Mediaboss Marketing

Paris: Paris police moved out 2,500 migrants who had been living rough in the north of the city, officials said, on its latest operation to ease strains caused by a human influx to Europe.

Representational image. AP

The evacuation, which went ahead smoothly, entailed moving out migrants who had been living around an aid centre set up in the Porte de la Chapelle area last November.

The authorities mobilised 60 buses to disperse them to a couple of other locations in the Paris region, mainly school gymnasiums that have become available during the holiday season. Charity groups took part in the operation. Officials had been expecting to move out 1,600 migrants, but according to Francois Ravier, a senior official with the Paris region prefecture, "at least 2,500" people were involved.

"Experience shows that there are always more people than estimated," he said.

Paris became a gathering point for migrants after the closure last October of the notorious "Jungle" near Calais -- a makeshift camp near the Channel coast where thousands lived in the hope of climbing aboard trucks or trains to get into Britain.

Friday's evacuation was the 34th to take place in Paris in the last two years. The previous operation was on May 9, when more than 1,600 migrants were moved out from the same area. Aid workers said around 200 more migrants had been coming into the area every week recently, raising security and hygiene concerns and causing tensions with locals. Europe's migrant influx began in 2015, centering on Greece, where hundreds of thousands of people, many of them fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Afghanistan, crossed from Turkey. The crisis receded in 2016 under an agreement with Turkey to clamp down on illegal border crossings.

However, it revived this year, focusing instead on sea crossings from Libya to Italy, mainly entailing people from sub-Saharan Africa.

On Thursday, EU interior ministers pledged to back a plan to help Italy, which has accepted around 85,000 people since the start of the year and says it is overwhelmed.

Follow this link:
Migrant crisis: Paris Police evict 2500 refugees to ease human influx in Europe - Firstpost

BBC News

Europe migrant crisis: EU blamed for 'soaring' death toll BBC News Amnesty International has blamed "failing EU policies" for the soaring death toll among refugees and migrants in the central Mediterranean. In a report, it said "cynical deals" with Libya consigned thousands to the risk of drowning, rape and torture ... Europe's Smaller But Tougher Migrant CrisisBloomberg Europe's migrant crisis threatens to overwhelm Italy, even as flows to ...Los Angeles Times Brussels forced to spend MILLIONS more on tackling migrant crisis to quell Italian furyExpress.co.uk Wall Street Journal (subscription) -POLITICO.eu all 163 news articles »

More:
Europe migrant crisis: EU blamed for 'soaring' death toll - BBC News

An illegal Salvadoran migrant couple is seen on railway track with their son during the arrival of the Caravana de Madres Centroamericanas (Caravan of Central American Mothers). Photo by REUTERS/Edgard Garrido/File

Editors Note: In her first Making Sen$e post on the immigration crisis that accompanies tonights Making Sen$e broadcast story on Utica, New York, the town that loves refugees, scholar and refugee worker Hannah Carrese made the case for America returning to a discarded policy of the past: the guest worker bracero program, inaugurated in the 1940s.

In this post, she suggests a solution to what may be the greatest immigration crisis America faces: a tsunami ofrefugees fleeing the violence of failing states in Central America.

Paul Solman, Economics Correspondent

Twenty years ago, when NAFTA was ratified, North Americans could profitably speak about two kinds of migrants: economic migrants and displaced people. The first was a personification of commercemigrants who chose to leave home and travel where there was a demand to which they could supply a solution. The second was the human face of violencerefugees forced to leave their homes to travel to a place where their lives are not threatened. These categories seemed clear in North America in large part because a few years before NAFTA was signed,both the U.S. and Mexico had established robust refugee programs for Central Americansfleeing violent revolutions in their countries.

The real migration problem we face in North America isnt Mexican migrants seeking jobs in the United States. Rather, its Central Americans (and now Venezuelans) fleeing violence in their countries and seeking asylum in Mexico or the U.S.

But weve collapsed the distinction between economic migrants and displaced people in recent years. Many on the left contend that the inability to feed ones familythe deep poverty that we once thought producedonlyeconomic migrationkills just the same as a barrel bomb. Many on the right see migrants, even those recognized as refugees, as economic opportunists, benefiting from strong labor markets, supposedly generous entitlement programs and lax border controls in rich Western democracies. But this collapsing of categories, on the right and left, has not served the world well. We see now the awful human costs of an international legal order that does not, will not, guide and modulate human migration.

In addition to opening a door to regulated, cyclical migration from Mexico, that is, the United States should seek to reestablish another old orderthese categories of economic migration and forced migration. We should begin by recognizing this fact:During the past five years, Mexico-U.S. migration has actually operated in reverse. More Mexicans are returning south to Mexico than are coming north to the U.S.

