1. 10th General Assembly: provisional programme
2. Project involving monitoring, consciousness raising, and action against the disregard of fundamental rights, abuses, and administrative and legal discriminations experienced by immigrant families in 6 EU countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain).
3. Reaction to the European Commission's Green Paper on "economic" immigration.

• 3a. The position of the European Platform for Migrant Workers' Rights on the European Commission's Green Paper.
• 3b. Reaction of a Coalition of European, French and Portuguese associations to the European Commission's Green Paper on Economic Migration.
• 3c. Comments by other Networks and associations to the European Commission's Green Paper on Economic Migration

4. The Coordination's 10th anniversary: We are preparing a dossier that will document the work of the Coordination over the past 10 years as well as the road yet to be travelled.

1. 10th General Assembly

Frankfurt am Main
Headquarters of the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband
(Heinrich-Hoffmann-Straße, 3)

27-28 May 2005

The European Coordination for Foreigners’ Right to Family Life will hold its General Assembly for this year at the headquarters of the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband in Frankfurt am Main.

Practical notes: Participants should cover their own expenses for transportation and accommodations; the German Coordination and the European Coordination will provide meals and simultaneous translation (French–German).  
VERY IMPORTANT: There are a LIMITED NUMBER OF ROOMS available in the place where the meeting is to be held. The price is 48.50 Euros, including breakfast. Because these rooms are scarce, please make your reservation as soon as possible by writing to the Secretary.

We remind you that only associations that have paid their 2004 membership fees may vote in the General Assembly; other member associations may participate in the activities but may not vote.
Please let us know as soon as possible if you intend to attend on 27 May and 28 May.

Further details will follow.
Thank you.

Riccardo Zoggia, secretary
coordeurop.secretariat@coordeurop.org

2. Project involving monitoring, consciousness raising, and action against the disregard of fundamental rights, abuses, and administrative and legal discriminations experienced by immigrant families in 6 EU countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain)

On 5 March 2005 a meeting of 6 national coordinators (from Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal, and Spain; Italy excused) was held in Paris. A sociologist also participated, in order to ensure scientific validity.

The work to be carried out between now and the Coordination's General Assembly essentially comprises:

1. Giving an overview of the legislation concerning the right to family life in for each of the six countries.
2. Collecting relevant statistics and reports available in each country.
3. Demonstrating discrepancies noted by associations between rights granted by law and administrative practice: this is to be done, depending on the country, either by gathering data at observation points or by administering a survey to a certain number of associations working in this domain.

In each country, cases of abuse are cited according to the following model:

1. length of the family reunification procedure
2. conditions to fulfil / modes of evaluating applications
3. administrative harassment
4. encroachments on privacy / suspicion
5. access to social rights
6. infringement on the right of family life through exclusion of family members.

4. Preparing a comparative analysis: from texts and information provided by resource persons, the sociologist will prepare a preliminary assessment in order to move ahead with the analysis and, after comparing national laws and practices, will formulate the specific questions that should be explored further in each country.

The preliminary results will be presented at the General Assembly in Frankfurt.

Any organisations that wish to join in on our activities of observation, study, denunciation, and consciousness-raising are most welcome. To do so, please contact the Coordination Secretariat:

coordeurop.secretariat@coordeurop.org

3. Reaction to the European Commission's Green Paper on "economic" immigration.

About the Green Paper on an EU Approach to Managing Economic Migration

The European Coordination for Foreigners Right to Family Life has examined the Green Paper on an EU Approach to Managing Economic Migration. The Coordination does not intend to recommend measures that would form the basis of exclusively utilitarian EU legislation concerning economic immigration; we wish to express our concerns and our reservations regarding the objectives that underlie this initiative — concerns confirmed by initiatives taken by member states in this domain.

The objective of this Green Paper is "to identify the main issues at stake and possible options for an EU legislative framework on economic migration." The commission's starting point was the observation that demographic decline and the ageing of the population had repercussions on the economy. One means for remedying this would be to allow greater influxes of immigration to "meet the needs of the EU labour market and ensure Europe's prosperity." Granting guaranteed rights to the immigrating workers would in addition foster their integration.

From the introduction of the text onwards, a utilitarian concept of immigration is clearly affirmed.

The goal is not to improve the situation of immigrant workers, and even less the economic situation of their country of origin, but rather, to improve the economic and demographic situation of the member states.

One of measures recommended is the establishment of quotas, with each state conserving a margin of appreciation to determine the "volumes of admission of persons coming to seek work", although committing to inform the Commission of the evaluation of these policies, with the goal of standardising criteria, definitions, and procedures in this area.

