Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-15-Speech-4-212"
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"en.20000615.9.4-212"2
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".
Respect for human rights should be maintained internationally. If people’s rights are infringed, it is the responsibility of surrounding countries to offer asylum to those who request protection from persecution. The nations of the world have a shared responsibility for ensuring that all refugees receive a welcome fit for human beings. No countries can argue their way out of responsibility when refugees seek asylum on their territory. Practice in granting asylum varies from one EU country to another. In general, however, policy on refugees has been tightened up throughout Europe in recent years. Coordination of the Member States’ responsibilities is necessary if countries are in practice to be able to pursue generous policies on refugees.
We therefore welcome the Commission’s working document in principle, together with Ingo Schmitt’s report on the drawing up of a common policy on asylum and refugees, but we emphasise that it ought not to be the least generous countries which set the standards. We want to see a European policy on refugees which is better at distributing the overall burden between the countries of Europe on condition that the European, as well as the Swedish, policy on refugees will in future be more humane than they are at present. Nor must we forget that refugees and immigrants have a positive influence on the Member States. They often have experience and knowledge to contribute to society. Moreover, immigration is especially important now, given the shortage of labour which is beginning to make itself ever more felt in the Member States.
With regard to Ingo Schmitt’s report, we want to emphasise that asylum applications ought always to be examined individually in the light of the individual applicant’s merits, as should also be the norm in the case of mass migrations.
What is more, it is important that refugees should in principle be entitled to the same social benefits as other people resident in the particular country dealing with the application for asylum. This basic principle is established in the Geneva Convention and must be given due attention and complied with. We also think it important that the current definition of refugee and asylum in the Geneva Convention be reviewed and extended so that they also include people who seek asylum on the grounds of gender and sexual orientation."@en1
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