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Amnesty: EU does not value migrants’ lives

Published time: June 13, 2012 03:52
Edited time: June 13, 2012 07:52
Migrants from North Africa arrive in the southern Italian island of Lampedusa March 7, 2011. (Reuters/Antonio Parrinello)

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EU, Europe, Human rights, Immigration, Law, Politics

Europe cares about reinforcing its borders but not about human lives. The criticism comes from Amnesty International, which says in its report that European governments often endanger asylum-seekers by preventing them from reaching European shores.

­The human rights group says its campaign is aimed at holding to account any European country that practises human rights violations in the way it enforces migration controls.

“Today, Europe is failing to promote and respect the rights of migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees,” Amnesty alleges in a statement according to AP. “Hostility is widespread and mistreatment often goes unreported.”

The group is particularly concerned about what it calls “externalization,” which includes the common practice of ignoring asylum claims. Moreover, the report states Europe actively prevents Africans from reaching its shores by boat. As a result, in 2011 alone, at least 1,500 people, including women and children, drowned in the Mediterranean Sea. Amnesty points out that many of those deaths could have been avoided had appropriate rescue measures been implemented.

“For the EU, reinforcing Europe's borders clearly trumps saving lives,” AP quoted the director of the organization's European Institutions Office, Nicolas Beger, as saying. “By attempting to curb irregular migration, European countries have bolstered border control measures beyond European frontiers without regard to the human cost."

Over the past 10 years, the report continues, European countries have started implementing various border control measures outside their own territories, in other countries or on the high seas. Last year, on several occasions, Italy sent people back to Libya, where they were subsequently detained and mistreated. In this way, Amnesty International explains, human rights abuses go unpunished along Europe's coasts.

The release of the report on Wednesday is expected to coincide with the launch of an online public petition urging the European Parliament to hold EU governments and institutions accountable for mistreating migrants.

Comments (34)

Trepan (unregistered) 14.06.2012 07:40

So? What do these immigrants have to offer besides rioting, looting, murdering, raping and sucking the european teat dry?

+2

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David Barneby (unregistered) 14.06.2012 01:20

Without the EU these hoardes of immigrants would not have tried to come to Europe .  I think Europeans have been too kind to tollerate this invasion .Some come to find jobs , among the European unemployed , others for social benefits that exceeded those for indigenous nationals . Hard luck if overloaded unseaworthy boats sink at sea , at least europe is saved from having to accommodate them .  Down with the EU , Globalism and Amnesty International !!!

+4

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A.Smith (unregistered) 14.06.2012 00:23

Nearly 1 MILLION African Immigrants to Libya which Gadhafi openly encouraged and embraced for multiple projects across Libya. Gadhafi gave them free rental homes, free electricity, free educations in Libya and any college or University in the world that accepted them and free medical and health care.

While the USA/Israeli proxy terrorists (many trained in Virginia by the CIA) overthrew and murdered Gadhafi, it appears the unarmed Black African Immigrants were deliberately targeted for death by the ten's of thousands. In many cases it appears USA/NATO even went along with the genocide of the Black Africans in Libya thru Zioist media releases of 'Black African mercenarys working for Gadhafi', 'Thousands of Black African's fleeing Libya Drown in captized ferry's'.

Tho se were falsehoods to cover up mass executions by the USA/Israeli rebel 'friends'. WHEN fisherman in the Mediterrean found the supposed drowned Black Africans floating by the thousands still had their hands tied behind their backs and shot in the head, the Satanially evil Zionist media outlets then began spewing the 'Drowned Black African Libyan Immigrants had booby trapped bombs attached to their bodys' designed to discourage more civilians from discovering the utter depth of the USA/Israeli evil genocide of some 1 MILLION Black African immigrants that were happly residing in Libya before USA/UK/Europe decided to steal the Libyan Oil fields and kick the Chinese out of their Libyan Oil contracts and their investments of 10's of Billions.

Mea nwhile multiple EU-Zone nations spew they can't take all the displaced Black African immigrants, same with UK and of course Apartheid Israel. They seemed fine in the physical GENOCIDE of them but also utterly bigotted and racist about condemning Gadhafi while showing the world how they treat Black African immigrants themselves.

+17

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