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General view of the European Parliament offices, in Brussels, Belgium. (Photo by Artur ... More Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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Representatives in the EU’s legislative arm are to begin debating new rules designed to prevent human smuggling and irregular migration around the bloc. The legislative package presented by the EU’s executive arm has been criticized for treating migrants and people lending them assistance as criminals. It is argued the proposal - if made into law unchanged - could have serious implications for humanitarian workers and other people acting in solidarity with migrants..
Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) are to begin debating the legislative package from the European Commission, known as the ‘Facilitation Directive’ in early April. The proposal, formally known as ‘Preventing and countering the facilitation of unauthorized entry, transit and stay in the EU’ is nominally designed to modernize Europe’s legal framework to crack down on people smugglers and other vendors who ‘profit’ from irregular migration.
The proposal is not from scratch, rather a redraft of proposed changes to the existing 2002 Facilitation Directive. This week, European Member of Parliament (MEPs) in the relevant committee will begin debating the proposal from the commission, as part of its potential journey to adoption. They will be working from a draft report by socialist MEP Birgit Sippel, which highlights some of the major concerns about the proposal.
One of the main concerns addressed by the draft report is the danger that humanitarian workers might face criminal sanction for assisting irregular migrants on their journey, or indeed protecting their lives and wellbeing. Such ‘criminalization’ has already long taken place in various forms around European member states, including the detention of sea rescue workers by Italy, or the persecution of rights NGOs in Greece.
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