•  brussels
• Saturday, October 30, 2010
• Inter Press Service

Less than two months after Pakistan was devastated by one of the worst disasters in recent history, the European Union's lawmakers have decided that Pakistanis living in the 27-country bloc without permission should be returned home.

In a Sep 21 vote, the European Parliament approved a 'readmission agreement' with Pakistan under which the country will be required to take back any of its nationals deemed to be 'illegal immigrants' by the EU's member states.

Negotiated over an eight-year period, the accord will give the Pakistani authorities 60 days to respond to requests to accept back their nationals from the EU. If no response is forthcoming during that period, the Union will be allowed assume that Pakistan has no objection to receiving the migrants in question. If, however, Pakistan wishes to turn down a request, it will have to present a written 'justification' of its reasons for doing so.

Amnesty International has argued that the timing of the agreement is inappropriate at a time when Pakistan is struggling to cope with severe flooding and while the human rights situation in the country remains hugely problematic. Anneliese Baldaccini, an analyst on asylum and immigration policy in Amnesty's Brussels office, noted too that conflict in the surrounding region has caused major upheaval in Pakistan. 'There are more than one million internally displaced people in Pakistan and many hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees in Pakistan,' she told IPS.

'Pakistan is dealing with a situation that is already quite difficult. If the readmission agreement leads to a considerable number of returns (of Pakistani nationals) from the EU, then this would raise concerns. If there is no prospect of reintegrating nationals into Pakistani society, then we don't see the merit in sending people back.'

© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

Where next?

Advertisement