Several member states of the European Union apply a politics of quotas — officially or not; this is the case in Italy and in Germany. In Germany, foreigners who are "highly qualified" are encouraged to come and settle there. Since 1 January 2005, Germany has discontinued the so-called "green card" system and all foreigners can therefore immigrate to Germany without distinction of sector of activity; however, they must be highly qualified and qualify for a relatively high salary. [1]

Other states, such as France and Belgium, have begun discussing establishing quotas for work immigration, more seriously in France where the Minister of the Interior promised in January to issue a report by the end of February on the question of immigrant quotas whereas the head of state has declared that he is hostile to quota policies. It appears from the discussion that the number of foreign workers needed would be determined by profession [2], and that this report will also contain proposals in other domains, including the combat against illegal immigration.

National discussions on the question of immigration and employment thus confirm a utilitarian concept of immigrants, each state seeking to admit immigrants that match its economic and/or demographic needs. 

It is worthwhile examining the experience of quotas in the United States. The quota policy there does have drawbacks, one of which is infringing on the right to family life. "Immigrants who haven't obtained American nationality yet today must, for example, wait nearly five years before their direct family may join them. Most lose patience" [3] and send for their family members, who reside there illegally while waiting for a visa.

Furthermore, in most member states of the European Union, immigrants work illegally. This illegal work is especially sought after in certain economic branches such as agriculture, construction, and cleaning, "and contributes to forming new European slaves that are outside the legal state and outside the social state. [4]"

This situation risks —or even tends to favour — establishing a model for creating an extra-legal system by those who deem that the rules concerning access to employment of foreign workers are too rigid. [5]

To cite one example, France, by means of a decree adopted in 1984, permitted seasonal contracts over six out of twelve months per year in three agricultural branches. The number of seasonal contracts, which were meant to remain exceptional, continued to increase because they are convenient for employers. Indeed, the unstable situation of these workers leads to their "submissiveness" because they are threatened by their contracts not being renewed if they dare to complain. [6] The branches mentioned above (agriculture, etc.) are in fact cited in the Green Paper as the ones that might be covered by this legislative project.

In this context, there is the danger that the rules common to member states of the European Union, including those that concern establishing quotas, reinforce discrimination and create very unstable situations for foreign workers.  

Finally, the catastrophic economic situation of third countries causes their inhabitants to emigrate illegally toward more prosperous nations, regardless of whatever criteria are set for legal entry into the European Union.

We recognize that there is a strong pressure to migrate toward countries of the Union in order to work. However, the history of various periods of economic migration shows that work migrations, which are conceived as short-term projects to respond the economic situation in countries of origin, almost inevitably turn into permanent immigration situations.

This is why the European Coordination for Foreigners' Right to Family Life is against creating an EU legislative framework concerning economic immigration based on a utilitarian concept of immigrants that encourages their precariousness, that creates extra-legal conditions unequal to those of citizens of EU member states, and that uselessly and dangerously delays the process of social and economic integration.

The coordination thus wishes to make the following recommendations:

• The residency status of foreign workers (and the corresponding rights) should be settled rapidly after they enter the Union. This stability would help protect them from undergoing constraints and extortion by employers and would foster their integration.
• The Coordination has reservations concerning establishing a system that subordinates admission to economic needs. However, if such a system is chosen, the condition of economic need should not be applied when a work permit expires if the work contract is to be renewed; such a system increases the precariousness of the foreign worker's situation.
• Along the same lines, workers' mobility should not be limited.
• The examples of the United States mentioned above and of "guest workers" in certain European countries demonstrate the need to grant workers who are third-country nationals the right of family reunification, with the same conditions as those for citizens of the European Union, for whatever period that residency is accorded.  
• In addition, they must be granted social rights (social security, education, lodging…) that are equivalent to those enjoyed by nationals and other citizens of the European Union.

In developing an EU-level policy concerning economic immigration, care must also be taken to include in its scope of application third-country nationals, whether they are legally or illegally residing and working in an EU member state. A quota system would risk excluding those who do not correspond to one of the determined professional branches.

[1] O. BENYAHIA-KOUIDER, "Immigration. L’ Allemagne renonce à fixer des seuils d’accueil (Immigration: Germany gives up on setting its levels of immigration)", Libération, 17 January 2005, http://www.liberation.fr
[2] Information gleaned from articles in Le Monde on 14, 17, and 20 January 2005.
[3] P.RICHE, "Immigration aux États-unis, un système qui a forgé le pays (Immigration in the United States, a system that has built the nation)", Libération, 17 janvier 2005.
[4] A. REA, "Exigences utilitaristes en Belgique (Utilitarian requirements in Belgium)" in GISTI's journal Plein Droit, n°61, Immigrés, mode d’emploi, June 2004.
[5] F. BRUN, "Sans-papiers, mais pas sans emploi (Without papers but not without jobs)", in Plein Droit, 61:8ff.
[6] A. MORICE, "Le nouveau marché du placement et les travailleurs étrangers (The new job placement market and foreign workers)", Semaine Sociale Lamy, 1193:7ff., 6 December 2004.

