Campaigners call on EU leaders to veto ‘costly and cruel’ changes to migration law

Proposed changes to the EU’s migration laws risk weakening human rights and could leave the bloc with an “ill-functioning, costly and cruel system”, more than 50 human rights organisations have said as negotiations over the plans enter the final stretch.

In an open letter published on Monday, 57 organisations – describing themselves as “people who see and work with the stark consequences of political choices” – said the package of new laws would “mirror the failed approaches of the past and worsen their consequences”.

They called on EU leaders to consider the far-reaching impact of their decisions. “There are times when political choices can make a profound difference, for better or for worse, to people’s lives. Today is one such time,” reads the letter, signed by groups including Amnesty International, Save the Children and Caritas Europa.

Rather than “more camps, walls and surveillance,” it lays out an alternative approach to managing migration, calling on leaders to strengthen reception and asylum systems and fairly share the responsibility among European states.

“We need support for – not restrictions on – rescuing people at sea. We need more, not less, access to legal aid, asylum, medical and social support for people in need,” it states. “We need real accountability for border forces that violate our laws. And we need more safe routes for people to move, work and settle in safety and dignity.”

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After seven years spent attempting to reform migration laws, the EU managed to cobble together majority support earlier this year.

The proposed laws, which still need to be approved by the European parliament, could allow member states flexibility when it comes to determining what country is “safe” for migrants deemed to be ineligible for asylum and on what grounds they can be sent to third countries.

As negotiators scramble to hammer out the final text before the current session of the European parliament ends in June, the deal has taken on a harder edge that reflects the rise of nationalist anti-immigrant parties in several EU countries.

The European Network Against Racism argued that the result was a pact that greenlights detention, pushbacks and racial profiling. The pact “tears up people’s rights and makes migration more dangerous than ever”, it said on social media as it published the open letter.

The joint condemnation of the proposed migration laws comes less than two weeks after 17 organisations across Europe cautioned that the pact risked opening the door to increased discrimination and racial profiling.

The latest letter builds on this, adding that the new laws could normalise the arbitrary use of immigration detention, including for children and families, and could lead to people being returned to countries where they may be at risk of violence, torture and arbitrary imprisonment.

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“We are acutely aware that politics is often about compromise,” says the letter. “But there are exceptions, and human rights cannot be compromised. When they are weakened, there are consequences for all of us.”

It calls on the EU to instead extend the kind of protection and assistance that was given to those fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “The new pact must reflect and build upon this dignified response rather than leading Europe in the opposite direction,” it says. “Europe’s solidarity and commitment to human rights cannot be defined by the place of origin, race, ethnicity or immigration status.”

Ahead of negotiations on Monday, the EU’s home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, defended the agreement, saying it would mean “safer and better managed migration, which is in the interest of all”.

Several of the organisations behind the letter voiced their disagreement with this on social media. Collective Aid, an independent volunteer organisation that aids refugees across Europe, wrote on X: “Safe routes and support – not prisons and walls – are the only lasting solution to displacement.”