QCEA calls on the European Union
QCEA appeals for EU to create safe pathways for migrants
The Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) is appealing to the European Union (EU) to halt military operations and to create safer ways for people to seek refuge in Europe.
The EU’s latest military operation, EUNAVFOR MED, aims to prevent migration by seizing or destroying boats used to carry people across the Mediterranean. QCEA is encouraging policy-makers to use other mechanisms, such as humanitarian visas, as an alternative to military action.
‘If our governments used the European institutions for what they are really for, they could address this issue much more effectively through cooperation,’ said QCEA representative Andrew Lane.
‘Barbed wire in mainland Europe and the destruction of boats on the north African coast will only contribute to the trauma experienced by refugees.’
In November 2014 a group of organisations including QCEA, the Jesuit Refugee Service and the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe, made a joint proposal to the European Commission for safer, legal paths to protection in Europe. The proposal contained specific and evidence-based policies, but it was not implemented.
