The European Commission has raised an important debate about the shared responsibility for asylum seekers in Europe. This happens at a time when Europe is struggling to address a refugee crises unfolding in North Africa. The Danish Refugee Council agrees that solidarity across the EU should be strengthened.

The European Commission has presented a series of proposals for more consistency, fairness and solidarity in the handling of asylum seekers across the EU. The Commission suggests strengthening of external border control and the possibility of border control between EU countries combined with uniform procedures, as well as a more cohesive distribution of asylum seekers in Europe.

"When the Mediterranean countries in Southern Europe are left alone in dealing with acute refugee crisis, as the one we are witnessing in North Africa, there is a danger that the rights of asylum seekers erode. It is not a problem that can be solved by increasing border control. Because it is not a question of keeping asylum seekers out, but a question of deciding who is in fact entitled to asylum," says Secretary General of the Danish Refugee Council, Andreas Kamm.

Thousands of asylum seekers from North Africa have arrived at the Italian island of Lampedusa. The uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East could lead to many more people potentially arriving to European borders.

"Not all people arriving to Southern Europe are refugees in need of asylum. Some are migrants seeking a better life, some have a temporary protection need because of an acute crisis, and some are refugees under the UN Refugee Convention. We have not seen the end of mixed migration towards Europe, and future refugee crisis will arise as well. Therefore, we need common solutions," says Andreas Kamm.

More than 80% of the world's refugees are internally displaced in their country or refugees in their own region, and thus the primary responsibility for the world's refugee problems remains within the world's poorest and most unstable countries. The European Commission proposes a quota system to allocate a portion of the UN approved refugees in North Africa between European countries.

"The Danish Refugee Council works in 34 of the countries in the world that generates refugees. It makes good sense to help the refugees in their own regions, but there are situations calling for European assistance. I believe that the situation in Northern Africa is one of them, "says Andreas Kamm.

Photo: © UNHCR / A. Duclos

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