The European Commission have made recommendations suggesting member states guard against the risks of the flight of illegal migrants.
The Commission suggests that states should do so by placing in detention those for whom a decision to return them to their country of origin has been made.
The view of Amnesty International expressed yesterday (Thursday) is that this demonstrates the “cruelty and hypocrisy” of the commissioners’ migration policy.
The Director of the European Institution Office for Amnesty International (“Amnesty”), Iverna McGowan, says, “The detention of migrants in an irregular situation, who are amongst the most vulnerable individuals in Europe, should be a last resort.”
She goes on, “In place of this system, the Commission is urging European governments to intercept them by almost every means possible. The fact that children are included within these detention regimes is genuinely shocking.”
Amnesty says, “Commissoners’ recent attempts to distance themselves from the migration policies of the Trump administration now seem somewhat hollow.”
Amnesty adds, “If there were any doubts as to the Commission’s hypocrisy regarding migrants, today’s announcement [Thursday, editors note] cast them aside.”
