The European Council adopted the Pact on Migration and Asylum on 14 May 2024. This agreement encompasses a set of legal measures that establish a new legal framework for the European Union in the field of migration and international protection. To learn more about this new development, the Social Action Area of the Teresian Association in Spain organised an online meeting on 22 May with the intervention of Patricia Fernández Vicens, lawyer and well-known defender of the human rights of migrant.
Marga Usano, one of the core team of the TA Social Area in Spain, was in charge of presenting this meeting entitled “A critical view of the European Pact for the Regulation of Migrants”. It was online and was joined by more than 130 people from different parts of the world. She first gave the attendees some background information and then handed over to Patricia Fernández.
Immigration: a management problem?
As the lawyer explained, the Pact was first conceived in 2015 due to the migration of people to Europe caused by the war in Syria. At that time, the European Union began to perceive immigration as a management problem. However, several organisations and human rights experts claim that the reform that has been agreed upon entails risks for the right to asylum. It also puts the focus on measures involving the externalisation of borders and return to third countries.
Syrian refugees @UNHCR/Hameed Maarouf.
Syrian refugees @UNHCR/Priscilla Gracinda Gomes.
From the lawyer's point of view, although the formal intention of the Pact is to maintain the right to asylum and establish orderly and safe immigration channels, the truth is that “if we analyse the legal text in detail, it really hinders the protection of vulnerable people.” She also said that there was a “betrayal of one of the fundamental values of the EU, fraternity, which is recognised in the Declaration of Human Rights. It is a value that is not only extraordinary, but it is also legally binding,” she added.
She then outlined the ten legal instruments that make up the Pact which are nine regulations and one directive. 
Reflections
Finally, a short discussion took place in which a number of questions were raised. Some of them concerned the clarification of certain legal concepts, but at the same time some points were raised. Proposals were heard on how to move forward, what can be done and what to do in order to guarantee an orderly, sustainable response to people arriving at European borders in a way that respects human rights.
In this regard, Patricia Fernández stated that the deadline for the implementation of the Pact is July 2026. Although there is a small margin for manoeuvre, it is necessary to take a position, to coordinate and to reach consensus in Spanish civil society: “We have to decide how to avoid human rights violations in the detention spaces that will be created for migrants and asylum seekers, and how to ensure a culture of welcome and hospitality as opposed to hostility and rejection.”
For further information, please visit the website of of the Teresian Association in Spain.
TA Spain.
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