Kofi Annan launches scathing attack on "fortress Europe", pleads for warmer welcome with immigrants

Guardian ^ | 01/30/04 | Ian Black

[Pikamax]

Annan attacks fortress Europe over migrants

United Nations chief pleads for warmer welcome

Ian Black in Brussels Friday January 30, 2004 The Guardian

Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, has launched a scathing attack on "fortress Europe", warning that its "dehumanising" policies towards immigrants are leading many to their deaths. The UN chief used an appearance before the European parliament to demand a more positive approach that sees immigration as beneficial and not simply something to be curbed.

"The public has been fed images of a flood of unwelcome entrants, and of threats to their societies and identities," he told MEPs. "In the process, immigrants have sometimes been stigmatised, vilified, even dehumanised."

Mr Annan's high-profile intervention - which won him a standing ovation - came as the EU accelerates slow-moving plans for common asylum and immigration policies, with moves dominated by crackdowns on illegal migrants and "bogus" asylum seekers. These issues have risen high up the political agenda across the continent following electoral gains by populist and far-right parties, highlighting strong opposition to immigration.

The UN chief wants to counter the sense that the post-9/11 world is marked by an inevitable "clash of civilisations" between the west and Arab and Islamic societies.

His remarks came against the backdrop of fierce controversy over France's plan to bar the wearing of Muslim headscarves or other conspicuous religious symbols in schools.

Immigrants "should not be made scapegoats for a vast array of social ills".

They were "part of the solution, not part of the problem".

Ruud Lubbers, the Dutch UN high commissioner for refugees, often attacks EU policies, warning of possible breaches of the UN's 1951 convention on human rights. But yesterday's Brussels speech by Mr Annan - the embodiment of the multilateralism prized by the EU - carried even greater weight.

Mr Annan, receiving the parliament's Sakharov prize in memory of the UN staff killed in Iraq, told governments they must tackle "this silent human rights crisis [that] shames our world".

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants enter the EU every year. Illegal migrants, often exploited by unscrupulous traffickers, die weekly trying to enter Europe by crossing in small boats from Morocco or Turkey or by hiding in lorries and under trains crossing to Britain from France.

"Your asylum systems are overburdened precisely because many people who feel they must leave see no other channel through which to migrate," he said. "Many others try more desperate and clandestine measures, and are sometimes injured or even killed - suffocating in trucks, drowning at sea, or perishing in the undercarriage of aircraft."

As he spoke, news emerged of another accident in which two people drowned and at least 17 were missing after a boat carrying dozens of illegal immigrants, apparently Kurds, sank off the Greek island of Evia. A small wooden ship trying to smuggle 70 illegal immigrants to Greece sank last month off the Turkish coast. Only one person survived.

"It is the sovereign right of all states to decide which voluntary migrants they will accept, and on what terms," he said. "But we cannot simply close our doors or shut our eyes to this human tragedy."

Mr Annan said managed migration and proper integration of newcomers into Europe's ageing societies would help boost economies and ensure the continent enjoyed a better future.

"They don't want a free ride. They want a fair opportunity. They are not criminals or terrorists. They are law-abiding. They don't want to live apart. They want to integrate, while retaining their identity."

Pat Cox, president of the parliament, said the EU had a responsibility not to create a fortress Europe.

Claude Moraes, a British Labour MEP, said: "The fact that Mr Annan devoted his entire speech to the question of migration and refugees speaks for itself."

The French Green leader, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, linked Mr Annan's stance on immigration to his opposition to the US-led war on Iraq. "One year ago, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in support of the UN," he said.

"Now the time has come to defend and put into action the very contents of UN policies."

But Charles Pasqua, a former French interior minister, attacked Mr Annan's approach as "utopian", and said the UN would do better spending more on development aid and keeping migrants at home.

[RiflemanSharpe]

Maybe the Euros have something to offer us after all. Lets see if we can learns a few lessons on border security.

[steve50]

The globalist UN and Bush both seem to want to weaken borders and nationalism, no big surprise.

[Atlantic Friend]

So if I understand Annan correctly, when an immigrant who plans to come illegally in my country and pays some crime lord to break through the borders gets run over by a French train or drowns when his rusty boat capsizes, it's France's fault. Wow.

As for not treating immigrants as scapegoats for social ills, I entirely agree. As long as we talk about legal immigrants, of course. Illegal immigration is a social ill in and by itself.

[LN2Campy]

There are already over 150 scum bucket Third World nations. Mr. Annan wants the remaining 20 or so First World ones to join the club.

Hey Annan, if third worlders are so friggin wonderful, why did you have to snag yourself a nice Swedish gal??

[VaBthang4]

Charles Pasqua is the frog taking bribes from Hussein right?

[VaBthang4]

Grow up.

[ikka]

The "Camp of Saints" is coming to your town.

[BadAndy]

Immigrants "should not be made scapegoats for a vast array of social ills. They were "part of the solution, not part of the problem".

Unless the continual survival of Western Civilization is the problem, I can't imagine how these vermin are the solution.

[Gefreiter]

That's a really interesting take on the situation: if people try hard enough to get in, then they should get in based on that sole criterion.

I wish I could have applied that reasoning when I was applying to law schools a few years back. I tried really hard to get into some top tier schools but was rejected.

I see now that it was THEIR fault that I didn't get in, not mine, and that they were wrong for not admitting me.

Maybe I can file a suit in the ICC?

[Kay Soze]

Ha ha ha Kofi just aint happy with security and yet afraid to back to IRAQ without it!

[steve50]

Grow up.

Wise up.

[Kay Soze]

Ha ha ha Kofi just aint happy with security and yet afraid to go back to IRAQ without it!

[SkyPilot]

The UN chief wants to counter the sense that the post-9/11 world is marked by an inevitable "clash of civilisations" between the west and Arab and Islamic societies.

As Monty Python's John Cleese used to say:

"Well, there it tis then."

Coffee-Anon does not care a wit about "poor immigrants." They are his excuse to attack the West once again, and try to make us all believe that Islam is not a threat.

[Pearls Before Swine]

I tried really hard to get into some top tier schools but was rejected. I see now that it was THEIR fault that I didn't get in, not mine, and that they were wrong for not admitting me.

You didn't try hard enough. You were using the front door, so to speak.

[Taylor42]

Why not change their home countries so they will feel no need to leave.

[pragmatic_asian]

http://www.ice.gov/graphics/news/newsrel/articles/sexoffenders101003.htm

...Among those arrested was Jose Luis Melchor-Aparicio, a La Habra man who impregnated his own daughter and then demanded that she have an abortion. Melchor, who failed to register as a sex offender, had two prior deportation orders and attempted to hide his identify from ICE agents by lying and using fake documents. Also apprehended was a Canadian national, now living in Canoga Park, who received a six-year prison sentence for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 17-year old woman...

Many of those taken into custody by ICE this week are non-citizen child sex offenders whose crimes make them subject to removal from the United States. However, the targets also included an 85-year old U.S. citizen from Garden Grove who was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport boarding a flight to the Philippines where he planned to engage in sex with two preteen girls. In the man’s luggage, ICE agents discovered pornographic materials, sexual aids, and nearly 100 pounds of chocolates and candy.

"Our agents will continue to seek out those who victimize our nation’s children," said Loraine Brown, Special Agent-in-Charge of ICE Investigations in Los Angeles. "Since July, we have made more than 250 arrests in connection with Operation Predator in the Los Angeles area alone. We are committed to using every enforcement tool at our disposal to combat this threat, and the message should be clear – sexual predators are not welcome here."

I suppose it's also our kid's fault that these predators come into the US to rape them.

[OldFriend]

LOLOL......no doubt that will endear Kofi to Chirac!

[SpaceBar]

The United Nations is a tool of islam for world conquest.

[lady lawyer]

Actually, the radical leftists who control the UN have little use for Islam. But the UN is a tool of the left for eliminating white western culture as we know it.