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The background document n.9 of FOCSIV in the project Faces of Migration illustrates the main contents of the new Migration and Asylum Pact of the European Commission launched in September 2020, and now under negotiation in the European Parliament and the European Council.

The Pact is new in a relative way because it continues to be based on increasing control at external borders and delegating to neighboring and transit countries the containment and repatriation of migrants, from Bosnia, Turkey, Libya and Morocco. The Dublin Regulation is not reformed in terms of the responsibility of reception of the first country of arrival, but flexible solidarity is proposed with the countries most reluctant to relocate, with sponsorship of returns and financing of reception costs. Development cooperation continues to be used in part for the purpose of governing migratory flows.

These and other issues are highlighted in the document by referring to the criticisms made by European civil society networks, from ECRE to Concord Europe, Euromed Rights and GREI250. It is therefore important that civil society participate in the negotiation of the Pact by bringing its concerns about the respect of human rights and the application of the principle of “leaving no one behind” of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.