Over 200 civil society organisations from across the globe are organising a “citizens’ summit” on migration from 17-18 October in Paris to demand a more humane Europe on the subject of immigrants, sources in the French capital, Paris, confirmed Tuesday.
The sources said civil society organisations were “concerned about the mainly security-focused character of the treatment of migratory flows, leading to thousands of deaths, and about the economic choices that maintain the African continent on the sidelines of development”.
They are clamouring for “another Europe than the one that is being transformed into a fortress that prevents access to its territory, expels illegal immigrants and is a source of imbalance between North and South”.
The meeting entitled “Second Euro-African Non-governmental Conference on Migration and development,” will have participants from European and African anti-globalization personalities.
The activities are debates, a march on the slogan “Bridges, not walls” and a big concert free of charge to be attended by several artistes.
The meeting comes in the wake of a similar one held in Rabat in 2006 which initiated a reflection, solidarity and a common discourse from European and African civil societies and proposed alternative avenues to the current migratory flow management policies. Panapress.
