Children’s rights federation calls for ‘radical’ change to EU migration policy

Terre des Hommes, an international federation for children’s rights, has called for a ‘radical’ change in the EU’s migration policies so as to better reflect human rights.

“We want our continent to remain a space of human rights and opportunities,” TdH chairman Raffaele Salinari said. “The EU must focus its cooperation in Mediterannean countries by supporting local civil society and democracy with more resources. And we must invest in Europe to democracy with more resources.

“We must invest in Europe to protect and integrate migrants, in particular children and youth. Those are the two pillars expressing a new paradigm in EU migration policy that we want to see in the upcoming new EU Agenda on Migration to be adopted by the European Commission in May.”

As many as 400 migrants died in a shipwreck On Sunday, while on their way from Libya to Italy. Around 150 people were rescued.

In the first three months of 2015, Italy had already registered more than 10,000 migrants arriving and about 2,000 were rescued at sea during the first weekend of April in the Channel of Sicily. On Sunday, the Italian Coast Guard said that a total of 2,782 migrants were saved over the weekend, 1,116 on Sunday alone. Between April 10-12, Italy rescued 5,629 migrants from 22 different vessels.

According to the International Organisation for Migration, most migrants recorded this year come from countries in West Africa as well as Somalia and Syria, the IMO said, using Libya as a country of transit.

Around 3,500 people are estimated to have drowned and 170,000 reached Italy as the migrant crisis intensified with continuing instability in Libya, the staging point for most of the boats trying to cross to Sicily.

In February, more than 300 drowned when attempting the crossing in cold weather and rough seas.

Terre des Hommes warned that 3,000 out of the 12,000 unaccompanied minors that arrived in South Italy since the start of 2015 have escaped from social services facilities.

“This is confirming the loopholes of the reception system in Italy,” TdH lawyer Alessandra Ballerini said, “It does not enable a rapid transfer of children from permanent reception facilities to start their full integration path.

“Moreover these children and youth are de facto forced to institutional inactivity and to irregular status in Europe, encompassing obvious social risks.”