Subsaharan Africa / Comment
The United Nations report on Iinternational migration: new? guidelines for states' action
09/11/2005 By Mª Carmen Pérez González
The publication of the Report by the United Nations Global Commission on International Migration has coincided in time with the attempts of several hundreds of sub-Saharans to enter the European Union's territory through the borders of Ceuta and Melilla.
Those attempts have shown, by the way, not for the first time, that the immigration phenomenon must be approached from a perspective that goes beyond the mere control of borders.
The question of migration was already included on the agenda of several International Organisations. This work is well-known to everyone.
The European Union, the European Council or the African Union, from a regional perspective, and the International Labour Organisation, among others, from an international perspective, have been acting as a more or less intense cooperation forum for those issues related to the migration phenomenon which were identified by each one of them to be of common interest.
Approaches, have always been, to a great extent, partial; whether because existing interests were just those of some States of the international community, or because, although universal in nature, the forum in question did not have general competence.
The European Union is a good example of the first group of Organisations mentioned. Cooperation of Member States in this framework has been limited, to a great extent, to controlling borders more effectively.
The security perspective has undoubtedly taken priority over the yet to be formulated “common immigration policy” of the EU. The incorporation of supplementary elements to border control is slow and difficult, although the presentation of the Commission's Green Book on the Union's approach to economic migration provides interesting perspectives in this sense.
It is expected that, based on the answers to the questionnaire that this Green Book includes, the Commission can devise an action plan on economic immigration by the end of this year.
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Sub-Saharan AfricaBio author: Mª Carmen Pérez González
BA (1994) and PhD in Law (2000) by the Universidad Carlos III of Madrid, suma cum laude. She is Responsible for the "European Union" Section of the Revista Jurídica del Deporte y del Entretenimiento (Editorial Aranzadi, since the issue 13-2005); and Member of the Asociación Española de Profesores de Derecho Internacional y Relaciones Internacionales.