The southward movement of Mexican nationals makes clear that the real migration problem we face in North America isnt Mexican migrants seeking jobs in the United States. Rather, its Central Americans (and now Venezuelans) fleeing violence in their countries and seeking asylum in Mexico or the U.S. Twenty-two thousand of these Central Americans are expected to apply for refugee status in Mexico during 2017, up from just over a thousand in 2012.

A mural at Mexico Citys Casa Refugiados (Refugee House) depicts Central American asylum seekers gazing across the Suchiate River toward Mexico. Photo by Hannah Carrese

Mexico is not prepared to handle this influx of asylum seekers. Migrant shelters in Mexico are already overflowing. In Puebla, the Red Cross and various Catholic churches are opening new shelters to house increasing numbers of Central Americans who have taken trains to and through this central Mexican state. In Mexico City, asylum seekers from Central America and from Africa are being placed in increasingly marginal housing. This spring, a Somali refugee told me, Never in my life have I seen such a place as this, and I was inDadaab a complex in Kenya that forms the worlds largest refugee camp for 25 years.

We should expect many of these asylum seekers to show up at the U.S. border during the next decade, much as asylum seekers have flocked to Europe during this decade.

We should expect many of these asylum seekers to show up at the U.S. border during the next decade, much as asylum seekers have flocked to Europe during this decade. It is in our self-interest to recognize that displaced people are unlikeeconomic migrants in that they do not choose to migratethey are forced out by violence from which their governments cannot protect them. If we want to keep these displaced people from seeking safety in North America, in the U.S. and Mexico, we must proactively helpcountries in South and Central America to develop better governments and economies.

President Obama gestured toward these problems after thousands of Central American children came alone to our southern border in 2014. But his policies were reactive: He allowedmore Central Americans to be recognized as refugees in the U.S. and directed U.S. officials to make asylum determinations in Central America before asylum seekers made the dangerous trek through Mexico. Truly confronting North Americas Central American migration crisis requires new strategy.

A man stares into the window of the Mexico City building that houses Mexicos Commission for the Aid of Refugees (COMAR). Photo by Hannah Carrese

The U.S. is properly wary of involvement in Central America: Our government provoked the violent revolutions that produced mass displacement in the region during the 1980s. But our circumstances are not entirely different now. The gangs now terrorizing El Salvador and Honduras formed in the U.S. and were exported to Central America by Salvadorans and Hondurans deported from the U.S. in the 1990s and 2000s. Ourfailures of the 20th century should help guide our policy in the 21st.

Instead of influencing national politics in Central America, our aid and advice should be intensely local: 24-hour courts and youth centers and community policing in high-violence neighborhoods. A 2013 survey found that in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, crime victimization is lower and public perception of security is higher in communities where USAID has done this kind of intensive development work. We should emphasize programs introducing young people who, in Latin America, display a record lack of interest in political participation and leadership to politics as a means for change.

If we want to keep these displaced people from seeking safety in North America, in the U.S. and Mexico, we must proactively help countries in South and Central America to develop better governments and economies.

Instead of secret regime-toppling, our open aim should be institution-building. An institution with which we might start is CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Patterned after NAFTA, it seeks to create partnerships between the United States and Central American countries that are poor in part because they are too small to function on their own in a global economy. Economistsand the World Bank and the World Trade Organizationseem to agree that free trade can be a powerful tool for poverty relief. And lifting people from poverty has been linked to reductions in cyclical violence. This is worth a try in Central America.

President Trump made clear in a February address to Congress that the only long-term solution for humanitarian disasters, in many cases, is to create the conditions where displaced persons can safely return home and begin the long, long process of rebuilding. His administration might begin to make good on this idea in Central America,where conditions are not yet so bad as to precipitate the kind of displacement we now see, for example, in Syria.

This, after all, would be an America First policyone thatrecognizes that the United States is not the only American nation and that the people and problems we ignore abroad will, now or in other decades, find us here.

The rest is here:
Column: Let's put 'America First' by averting a Central American ... - PBS NewsHour

GETTY

Interior chiefs from Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands all said Brussels needs to find ways of significantly upping the rate of deportations of economic migrants if it is to survive the latest spike in the continents migration crisis.

Eurocrats are now set to draw up a code of conduct, at the behest of Italy, which will govern how NGOs operating search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean should coordinate their operations with EU member states in the future.

A number of prominent Italian politicians have accused charities of acting as a taxi service for migrants and even communicating with people smuggling gangs to coordinate rescues - allegations aid workers furiously deny.

