---

African Migrants

Answer

I represented the UK at the Euro-African Conference on Migration and Development that took place in Rabat from the 10-11 July.The UK continues to work closely with EU and African partners to address migratory flows from Africa across the Mediterranean. In December 2005, at the last European Council under the UK presidency, member states agreed the ““Global Approach to Migration”” paper, a comprehensive, practical guide to managing migration in partnership with third countries in Africa and the Mediterranean. It lays out a number of priority actions, including:"following the Rabat conference on West Africa, the development of regional initiatives examining further migration routes through co-operation with source, transit and destination countries;""enhanced co-ordination and increased sharing of information within member states’ networks of Immigration Liaison Officers on key illegal immigration routes in Africa;""support for a Regional Protection Programme in Tanzania, designed to strengthen the capacity of Tanzanian institutions to protect refugees;""a risk analysis compiled by Frontex, the EU Border Agency, on irregular migration flows through Africa, and two feasibility studies, one exploring the possibility of a regional network to reinforce maritime controls and surveillance in the Mediterranean and a second to examine the technical feasibility of establishing a surveillance system to cover the entire southern EU maritime border."The UK particularly supports work that seeks to strengthen the commitment of all partners, African and European, to work together to maximise the benefits of well-managed legal migration and minimise the risks of uncontrolled, illegal immigration.In addition to this long-term approach, the UK is also working to address the impact of sudden influxes of migrants. In response to the ongoing crisis in the Canaries, the UK is deploying two immigration officials to the area to assist in conducting nationality and identity interviews with intercepted migrants. Malta also faces acute socio-economic challenges as a consequence of illegal sea-borne migration from North Africa. In response to a request from the Maltese authorities via Frontex, the UK has deployed an official to Malta to assist with nationality and identity interviewing, offered strategic advice on returns and, pending the outcome of a forthcoming planning meeting, will assess the possibility of offering further assistance through an expert in maritime intelligence and experts in de-briefing irregular migrants for the purposes of intelligence gathering.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

86724; 449 c2040-1W

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Africa Europe Migration

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk