Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-28-Speech-3-434-000"
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"en.20110928.24.3-434-000"2
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"Madam President, we will of course join with the Commissioner in urging Member States to do more. As Mr Díaz de Mera García Consuegra has said for those of us on the delegation – and a few of us are now in the Chamber – there were some harrowing sights in the refugee camps, and it is worth putting that on record. On a daily basis, children, women and men face extreme heat, sandstorms, limited access to clean water, inadequate sanitation and hygiene facilities. Of course this is the story of all refugee camps in extreme areas, but I think all of our colleagues would agree that what we also saw was extreme generosity by the Tunisian people, by the army. These are people of whom many are living on the poverty line, yet they took refugees into their own homes and we witnessed this story.
What it means for us is a contrast between that and a more urgent situation today. I spoke to the UNHCR last week and it has identified 5 291 persons in extreme positions who could be resettled. They have been checked. They can be resettled. We are in a situation where we know the figures, we have done the organisation and of course the Tunisian border will now be closed because of the sheer number of sub-Saharan African refugees, people who have been rejected by the rebel forces in Libya, who are now coming since our visit to the area. So there is a more urgent situation today than ever before and, with the elections also coming, the political pressures on Tunisia are extreme.
Since that delegation visit we ask you to redouble your efforts. We will join you in doing it. It is crucial also that the joint EU resettlement programme is established before the new multiannual financial framework. The deadlock is unblocked in Council. It would allow Member States to pledge resettlement places in May 2012, to be offered in 2013, already a long time to wait for those who are in urgent need.
Parliament has also proposed supplementary funding for any new resettlement countries and this could give the incentive that is needed to involve more Member States in resettlement. In the shorter term unblocking the resettlement programme will also allow the European Asylum Support Office to take up its role of coordinating cooperation between EU Member States and in supporting those that are new to resettlement, but the political message is very clear: resettlement does not involve huge numbers; they are very modest numbers but they are highly symbolic. I know colleagues who visited the camps will agree with me that there was one country on their lips, and that was Norway. Norway had resettled refugees, the United States had resettled refugees, Canada had resettled, and of course we in the European Union had lagged behind. We must put that right. We must get the political message right, and the humanitarian message correct."@en1
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