European Disability Forum: EDF calls on the EU to respond in a humane way to the migration crisis
Having seen the inhumane way in which refugees and migrants seeking safety in Europe are being treated, EDF wrote an open letter to the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker , the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schultz, and the Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship , Dimitris Avramopoulos. In this letter, EDF calls on the EU institutions to establish a comprehensive and human rights-based migration policy.
Read the open letter below:
The European Disability Forum (EDF) calls on the EU to respond in a humane way to what is now being described as a European Migration Crisis. The EU’s basic values are now being challenged and the EU must establish a comprehensive and human rights-based migration policy.
We currently see an ad hoc approach. Member States are dealing with refugees and migrants seeking safety and security in the EU through building fences, using violence, including tear gas, detention, denying access to shelter, to food, to water, and promoting negative attitudes to refugees. This does not reflect an EU based on the values of human rights and dignity.
In particular, EDF urges the EU and its member states to be aware of the real needs of families traveling with children, people with disabilities, unaccompanied minors. They are now being treated in a manner which is indefensible.
EDF’s President, Yannis Vardakastanis, pointed out a fact ignored by many journalists, and many government spokespeople: “The people entering the EU now, risking their lives by sea, and exposed to traffickers and to exploitation, are human beings with rights. When we dehumanise people and deny their rights, we make Europe worse for everyone of its citizens. We call on EU leaders to ensure that the EU adopts a coherent approach which fully reflects EU values of human rights and dignity.”
