retrograde steps in a number of areas of asylum policy, notably regarding the rights of asylum seekers and an obsession with punitive measures.

​“The framing of the issue we are being presented with needs to be turned on its head – people are fleeing because their lives are threatened and homes being destroyed, not because the EU’s asylum system is gold plated – it’s  not! During the previous review of the EU asylum system we fought to try to ensure that a fair examination of the claim is at the core of the system. The Commission’s obsession with administrative expediency and sanctions over ensuring that asylum-​seekers have the information they need to be able to comply with their obligations and Member States have the time to examine claims thoroughly must be reversed.

“The appalling conditions people, including unaccompanied children, are living in in camps in northern France and elsewhere, are proof that the current EU asylum laws do not function. But the pressure on the system must in no way be used to justify less protection, fewer rights or inhuman treatment. We will continue to work for an asylum system which respects international law and human dignity for every individual.”

The proposals announced tomorrow relate to the revision of the EU ‘Reception Conditions Directive’ which covers access to housing, food and health care for asylum-seekers, and the ‘Qualifications Directive’ covering the grounds on which international protection status is granted in the EU.

These proposals follow planned changes to the ‘Dublin Regulation’ – the system under which responsibility for asylum applications is shared among EU member countries – announced in May.

Greens were highly critical of those proposals which they say reinforce current failures in the system and will not give more certainty and hope to desperate people. Jean Lambert is one of the authors of the paper ‘The Green Alternative to the Dublin System‘.

​As part of its exit negotiations with the European Union, the UK could agree to implement EU asylum policy, or parts of it. Non-EU members including Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein have agreements in place with the EU on the protection of asylum-seekers and refugees.

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Jean Lambert spoke out in the European Parliament today on the inadequacy of plans to share responsibility for asylum seeker applications between countries.

“We are going backwards and risk entrenching many of the problems we are trying to solve,” said the Green MEP for London and Green Party migration spokesperson.

“We know that member states need to show solidarity – we are still waiting for it.

“If your one chance is in a country where you think your claim is not going to be properly examined, where you will not be able to make the contact with your community, to use the language you have to integrate, wouldn’t you move? It’s your one chance to actually develop your life in any sort of way.

“There are some really big amendments that need to be made to this proposal.”

The European Commission is proposing to maintain the current system for responsibility for asylum applications – known as the ‘Dublin Regulation’ – under which the country in which an asylum seeker first arrives is responsible for processing the application. This system has reached breaking point in Greece and Italy where most people coming into Europe first arrive.

The United Kingdom will have the choice to opt-out of the proposed system.

Whilst the EU is a long way from agreeing a fair system based on solidarity between all countries to give more certainty and hope to desperate people arriving in Europe, the Greens believe that the European Union is absolutely the best place to deal with cross-border issues like migration.

Greens are calling on all countries, not least the British government, to stay around the table and show much more solidarity. The UK must not try to absolve itself of its international obligations and moral responsibilities by opting to leave the EU.

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A new system of more shared responsibility for asylum applications among European Union countries has been put forward today by the European Commission.  The proposal reinforces the current failures in the system and will not give more certainty and hope to desperate people, according to Greens migration spokesperson, Jean Lambert MEP.

The European Commission has proposed to maintain the current system – known as the ‘Dublin Regulation’ – under which the country in which an asylum seeker first arrives is responsible for processing their asylum application. This system has reached breaking point in Greece and Italy where most people coming into Europe first arrive.

The United Kingdom will have the choice to opt-out of the proposed system.

Reacting to today’s proposals, Jean Lambert MEP, Greens migration spokesperson said:

“The current EU asylum system is broken and does not work either for EU member states or those caught up in the asylum process. A new system, based on solidarity and responsibility-sharing between member states is needed, but the Commission has reinforced the current failing rules.

“With no trust in the current system, there is a need to take much greater account of asylum seekers’ preferences and existing ties, otherwise asylum seekers will continue to take dangerous routes and use people smugglers.

“The UK and some other governments will fight for their right to return asylum seekers to other countries but in reality few people are sent back. The UK has a moral responsibility to do more, as the dramatic situations in Greece and Italy underline, and the government should put in place the funding local councils need to welcome families fleeing war and persecution, to help them to integrate and build new lives.

“The European Union is absolutely the right place for governments to work together to deal with urgent cross-border issues like migration. The European Parliament now has a major responsibility to transform this proposal into something that shows solidarity for asylum seekers and the Member States most affected.”

ENDS

Read ‘The Green Alternative to the Dublin System‘

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The European Commission today presented its proposals for reforming the EU’s asylum system. Commenting on the proposals, Green migration spokesperson Jean Lambert said:

“The unravelling chaos in Greece and Turkey has underlined for the umpteenth time that a comprehensive European solution to the refugee crisis is needed, and this implies overhauling the dysfunctional EU framework on asylum law. All EU member states must accept their responsibility for the refugees arriving at EU borders, and not just for the borders themselves. Unfortunately, today’s proposal from the Commission is piecemeal.

“The existing Dublin asylum system is not fit for the task and must be replaced. There needs to be a permanent and fair system for relocating refugees across EU member states, based on solidarity, not an accident of geography. The European asylum agency (EASO) must play an important supporting role but it should not be abused by member states to outsource their responsibilities. It is also essential that the preferences and needs of refugees are taken into account, notably as regards language knowledge and where they already have family contacts. This is essential for facilitating integration. The Commission has also failed to address this in its proposal.”

Jean Lambert is one of the authors of the paper ‘The Green Alternative to the Dublin System‘ paper.

The Dublin system has been dysfunctional for years at great human and financial cost. It has effectively collapsed in the context of the current ‘refugee crisis’. The paper does not advocate returning to ‘pre-Dublin’ days where it was not clear which Member State was responsible for examining an asylum application, but outlines a vision for a new system based on solidarity and responsibility sharing between Member States and which, crucially, takes asylum seekers preferences into account. Without taking preferences into account it will be impossible to build a functional and sustainable system.

The Greens in the European Parliament are calling for the following:

• A system based on a fair allocation of asylum seekers across EU Member States, based on objective criteria and binding on all Member States
• A system which is built around the existing ties and preferences of asylum seekers to a certain Member State
• A system which is based on incentives for asylum seekers to stay in “their” Member State rather than on coercive measures against their onward movement to another Member State
• An integrated EU asylum system to improve harmonisation and implementation of EU asylum legislation, including substantial integration measures
• Positive mutual recognition of asylum decisions so that beneficiaries of international protection can move Member States one year following their recognition as refugees
• Developing the current European Asylum Support Office into a fully-fledged EU asylum agency tasked with ensuring the functioning of the preference based allocation system and the EU asylum system in general.

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Today Jean, along with other Green MEPs in the European Parliament, launched a report on a Green alternative to the Dublin System .

At the launch Jean said:

“It is clear that the Dublin system as it stands is crumbling. As Member States are pulling up the draw bridges, our proposals outline how to better manage the arrival of refugees on Europe’s shores – ultimately this so called crisis is one of policy, not numbers. We outline a system which is based on solidarity and the fair sharing of responsibility, making it fairer to Member States, and fairer to those seeking protection by taking their valid reasons for wanting to be in a specific Member State into account as far as is possible at the start of the process and other possibilities later on. Choice is crucial to help build a sustainable system where people can actually end up where they want to be rather than relying on smugglers to get them there.”

The report is available here: The Green alternative to the Dublin System

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