No human being is illegal

In these times, when the European countries are aiming for a common Constitution, and when one could believe that the European people are about to pass to a new stage in their history; the immigration, one of the most important issues in this region, continues to be treated in an unfair and obsolete manner. The coexisting cultures in Europe encompass all the cultures of the world, and the immigration is the principal way in which this encounter was made possible. We, either coming by far either born here, have the same aspiration: that one day, the existing differences in treatment and opportunities, according to sex, age, religion, culture and origin, will be surpassed. The manner, in which we reply to the immigration and to the cultural diversity in Europe, represents our own vision of the human being, our relation with the rest of the world and finally, the relation amongst ourselves.

Unfortunately, the suggestions of the constitutional treaty in this domain, inspired by the utopian model of “Europe fortress” and the latest measures of the European governments, even more restrictive and more detective, follow the same direction, a direction that will have disastrous human consequences.

Even if the Spanish government (interested in adding more taxes and in reinforcing its demographic weight) started a process of regularization on the immigrants already residing in Spain before August 2004, this is limited to those who could produce a work contract, but excluded more than million persons, that remain clandestine. Nevertheless, the gesture alarmed the neighbours and France, England, Italy and Germany, who criticized the measures, and urged the closing of the doors even more. The same Spanish government promises a strict hand policy from this moment that means inspections on the illegal work and expulsions of immigrants “without papers”. The Italian government, after a similar campaign in 2002, has just signed an agreement with the French government to reinforce the control and the return to the borders. The French government expelled 15.000 persons in 2004, and wanted to arrive to 20.000 in 2005. The current law (the last one in May) put people in more and more difficult conditions (reinforcement of the police and control, numerical visas taken with fingerprints in the country of origin, verification on the mixed marriages contracted abroad).

We denounce these costly practices, which are hostile and more inefficient. Not only do they not prevent the people to continue to flow to the West, but they stigmatize the foreigners and put them every time more in a situation without exit, generating poverty and growing violence. The European governments are mistaken in their direction because they try to give reply to inequality and to poverty, not with cooperation and justice, but with police measures and the oppression of liberties. This dangerous blindness moves us towards militancy on the borders, the despicable practice of massive expulsions and the failure to follow the principle of equality of the human being.

We denounce the usage and the multiplication of Detention Centres, in which the detainees, guilty only of wanting to cross a border, are held, treated of “clandestine” or “illegal immigrants” without any respect for their basic rights (denial of the free circulation, absence of the respect for refugee rights, for private and family life or rights of children).

These governments consider the immigration as a necessary and useful uniquely if it is converted into a controlled supply of hand work that is cheap and submissive. They don’t have a solution for the immigration. There is no solution in their logic. Until the European countries recognize that a big part of their wealth was gained by exploiting the countries where those immigrants originated from, no international humanist solution is conceivable.

Nowadays, the people in our “developed countries” are under more and more pressure. They should be advised that strikes or loss of the rights to work, the cost of living, the progressive deterioration of the health system and public education, etc. are not the faults of the immigrants but of an inhuman system based solely on making money at any price. The humanist suggestion will nevertheless be to work together in order to arrive to a future that is for all, for every person.

We claim:

- a broad and successive regularization, coordinated on European level, which includes plans for international cooperation with the countries of the immigrants origin and the revision of the external debt, for erasing poverty, injustice and inequality.

- Internal politics that render effective the real democracy with same rights and same possibilities for all, including the right to vote and to be elected at all electoral levels.

- The immediate closure of the Detention Centres that are hostile towards human rights and the abandonment of the project of externalized centres.

This Humanist European Regional, encounter of socially based parties and organizations, invites and engages to work for these objectives, while claiming the courage and the force of the non violent fight.

Paul Segado
Commission Cultures, Migrations and International Cooperation

Humanist European Regional