The European Parliament (EP) has proposed a non-legislative resolution which calls on the EU to ensure that providing humanitarian aid for migrants is not punishable as a crime.
The MEPs expressed their concerns that EU laws governing people – particularly NGOs – providing humanitarian aid for migrants could have unintended consequences, because under a 2002 EU directive, member states were required to introduce laws against helping irregular migrants.
The directive mandated European member states to introduce criminal penalties for anyone who facilitates the irregular, entry, transit or residence of migrants in the EU, but also allows for the possibility to exempt humanitarian efforts, whether by citizens or NGOs. However, the MEPs expressed concern that relatively few member states have translated this exemption into their national regulations around providing humanitarian aid for migrants.
What do the MEPs hope to achieve?
The resolution that passed in the EP warns that humanitarian aid delivered by non-governmental organisations and individuals can be vital – particularly rescue operations at sea and land, which can prove vital in saving the lives of irregular migrants who often have to rely on dangerous modes of transport to make their journeys.
This behaviour, the resolution argues, must be protected by law using the humanitarian aid exemption. Further, it calls on the European Commission to issue specific guidelines on the subject of which forms of facilitating irregular migration are acceptable and in what contexts, to ensure that the laws – even where they differ – are applied clearly and uniformly across all member states.
How would this support NGO’s?
The Civil Liberties Committee’s Claude Moraes MEP, who drafted the resolution, emphasised that NGOs carrying out life-saving rescues at sea and on land have called for greater legal protections to enable them to continue their work, and argued that the new proposal would support this.
He said: “We need clear guidelines on humanitarian assistance. This is key in a context where individuals and NGOs work very hard to save people at sea and help them on land. During my EP mission to Libya, NGOs have again and again explained that this is essential so that they can carry on with their work.”
