Motion for a resolution | Doc. 14654 | 16 October 2018

Humanitarian action for refugees and migrants in countries at the southern Mediterranean Sea

Signatories: Alexander [The Earl of] DUNDEE, United Kingdom, EC ; Mr Riad ALAZZAM, Jordan ; Mr Volodymyr ARIEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Jokin BILDARRATZ, Spain, ALDE ; Mr Vernon COAKER, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Steve DOUBLE, United Kingdom, EC ; Lady Diana ECCLES, United Kingdom, EC ; Ms Doris FIALA, Switzerland, ALDE ; Mr Paul GAVAN, Ireland, UEL ; Mr Robert GOODWILL, United Kingdom, EC ; Mr Frank HEINRICH, Germany, EPP/CD ; Mr John HOWELL, United Kingdom, EC ; Ms Eva-Lena JANSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Sir Edward LEIGH, United Kingdom, EC ; Mr Ian LIDDELL-GRAINGER, United Kingdom, EC ; Ms Martine MERGEN, Luxembourg, EPP/CD ; Ms Haya MUFLIH, Jordan ; Mr Ian MURRAY, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Paulo PISCO, Portugal, SOC ; Lord Simon RUSSELL, United Kingdom, EC ; Ms Ulla SANDBÆK, Denmark, UEL ; Mr Egidijus VAREIKIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD ; Mr Nick WHALEN, Canada ; Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

The United Nations and many other organisations are present in countries around the Mediterranean Sea, providing important humanitarian assistance to refugees and migrants, including life-saving field work. Over the past years, they have been working in extremely difficult situations due to the continuously high numbers of refugees and migrants in often politically tense circumstances. This position is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future and therefore requires more action by the relevant United Nations bodies, as well as by member States bilaterally.

International support has been promised at various donor conferences, for example in Geneva in 2016 for refugees from the Western Sahara, in London in 2016 for Jordan, in Brussels in 2017 and 2018 for Syrian refugees and in Paris in 2018 for Lebanon. However, not all these pledges have been honoured.

While the Council of Europe lacks funds and human resources to support such action, yet parliaments of its member States adopt their national budgets with financial assistance for those countries and the United Nations. Therefore, the Parliamentary Assembly should identify key areas where humanitarian support for refugees and migrants is urgently needed around the Mediterranean Sea and especially in the southern Mediterranean.