LIBE II

Motion for a Resolution by the Committee on
Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs II

Refugees (un)welcome: With the Council of Europe criticising the Netherlands over the treatment of migrants at the Ter Apel asylum seekers’ centre, the low and inadequate standards of refugee centres in Europe were again brought to light. How can the EU ensure conditions in such facilities uphold human rights and protect the dignity of refugees and asylum seekers?

Submitted by: Sophie Baars (NL), Jente Goossens (NL), Farzan Jafari (NL), Mehrzad Joussefi (NL), Maria Nersisyan (NL), Leticia Torres (NL), Juliette van der Wal (NL), Rep van Venrooij (NL), Lisanne van Woudenberg (NL), Giada Chiassi (Chairperson, IT)

The European Youth Parliament

  1. Acknowledging that the right to seek refuge from serious threats to life or freedom in a foreign country is granted by article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
  2. Deeply alarmed by the living conditions of asylum seekers in refugee centres across Member States,
  3. Pointing out that  life quality in refugee centres may worsen due to the rise of the migration flow as a result of events of various nature as:
    1. the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan,
    2. the revocation of Covid-19 prevention measures that had lowered the possibility of  cross the EU boards
    3. the ongoing war in Syria,
  4. Noting with regret the lack of international cooperation between Member States on the process of reception and resettlement of refugees in the European territory,
  5. Alarmed by the widespread of anti-migrant racism and discrimination linked to the rise of far-right parties and groups in Member States, 
  6. Disturbed that asylum seekers are more likely to experience serious mental distress due to their personal background and living conditions in the facilities, but less likely to receive psychological support, 
  7. Appreciating the activation of the Temporary Protection Directive to allow Ukrainians refugee to benefit the rights granted by the national social welfare,
  8. Appreciating the Cohesion’s Action for Refugees established by the European Commission to help Member States providing Ukrainian asylum seekers with emergency support;
  1. Emphasises to Member States the importance of Art. 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1;
  2. Requests the European Commision to advance life quality in asylum seekers’ facilities in order to improve refugees’ living conditions by:
    1. building more reception centres,
    2. ensuring reception centres are adequately staffed,
    3. decreasing the number of refugees per facility,
    4. increasing the care and attention to the individual;
  3. Recommends the European Commission to allocate funds from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund 2 to Member States for the creation of emergency shelters to provide basic needs and immediate accommodation in case of future sudden inflows of refugees;
  4. Calls upon the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) to reallocate asylum seekers between Member States based on criterias of proportionality between size, economic stability, and population, repealing the Dublin Regulation3;
  5. Encourages Member States to create regional forums to strengthen cooperation between neighbouring nations in the reception of refugees, following the example of the European Parliament’s European Migration Forum4;
  6. Invites Member States to raise awareness among their citizens on the reception crisis and asylum seekers’ living conditions through media campaigns and in schools’ curricula;
  7. Urges Member States to safeguard refugees’ mental health by ensuring asylum seekers’ centres provide psychological help to refugees hosted there; 
  8. Advises Member States to fund long-term projects to help refugees in the transition from refugee centres to independent housing with the support of social counsellors; 
  9. Asks DG HOME to enlarge the Cohesion’s Action for Refugees in Europe5to transform it into a long-term project.
  1. Art. 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. [..]”
  2. The Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund is a fund with the aim to support Member States’ capacity to manage migration flows.
  3.  The Dublin Regulation is the current regulation on the asylum applications procedure in Member States. It establishes that the country of first arrival will take care of the asylum process.
  4.  The European Migration Forum is yearly meeting between civil society and European Institutions run by the European Commision to analyse and discuss the topics of migration, asylum and integration.
  5. Cohesion’s Action for Refugees in Europe: a plan of relocation of funding to support Member States to give immediate help to refugees.