Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday was World Refugee Day and we know from the UNHCR that some 60 million people have been displaced, with thousands of people fleeing their homes every day. I was struck by a quote from it yesterday which said, “The world commemorates the strength, courage and resilience of millions of refugees”. They are very fine words but the reality is suffering, hardship and terrible human rights abuses of those refugees. The attitude of Europe also leaves a lot to be desired because Europe is pushing people and their suffering away from Europe. In so many cases, it is the imperialistic policies of European countries that are the contributing factors to what is causing people to leave their homes in many countries. It is also the inactivity of Europe, the UN and the role of certain other countries with vested interests that allows the Syrian situation to fester with such appalling results and with no end in sight.

The EU-Turkey deal on migration is appalling. What it means is thousands of refugees, especially unaccompanied minors, living in unacceptable humanitarian conditions, so much so that the reputable organisation, Médecins sans Frontières, which has suffered so much itself, for example, when 22 of its personnel were killed in air strikes on its trauma centre in northern Afghanistan, that it refuses to take EU funding.

Let us look at migration in a pragmatic way and examine whether, if the issues causing people to flee were addressed, people would want to stay in their country of origin. We know that what causes people to leave is conflict, human rights abuses and food insecurity - often caused by famine due to climate change. Food insecurity can also result from trade agreements, which brings me to the economic partnership agreements, EPAs, on which we got a full 20 minute debate in this House. I had an opportunity to speak at the African, Caribbean and Pacific, ACP, group of states joint parliamentary assembly with the EU some weeks ago where I met a number of African parliamentarians. I was struck by two issues, first, the complete lack of knowledge of EPAs on the part of some parliamentarians. They never heard of them yet they are sitting in parliaments that are going to ratify the agreements. That is undermining European credibility that they expect that to happen. Second, I met other parliamentarians who were very knowledgeable about EPAs and see positive aspects to them but they are also concerned that they will undermine sustainable livelihoods, increase food insecurity and the country’s ability to feed itself and then instead of lifting people out of poverty it will plunge them further into poverty, increased dependency on aid and increase migration.

By being more proactive about food security and ensuring that economic partnership agreements have the interests of developing countries at heart, and not just the driver being European economic growth, we can ensure better sustainable livelihoods for people living in developing countries. If Europe is more proactive on human rights as well, that would play a significant part in people wanting to stay in their own countries. It would also ensure a massive impetus in terms of youth employability which is causing many problems in developing countries. People can have good lives in their own countries. The European Commission must listen to the concerns on EPAs by national parliaments which have to ratify them. I hope the parliaments that do not ratify the EPAs do not face possible fines. European credibility is at stake and the European Council must rethink those matters. I am struck by what President Higgins said yesterday about the European Union. He said it must again come to represent a model of balance between market, society and the environment.

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