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Moderator,
On
behalf of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, I
would like to express our concerns about increasing restrictions on
the freedom of movement and migration in the OSCE region.
The
OSCE commemorated its 25 years anniversary this year. Let me quote the
Helsinki Accords of 1975, in which the participating States agreed to
"gradually simplify and to administer flexibly the procedures for
exit and entry; to ease regulations concerning movement of citizens
from the other participating States in their territory, with due
regard to security requirements; that they will endeavour gradually to
lower, where necessary, the fees for visas and official travel
documents,.."
Nonetheless,
current developments with regard to these important rights clearly
violate the letter and spirit of the OSCE commitments: several states
have introduced new visa regimes for states from which citizens could
travel freely before; visa fees were increased, sometimes to
prohibitive amounts; and complicated and long procedures for obtaining
visas were established.
Based
on the Amsterdam and Maastricht treaties, the EU countries continue to
establish a "fortress Europe" by implementing ever more
restrictive migration legislation. This strategy is further applied to
the accession countries, which also find themselves obliged to close
their borders for fear of criticism from Brussels. Central Asian
countries introduce mutual visa regimes for fear of fundamentalists
crossing the border.
States
use the prevention and combating of organized crime, trafficking in
human beings etc. as official arguments for justifying these
restrictions. But have these restrictions proven to be effective?
On
the contrary, these barriers do little if anything to prevent these
phenomena, but adversely affect ordinary citizens, families, and civil
society instead. Visiting friends or family members abroad has become
a complicated and costly, sometimes even impossible, undertaking. We
appeal to the OSCE participating States, especially to the EU members,
to remember their duties regarding the freedom of movement and
migration policies in compliance with the OSCE commitments.
Thank
you.
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