But arriving at a meeting of EU interior ministers in Estonia this morning several heavy hitters from across the continent hinted that patience with the current situation is now wearing thin, with 10,000 people arriving at Italian ports every day.

Rome has warned its reception facilities are close to collapsing under the strain and has threatened to start turning rescue vessels away from its shores, urging other member states to begin opening up their ports and sharing the burden instead.

Today there was little appetite amongst the remaining EU countries for doing so, but there were suggestions the bloc could start turning migrant boats back to Libya as a way of alleviating the growing pressure on Italy.

EU officials have said that the vast majority of those arriving in Italy from North Africa are not refugees, but "manifestly" economic migrants. French president Emmanuel Macron put the figure at "over 80 per cent" whilst the the UN has said it is around seven in 10.

EbS

EbS

Dutch interior minister Stephanus Blok said: We need to work out both a better entrance system but also a better system to bring back people who are not entitled to asylum. It cannot remain as it is now.

Just opening more ports will not solve the problem by itself. We should also discuss the role that African ports should play in this field. We should take the African ports also into account."

His Belgian counterpart, Theo Francken, also suggested a new approach may be necessary stating that the current procedure of bringing everybody to Europe cannot go on in light of the huge numbers being rescued.

Asked if he agreed with a code of conduct for NGOs, he replied: "I'm absolutely pro. I think its very good that we have a code of conduct with the NGOs.

We have to save people but the solution is not in bringing everybody to Europe. That is not the solution, that will only increase the problem.

And grilled on Italys suggestion that other member states open up their ports to migrant boats, he added: I dont think were going to open Belgian ports, no.

We should take the African ports also into account

Dutch asylum minister Stephanus Blok

Estonian interior minister Andrea Anvelt, whose country currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU, said European countries need to send a clear message that economic migrants will be deported swiftly.

He said: If we will not send the clear messages that we can return, once more time return policy is the preventive and key word in immigration crises.

So if we send the people back this will be the first and most important preventive measure that theres no reason to come here if you dont have the right.

The key programme is the return policy. How the people who dont have right to international protection can be quickly and efficiently sent back to third countries.

Those are the steps the EU has to take as quickly as possible. Legal migration is a possibility but illegal migration and also economic migration have to be stopped.

War torn Libya, which has two rival governments, is not considered a safe third country by the EU and there are question marks over whether turning boats back is legal under international law.

Getty Images

1 of 11

Refugees and migrants wait in a small rubber boat to be rescued off Lampedusa, Italy

But EU leaders do want to strike a deal with the internationally recognised administration in Tripoli similar to the one they have with Turkey in an attempt to stem the huge numbers of arrivals.

And they could also try to reach agreements with other North African states, such as Tunisia and Egypt, which may be prepared to take on some of the migration burden in return for huge injections of aid cash.

Under the terms of Brussels pact with Ankara all economic migrants are returned across the Aegean, with one genuine refugee from a Turkish camp being housed for every person sent back.

NGOs and some politicians also fear that the EUs proposed code of conduct, which will be directed by Italy, will effectively be designed to act as a break on their search and rescue operations.

EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos insisted Brussels was not turning against charities, saying it had no problems with their activities in the Mediterranean.

He added: The idea behind this proposal is how to make our relations more functional through a more coordinated way. NGOs are contributing in a complimentary way but in a very substantial way to better do our job on the ground.

View post:
'This can't go on' EU ministers hint they may start turning migrant boats back to Africa - Express.co.uk

For this edition of The Global Conservation, euronews was in Tallinn, Estonia: the Baltic nation that will spend the next six months in the EU hotseat.

This comes at a time when the 28-member club is facing a number of huge challenges: an ongoing migration crisis, Brexit and a resurgent Russia.

Euronews met with the Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, who took up her post as head of state in October last year.

Euronews James Franey

Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid. Welcome to The Global Conversation.

The President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid

Thank you.

Euronews

I just want to begin by asking you, the Italian government have threatened to close off their ports to humanitarian ships, which are not from Italy. Whats your reaction to that? With migration being really at the top of the agenda as you look set to take over the EU presidency.

President Kaljulaid

We need to break this situation where some countries are saying that they will not accept any part. They will take no responsibility at all. And then there are other countries who have this burden. We need to break this situation. We need to bridge the two differently thinking sides.

And there are different mechanisms. After all, because (the) EU by its nature is also quite a strong redistributor. It redistributes resources between the countries so that they can manage better the difficult situations which they are in. I think we need to look at all possible options. We also need to understand this that people coming to Europe who have the right to seek asylum, they have certain preferences to where they go. And we have to discuss this through as well.

