Vienna – ESI at debate on migration

9 November 2023
Vienna
Photo: ESI

ESI’s Gerald Knaus was invited to participate in a debate on migration, organised by The Science Network.

In his presentation, Gerald spoke about the current European migration debate and how to create better migration agreements, presenting ESI’s proposal for safe third countries and humane borders.

Gerald described Europe’s dangerous and cruel borders, highlighting the EU’s shortcomings in migration policy. He disputed claims by right-wing populists that irregular migration poses a major threat and that managing it requires extreme border measures. Additionally, he made the case for lessening irregular migration and stressed the importance of mutually beneficial migration deals for more humane borders and policies.

 He also spoke about the UK Court of Appeal’s June 2023 decision on the legality of the UK-Rwanda agreement for transferring asylum-seekers to Rwanda. The court deemed such transfers legal but found Rwanda not yet a safe third country, highlighting issues in its asylum system. Gerald argued that this verdict suggests the UK could instead transfer asylum seekers to certain safe European countries and take in more refugees, in line with human rights standards. He said that the decision also indicates that African nations like Rwanda could become safe third countries by establishing robust asylum systems, contributing to the reduction of migrant deaths.