Council of Europe Ministers to consider setting up a new European structure to meet challenges posed by migration
Strasbourg, 11.09.2002 – Challenges posed by migration will be discussed at a Council of Europe ministerial meeting at Finlandia Hall in Helsinki, Finland on 16 and 17 September 2002. More than 20 ministers are expected to take part, with emigration countries such as Egypt and Morocco represented for the first time. The Conference will be opened at 09.00 on Monday 16 September 2002, by Council of Europe Secretary General Walter Schwimmer, and President of the 55th General Assembly of the United Nations, Harri Holkeri, former Prime Minister of Finland.
One proposal under discussion will be the setting up of a new Council of Europe Observatory to coordinate European strategy and cooperation on migration. The new structure would encourage dialogue between countries where migrants come from, as well as those who receive them, and those they pass through on the way to their final destination. The overall aim would be to improve the management of migration flows in Europe.
Among the key issues are the challenges of promoting a more welcoming and tolerant society which values cultural diversity, improving the public perception of migration, and granting equal opportunities to migrants in the workplace.
The Conference will also focus on ways of combating the smuggling and trafficking of human beings by imposing stronger punishments on traffickers, and by helping the victims of such illegal migration.
A press briefing will be held at the Scandic Hotel Continental, Helsinki at 18.30 on Sunday 15 September 2002. A press conference will take place in Finlandia Hall at the end of the Conference on Tuesday 17 September 2002. The opening and closing sessions are open to the press.
For more information on this meeting, see website http://www.coe.int/migration/ and also http://www.congrex.fi/migration
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