3a. The position of the European Platform for Migrant Workers' Rights on the European Commission's Green Paper.

PO Box 22 – 9820 Merelbeke/Belgium Tel. ++32-9-3240092
info@december18.net

Human Rights Key to Economic Migration Policy

07 April 2005

The members of the European Platform for Migrant Workers’ Rights (EPMWR) welcome the initiative by the European Commission to re-launch the debate on economic migration. Whilst members of the Platform will submit their own comments on the Green Paper - based on consultations and discussions with their constituencies and partner organisations – we all emphasise the need for a rights-based approach as distinct from the utilitarian approach put forward by the Commission.

Economic migration should, in our view, be firmly placed within the context of globalisation and the fight against poverty since international migration is often the result of the economic and social inequalities between poor and rich countries. The rights of individuals and the concerns of “developing countries” should therefore be given proper consideration next to the EU’s economic motivations.

A first step in this regard should be for the EU to encourage its Member States to ratify the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families including the optional provision of article 77 regarding individual complaints. The Convention provides a framework of minimum human rights standards as agreed by the international community in 1990 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention. The call for universal ratification is supported by a resolution of the European Parliament on 24 February 2005 and is also reflected in the European Economic and Social Committee’s Opinion of 30 June 2004 (SOC/173).

We strongly argue – as did UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in his speech to the European Parliament in January 2004 – for the EU to develop its economic migration policy and legislative initiatives on the principles outlined in the Convention.

One of the key principles of the UN Convention is precisely the fact that migrant workers are considered as social entities with families and accordingly have rights, including that of family reunification, equal protection before the law and the right to an effective remedy when their rights have been violated.

The Convention furthermore:

• Recognises that migrant workers and members of their families, being non-nationals residing in states of employment or in transit, often find themselves in a situation lacking the protection of their basic human rights.
• Provides an international definition of “migrant worker” and it establishes international standards of treatment through the elaboration of the particular human rights of migrant workers and members of their families.
• Reaffirms that fundamental rights and non-discrimination with respect to these rights apply to all migrant workers, both documented and undocumented.
• Seeks to play a role in preventing and eliminating the exploitation of all migrant workers and members of their families, including in ending their illegal or clandestine movements and irregular or undocumented situations.

When developing the EU policy framework for economic migration, the ILO Conventions – in particular Nos. 97 and 143 as well as the European Convention on the Legal Status of Migrant Workers (Council of Europe) and other international and European human rights instruments, such as the European Convention on Human Rights, provide additional standards that should be taken into account.

International standards should also provide the legal framework for Member States that enter into bilateral agreements on economic migration. Bilateral, regional and international measures should be mutually supportive, with human rights principles as elaborated in international law at their core.

• Agir ici, Caroline Maurel, Campaigns Officer, France
• Amnesty International, Dick Oosting, Director EU Office
• ARCI, Filippo Miraglia, National Officer Immigration, Italy
• ATMF - Association des Travailleurs Maghrébins de France, Ali El Baz, France
• Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, John Joseet, Policy Advisor, Office for Refugee Policy, United Kingdom
• CCME - Churches' Commission for Migrants in Europe, Doris Peschke, General Secretary, Belgium
• CEAR - Comissió Catalana d’Ajuda al Refugiat, Àgata Sol Rueda, Coordinator, Spain
• December 18, René Plaetevoet, Chair, Belgium
• Emmaus International, Renzo Fior, President, Belgium
• European Coordination for Foreigners’ Right to Family Life, Antonio Garatto, President, European Network
• GISTI – Groupe d’information et de soutien aux immigrés, Marie Duflo, France
• IMD Platform Vlaanderen, Myriam De Feyter, Coordinator, Belgium
• IDHC - Institut de Drets Humans de Catalunya, Rosa Oliveres, Gestión, Spain
• JCWI - Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Habib Rahman, Chief Executive, United Kingdom
• KMS - Kerkwerk Multicultureel Samenleven, Didier Vanderslycke, Belgium
• Migrant Rights Centre, Siobhan O’Donoghue, Coordinator, Ireland
• miXeurope, Helle Stenum, Director, Denmark
• MRAP - Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l'Amitié entre les Peuples, Bernadette Hétier, France
• PICUM, Nele Verbruggen, Coordinator, European Network
• Projectgroep Migrantenweek, Nanneke Nix, Secretary, the Netherlands

3b. Reaction of a Coalition of European, French and Portuguese associations to the European Commission's Green Paper on Economic Migration.

3c. Comments by other Networks and associations to the European Commission's Green Paper on Economic Migration:

• Caritas Europa - CCME: Churches' Commission for Migrants in Europe
  COMECE: Commission of Bishops' Conferences of the European Community
  ICMC: International Catholic Migration Commission
  QCEA: Quaker Council for European Affairs
• JCWI: Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants submission on the European Commission Green Paper on an EU approach to managing economic migration
• December 18 comments
• The Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI) comments