GENEVA
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein criticized Monday the international community for failing to protect the rights of migrants and called for European Union to open its doors.
"Whether or not they have visas, these are people, with the same human rights as all of us here today," al-Hussein said in an opening speech at the 29th session of the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva.
"When people are unable to use regular channels to escape oppression, violence and economic despair, they may attempt, in desperation, to find irregular ones. This does not make them criminals," he added.
Al-Hussein stated that he opposed the notion that migrants were a burden. "On the contrary, as workers, consumers and taxpayers, they contribute to the economic growth of all societies, as many studies have demonstrated," he said.
He touched upon the death toll of migrants in the Mediterranean, saying that it is a cause for profound alarm.
According to the UN, nearly 2,000 migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean so far this year.
"As the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants has noted -- and we will hear from François Crepeau shortly -- it is well within the EU’s means to give refuge, over a number of years, to 1 million refugees displaced by the conflicts in Syria and elsewhere," al-Hussein said. "This would represent barely 0.2% of the EU's population -- compared to Lebanon, which has taken in 26% of its population in refugees."
Al-Hussein also mentioned the crises in Southeast Asia and criticized Australia in its refusal migrants.
Australia’s immigration minister Peter Dutton has said that Australia’s government had been clear in its policy, that people who “arrived illegally into Australia by boat won't be staying in this country.”
Australia and Cambodia inked a $35 million bilateral agreement last September, stipulating that only genuine refugees who volunteer to go will qualify for relocation to Cambodia.
The signing of the deal between Australia’s then immigration minister, Scott Morrison, and Cambodian Interior Minister Sar Kheng in Phnom Penh had been met with widespread criticism. Refugee advocacy groups said Australia was shirking its obligations to the UN refugee convention by passing off vulnerable people to one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
"Australia’s response to migrant arrivals has set a poor benchmark for its regional neighbors. The authorities have also engaged in turnarounds and push-backs of boats in international waters," he added. "Such policies should not be considered a model by any country."
Australia has a policy of using offshore detention centers in Nauru and Papua New Guinea to process asylum seekers who arrive by sea on boats.
