Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-12-13-Speech-4-166"
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"en.20011213.12.4-166"2
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"Mr President, I should like to thank you for the one minute's silence for those who died. There may well be further deaths unless we change our approach to this whole issue of immigration and refugee status. I would like to convey my deepest sympathy to the survivors of this tragedy for the loss of their spouses and their children.
The discovery of eight bodies, plus the five people who are seriously ill, in a container in Wexford in Ireland was an appalling tragedy which has shocked people, not just in Ireland, but all across Europe. Regrettably it is not the first time that this has happened. The suffering and terror endured by the injured and those who died – including four children – during the several days they spent in this sealed metal container is barely conceivable. They spent 53 hours at sea in a Force 10 gale in a container surrounded by furniture. The deaths all occurred as a result of lack of oxygen. The very thought of little children being put through that kind of terror is inconceivable. I urge the Irish Government to enable the survivors to remain in Ireland, to help them rebuild their lives, and to provide them with refugee status if that is appropriate. It may be that under law they do not qualify for refugee status, but if this is so they should get it, and they should still be allowed to remain in Ireland in any case.
The tragedy demonstrates once again the desperate lengths to which people are prepared to go to try to improve circumstances for themselves and their families. We hear much about the privileged treatment given to asylum seekers and I hope we will hear no more of this. The reality of the terrible experience facing many immigration and asylum seekers is revealed in eight people dead and others who are seriously ill. Lessons have to be learnt from this tragedy. There is clearly a need for more thorough checking of containers at the point of departure and arrival and for closer cooperation between the authorities in different countries. But, given that it will not be possible to check every single container, given that inevitably others will try this desperate journey, we should look seriously at the question of obliging those who own these containers to put air vents in them. Otherwise we are going to face this kind of horror yet again.
Ireland and Europe have to adopt immigration policies based on full respect for human rights as set out in international conventions, such as the Geneva Convention. Our policies have to address in a much more forceful way the political, economic and social reasons why people are fleeing their homelands. We must also relax immigration laws to prevent people from being driven to take these desperate remedies.
I very much regret this but I must condemn a statement made by Ireland's Minister for Justice last Monday, where he accused those who argue for a more rational and open immigration policy of simply proposing an open door policy on immigration. I am quite happy to engage in debate with the minister but the problem is that, in adopting that attitude and in adopting that frame of reference for this debate, he is feeding the paranoia which is at the root of much of the abuse that immigrants and refugees face in their host country."@en1
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