By Peter Verhaeghe, Migration Officer of Caritas Europa
The Geneva meeting is a unique opportunity to exchange views and information with UNHCR on burning issues related to refugee protection and the respect for the Geneva refugee convention.
It is also an opportunity to rally with other NGOs to advocate on regional and national concerns about policy developments.
Finally it’s an opportunity to compare the situation of refugees in one’s own country with other countries/regions
Caritas Europa (based in Brussels) focuses a lot of its lobbying on the European Union. Many Caritas member organisations offer accommodation, psycho-social and legal counselling and representation services to asylum seekers, projects promoting the integration of refugees.
The EU must respect Human Rights under all circumstances, also for asylum seekers. People have the RIGHT to apply for asylum and therefore access to a fair and correct asylum procedure must be guaranteed in legislation and in practice.
Our big issue is the harmonisation of asylum systems, with the Common European Asylum System. The EU should do more efforts to harmonise the asylum systems in the (currently) 27 member states. The divergence in recognition rates between member states is a clear symptom that there’s still a lot of work to do here. UNHCR is actively involved and consulted in this process and must continue to defend a harmonisation of EU asylum policies and instruments at the highest possible level.
Other issues of concern are the quality of asylum procedures and reception conditions for asylum seekers, including the use of detention, as well as integration of refugees (including access to labour market). The promotion of an EU wide resettlement scheme is also gaining momentum.
On national level in Europe, countries must fully implement the Geneva refugee convention, including granting a secure residence status to refugees and asylum applications must be processed in a fair, transparent and correct asylum procedure and within reasonable time limits.
I (try to) promote in my work respect of fundamental rights and human dignity of every human being, in particular for the most vulnerable: asylum seekers, refugees, undocumented migrants, legal migrants. One can’t do this on his/her own, therefore it’s crucial to have a network of colleagues doing the same thing in their country/region/global level and to coordinate action with them.