People, because they can freely move, move, of course, around in Europe. They tend to go where probably their income level in the future might be higher. And its human. Its a very understandable situation. Because if you have lost everything. If you have lost your home already, you will try to get the best conditions for you and your family. Middle-income countries face difficulties here. We need to discuss those issues as well.

Euronews

And you said about possible options to bring these countries onside, who are not living up to their commitments as it were. What kind of options could you be talking about?

President Kaljulaid

I am thinking of the possibility to support financially more those countries who are ready to accept people coming from other countries. On the other hand, you cannot create a moral difficulty for those governments, who will then have (to face) questions.

They are asylum seekers. They are settling here. You are supporting them better than the people who are your own poor.

We need to have all these points on the table and discuss them through. But it is not a situation that will be solved by itself. Good faith is needed.

Euronews

President Trump, hes been lets say lukewarm with regards to his commitments towards NATO. How confident are you that hes fully behind the alliance?

President Kaljulaid

He takes to the Twitter and his words might not be exact or spot-on as we expect maybe, or hope them to be.

But if you look outside of the Twitter world, and if you look at the whole administrations policy, its rock solid. I have absolutely no doubt that it has been for all these six months. The messages that me and my colleagues around this region have received are exactly the same. There is no wavering. There hasnt been any wavering. And, of course, we feel secure because you know being prepared because you have an unpredictable neighbour doesnt mean being afraid. We dont deal every day with thinking: What if?.

We do trust NATO. We do trust our allies. And we have an alliance based on our democratic values. Based on the international security architecture. We all respect our signatures on international contracts and agreements. Indeed, there is a country our neighbour who unfortunately at this moment does not respect its own signatures on these international agreements.

Euronews

Russia has some 300,000 troops stationed on its western flank. What do you think Mr. Putins intentions are?

President Kaljulaid

What Mr. Putin has been after, already before the Georgian war, in fact, was to renegotiate, rearrange exactly this what we talked about the international security architecture built on the Helsinki Final Act, which says every country has the right to decide with whom they do business, with whom they associate themselves. And this does not suit him. He is out to change it.

In Georgia, I believe that the Western world made an error because they didnt see that they are teaching the wrong lesson. There was a try to renegotiate before that, when Medvedev was president, in fact. It was a no-go. But then in Georgia, Russia learned that if you act, the reaction is relatively mild. And so the avalanche arrived in Crimea. And then, I guess Then I am quite sure that everybody understood what is behind it. It is a threat to our international security architecture. The right to every country to decide needs to be defended.

Euronews

I just want to look at this issue of unity because the standard line in the European Union is that we are all united. We did indeed see the extension of sanctions against Russia over Ukraine. But there are lots of other divisions as well. Take the example of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, we had 13 countries speak out against it in Brussels just a few days ago. But Germany and France seem to be fully behind it. Whats your take on that?

President Kaljulaid

Gas is just losing its importance, anyway. And you cannot hold anybody hostage anymore by pipelines. Of course, that also means that you cannot guarantee anybody big revenues by using their pipelines. And that now brings us to the Ukrainian question. You may have NordStream 2 or you may not have NordStream 2, but you have to understand that the supply of gas will be diversified through other options in the whole of Europe anyway. Technology is just changing so quickly.

Euronews James Franey

Do you think Mr. Putin uses gas and energy as a means of dividing the EU?

President Kaljulaid

He definitely tries to use every crack to put a wedge in and show that Europe is not united.

Euronews James Franey

The British Prime Minister Theresa May has made an offer on citizens rights. I believe theres roughly 10,000 Estonians living in the United Kingdom. Do you think the offer that she has made is sufficient?

President Kaljulaid

We do hope and we are quite sure that we can trust the UK to protect their rights.

Euronews James Franey

And how can that be done?

President Kaljulaid

The United Kingdom is a democratic country, a free country, which shares our values, which will remain in Europe, which will remain our partner and ally, even after the Brexit happens. We will not allow any of those discussions to break down those links and this is not anybodys objective in Europe, I can assure you.

Euronews James Franey

You said something very interesting there.when Brexit happens. There are still some people in Brussels who think that Brexit is reversible and might not happen.

President Kaljulaid

I would very much hope that it could be the case. But I dont see how this could happen. Of course, I am not happy to see the UK leave the European Union. I am more sad maybe for the British people because, as I said already, I dont think that even economically this is a decision that will pay off.

See more here:
Europe's most pressing problems: Russian resurgence, the migrant-crisis and Brexit - euronews