As part of the consortium From the Sea to the City we are very pleased to launch our first joint publication with key recommendations and best practices in the field of European migration. The recommendations are aimed at EU representatives, mayors, local authority representatives and civil society.
In 2020, our consortium launched a series of online conferences on our five central demands. These events were the first step towards the creation of a European network of cities and municipalities working towards a better European migration policy. The online panels can here can be regarded as a "good thing".
The publication reports on the four conferences that took place over the course of 2020:
The first chapter deals with our first claim: close cooperation between cities and civil society organisations campaigning for radical change in the European Union's (EU) migration policies. Representatives of the cities that took part in the conference demand that "the EU respects human rights".
A long-term one, Comprehensive arrival and reception mechanism centred on European municipalitiesrequires new strategies to create legal corridors to and through Europe. Chapter 2 deals with our fourth demand and explains, among other things, how the humanitarian corridor in the Mediterranean Hope model project works. Such corridors could be duplicated and disseminated.
Ensuring a active role for cities and civil society organisations in the management of EU funds is addressed in Chapter 3, which deals with Requirement 3. Several European organisations, including Eurocities, have long campaigned for cities to have direct access to EU funds.
The pandemic required emergency measures for the defence of a human rights-based policies in the areas of health, housing, education and labourwhich are dealt with in the fourth chapter, which deals with claims 2 and 5.
Together with the new publication, we would also like to introduce a new Save the date for a hybrid city conference on 25 and 26 June 2021 announce. The conference will be organised online and partly in Palermo with the cooperation of the cities of Potsdam and Palermo will take place. This meeting is intended to continue the discussions that began online in 2020 between mayors and representatives of municipalities from all over Europe who want to uphold fundamental European values and the rights of refugees.
You will find the corresponding publication here.