UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – EU member states must accept that immigrants will continue to enter and settle in Europe and official ways must be developed for them to do it, UN Special Rapporteur on migrant rights said Thursday in Brussels.
"The overall goal is to have migrants using official channels to enter and stay in Europe. For that, EU Member States must accept that migrants will continue to come, no matter what, and offer them incentives to use regular channels," Francois Crepeau said.
According to Crepeau, sealing borders is impossible, since migrants would arrive despite efforts to stop them.
3 February 2015, 14:37 GMT
"I urge the EU and EU Member States to progressively establish a human-rights-based, coherent and comprehensive migration policy which addresses these issues and makes mobility its central asset," Crepeau said.
Crepeau will present a report on border management in the European Union to the UN Human Rights Council in June.
Earlier in January, Human Rights Watch said that the EU response to asylum seekers was "disappointing," with efforts being largely focused on enforcing borders.
