Representing Caritas Europa, Daniel Verger, Director for international action and advocacy at Secours Catholique – Caritas France, participates today at the EU-Nomad seminar on Migration and Development where he will present Caritas Europa’s analysis of the dynamics between migration and development.

Throughout the day, participants will explore how the EU and national policies relating to both migration and to development present opportunities and obstacles for allowing migrants to endorse a role in development.

This seminar coincides with the opening of the Africa-EU summit in Tripoli, Libya, where European and African Heads of States will adopt a new action plan for the joint
Africa-EU Strategy. This Strategy includes a partnership on mobility, migration and employment, for which the consensus between European and African stakeholders has proven difficult to reach.

This difficulty perfectly demonstrates the complexity of the interaction between migration and development, and the resistance of specific territorial interests, in which migrants are primarily viewed as labour force, rather than people holding rights and potential for development of both the hosting countries and the countries of origin.

Caritas Europa sees migrants primarily as people with rights. They have the right to live in a territory, with their family. They have the right to contribute to the development of both countries of origin and of destination, as well as to integrate in society. For these reasons, migration must be a safe option, and not the last-resort solution imposed on people to save their lives, flee poverty, conflict or injustices.

The focus of development policies should be on eradicating the root causes of forced migration and identifying positive synergies, rather than contributing to migration flow control. In addition, migration policies should offer sufficient legal channels to enter the European territory, that are respectful of migrants' rights, aspirations and potential as agents of change.

Caritas Europa specifically asks the European institutions and Member States to consistently and accurately implement their obligation of policy coherence for development provided for in the Lisbon Treaty.

This should lead the European Commission to integrate a coherence and rights-based approach at the core of the future EC Communication on migration and development expected next year.

For more information, contact

Blandine Bouniol
Policy Officer for International Cooperation Caritas Europa
bbouniol@caritas-europa.org
+32 (0)2 235 26 55

Background information:

·  Caritas Europa Paper : A Reflection on the Dynamics between Migration and Development: http://bit.ly/fyDNIq

·   EU Nomad: http://www.eunomad.org