Lords Committee questions human rights organisations and migrant experts over EU Action Plan
Continuing its inquiry into the EU's Action Plan against migrant smuggling, the House of Lords EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee will be speaking to representatives from two organisations concerned with refugees' rights and welfare, on Wednesday 22 July. It will also talk to academics who are researching the issues surrounding migration.
In the first session, at 10.30am, the Committee will hear from David Mepham, UK Director of Human Rights Watch, and Steve Symonds, Programme Director for Refugee and Migrant Rights for Amnesty International UK.
The Committee will question the witnesses on the impact of the Action Plan on migrants' rights, the relationship between migrant smuggling and human trafficking, and how EU laws could protect the victims of these crimes.
In the second session, at 11.30am, the Committee will question Elizabeth Collett, Director of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Europe; and Franck Düvell, Associate Professor and Senior Researcher at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), at the University of Oxford.
The Committee will explore a variety of areas with the witnesses, including the root causes of irregular migration to the EU; whether they believe that the measures suggested in the Action Plan are likely to deter smugglers; whether migrant smuggling practices differ across the EU in terms of people involved, destination countries and routes and methods of transportation; and whether some EU Member States are likely to face greater difficulties than others in implementing the Action Plan.
The evidence sessions will take place from 10.30am, on Wednesday 22 July in Committee Room 3 of the House of Lords.
