Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-13-Speech-2-035-000"

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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, there can scarcely be another institution established by the European Union that is so controversial when it comes to human rights as Frontex is. This agency is associated with shameful images on the high seas where thousands of people have lost their lives, of land borders where people are kept in custody and where deep trenches are now being dug. At heart, Frontex embodies an erring policy towards refugees in Europe, refugees who leave their homelands not only as a result of political persecution, but also for economic reasons – simply to survive – as a result of hunger, civil wars and climate disasters. The new Frontex mandate does incorporate real and substantial improvements – and for that I am particularly grateful to the rapporteur, Mr Busuttil – such as the obligation to respect human dignity, the right of non-refoulement, non-discrimination, the prohibition of torture, the respect of refugee minors, and the guaranteeing of data protection. Rescues at sea are now finally to be given stability and there is to be a code of conduct for border officials – but it is also true that the mandate does not lay down a principle of refraining from the use of violence. Furthermore, who is to be responsible for actually checking up on proportionality and appropriateness? Frontex is having its competence clearly expanded as the lead body in border patrols and as the body that produces risk analyses, on the basis of which interventions and the return to their homelands of thousands and thousands more migrants will take place. Heaven knows how hard Parliament struggled to obtain improvements, but they will make no difference to the fact that a wolf is still a wolf, even if it is dressed in sheep’s clothing. Frontex is not necessary either as a border agency – the national defence institutions serve that purpose – or to repel migration, as migration is not, in fact, repelled, but merely territorially displaced. Frontex is absolutely not suitable to act as custodian of human rights, given that, ultimately, it categorises people as legal or illegal. People cannot be illegal! I do not understand how that is not accepted. In place of Frontex, what we need is a humanisation of the refugee situation, in Africa, for example, where almost a million refugees live in degrading conditions. That does not interest us, or only does so to a limited extent. We would rather take care of ourselves. We need an asylum system that demonstrates solidarity, at European level too, of course, and we definitely need a new neighbourhood policy on an equal footing. That, too, still lies ahead."@en1
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