Amnesty int'l criticizes EU policy on migrants from N.Africa

Amnesty International has voiced its deep concern at how the European Union is responding to fallout from political unrest in Tunisia and the displacement caused by the armed conflict in Libya. This came during the EU interior ministers meeting in Brussels on Thursday to discuss migration issues in relation to developments in North Africa. "The ministers'' real agenda is to block the arrival of desperately vulnerable people", said Nicolas Beger, Director of Amnesty International's EU office. "They haven't made a single tangible commitment to receive refugees from North Africa. Instead they're creating a smokescreen, and playing to the political gallery while failing to share out responsibility for receiving people," he said. Amnesty International is urging the EU to put its migration challenges from North Africa into perspective. "Libya's neighbours have received most of the people who have fled the conflict, over 710,000 of them", said Beger. "Some 30,000 have arrived on European shores. These modest numbers oughtn't to strain protection and reception systems. We hear deeply alarming reports of NATO forces turning their backs on these desperate people. There must be an urgent investigation into these serious allegations," he added.