Submitted by Political Commission 3: External Affairs and Global Governance

Re-adopted and amended to its current form by the Federal Committee on 19 April 2026 in Belgrade, Serbia. 

Conflicts, political turmoil, economic disparities as well as climate change generate migration towards Europe. The European Union (EU), so far, has proven itself totally unprepared to tackle the human rights violations and humanitarian crisis faced by refugees and migrants, especially at its external borders. Member States are reacting unilaterally and against the common European interest. Unilateral actions are ineffective and damaging to major European achievements and values, such as the Schengen Agreement, peaceful cooperation between Member States and human rights. The Young European Federalists urges the EU to give a stronger common response to this global challenge, in the field of migration, asylum and border control policies.

JEF Europe,

1. Emphasising that the fundamental rights and duties of a human being declared in the European Convention on Human Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1951 Geneva Convention and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union must always be respected;
2. Acknowledging that recent refugee and migration patterns have been markedly different in both character and impact on different Member States;
3. Alarmed by the persisting human rights violations and humanitarian crises faced by migrants and refugees in Europe, especially taking into account wars and instability;
4. Noting that conflicts, war, human rights abuses, political persecution, lack of perspectives, climate change and growing economic disparities will continue to lead to migrant and refugee arrivals in Europe if these root causes of migration are not seriously addressed
5. Acknowledging that the charge of welcoming refugees is left to countries neighbouring conflicts or other humanitarian disasters and that these countries are often hosting numbers far beyond their capacities;
6. Highlights the need for further effective and tangible solidarity with Member States on the Union’s external borders experiencing most of the arrivals to ensure that they can provide the highest standards of dignified immediate reception;
7. Deploring that the Member States have sidelined the EU in migration and have been unwilling to develop a serious common strategy, have been blocking Commission proposals for a common approach and have prioritised a shallow and populist understanding of the “national interest” at the cost of effective and reasonable common migration and asylum policy;
8. Further deploring that the present decision-making procedures are ineffective and exploitable, allowing a small minority, even a single bad-faith actor, to stall decision making indefinitely;
9. Believing that the Schengen area and the freedom of movement are two of the greatest achievements of the EU and that they should not only be preserved, but expanded;
10. Noting the conclusion and adoption of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which will become applicable as of mid-2026, and acknowledging the decrease in irregular arrivals and asylum applications recorded in 2025, which has created a window for effective implementation;
11. Noting with concern the European Parliament’s approval of amendments broadening the “safe third country” concept, removing the requirement of a link between the asylum seeker and the country of transfer, and eliminating the suspensive effect of appeals, thereby weakening procedural safeguards and triggering a race to the bottom in migrant protection standards;
12. Deeply concerned by the European Parliament’s approval of a new return regulation allowing detention of migrants, including families and minors, for extended periods, expanding data surveillance, and paving the way for offshore deportation centres, which raises serious concerns about compliance with fundamental rights;
13. Deploring that the EU is outsourcing migration management flows by entering into agreements with third countries (Albania, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Tunisia and Türkiye) often without adequate human rights safeguards;
14. Deploring the EU’s plans to fund a Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in eastern Libya under Commander Khalifa Haftar’s control, which would extend the “pullback mechanism” already operating in western Libya, resulting in interceptions at sea and returns to Libyan authorities where migrants face arbitrary detention, extortion, and inhuman treatment;
15. Condemning the continued formal and informal practices of migration externalisation that actively subvert the principle of non-refoulement, including pushbacks, as documented in judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which strengthened Frontex’s legal responsibility in pushback operations;
16. Regretting that the EU has given billions of euros to Türkiye since March 2016 to detain migrants and refugees in degrading conditions, while acknowledging that the agreement helped to control migration streams at its peak;
17. Condemning the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the EU and Tunisia, signed in July 2023 which paid little regard to the ongoing gross human rights abuses by the regime against asylum seekers in the country as well as against its own citizens;
18. Noting the launch of the new Mediterranean Pact, which aims to strengthen ties with Mediterranean countries, while civil society organisations have raised concerns about limited consultation and insufficient attention to human rights;
19. Condemning criminal state and non-state actors acting as smugglers of migrants and human traffickers for the inhuman treatment, exploitation and endangerment of innocent lives purely for financial profit;
20. Further concerned that externalisation strategies might be more broadly replicated by other countries bordering the EU, instrumentalising refugees and migrants for financial gain and leverage over the EU;
21. Deeply concerned that some Member States have denied their responsibility, refused to welcome in their ports ships rescuing the lives of migrants and refugees, and sometimes have gone as far as actively repelling ships, putting lives at risk and possibly breaching international law;
22. Convinced that EU-led search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean and in the Aegean Sea are necessary to save lives;
    
23. Condemning the criminalisation of NGOs operating in search and rescue activities in the Mediterranean Sea made by several EU Member States’ governments;
24. Recognising that various pieces of EU legislation have been adopted in order to create a common asylum policy in line with the objective set out in Article 78 TFEU, including Directive 2011/95 (“Qualification Directive”) and Directive 2013/33 (“Reception Conditions Directive”);
25. Welcoming the European Commission’s first European Asylum and Migration Management Strategy, presented in early 2026, which sets out a five-year framework to support Pact implementation;
26. Welcoming the establishment of the EU Talent Pool in late 2025, the first EU-wide platform supporting international recruitment of skills and talent from third countries at all skill levels, and the opening of the European Legal Gateway Office in India in early 2026 to facilitate legal migration pathways for ICT professionals, students, and researchers;
27. Noting the European Commission’s new visa and migration strategy unveiled in early 2026, which proposes enhanced control of visa-free regimes, new restrictive measures for non-cooperative states on readmission, and prioritised visa procedures for “high value-added” individuals at EU level;
28. Acknowledging that Member States have committed significantly fewer resettlement places for 2026-2027 compared to previous years, and that relocation commitments have similarly fallen short of the European Commission’s targets, while return rates have increased in recent years.

JEF Europe, therefore,

1. Insists on the need for a common EU policy on migration, asylum, subsidiary protection and temporary protection which fully complies with binding obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and respects the non-refoulement principle;
2. Mandates the EU and its Member States to ensure the swift and effective implementation of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which will become applicable in mid-2026, with a focus on operational readiness at borders, fair and efficient procedures, and credible solidarity mechanisms;
3. Requires that, to the implementation of the adopted Pact on Migration and Asylum, the European Union should prefer a strategy founded on mechanisms of genuine internal solidarity and the establishment of safe and legal pathways for entry;
4. Demands that the solidarity mechanism under the Pact be implemented in a way that ensures genuine responsibility sharing between Member States, with transparent reporting on relocations, financial contributions, and alternative solidarity measures;
5. Requires the European Commission to closely monitor the implementation of the Pact and to consider infringement procedures against Member States that fail to comply with their obligations, including respect for human rights;
6. Exhorts the EU to accelerate the phasing out of the Dublin regulations and adopt a true European asylum policy, fully respecting EU values, human rights and Articles 78–80 TFEU, and relying on solidarity and responsibility sharing as well as on extra assistance to the countries of entry;
7. Calls on the EU to include a European refugee status for political dissidents in its migration and asylum policies;
8. Demands that in the future, asylum decisions and decisions on return be taken based on unified EU-wide standards, rather than disparate standards defined at the national level;
9. Furthermore, calls on the European Commission to consider infringement procedures and financial sanctions against non-compliant Member States in the framework of migration and asylum policies;
10. Urges the EU to stop using readmission agreements as the main tool to fight irregular immigration, as this encourages violations of human rights such as the non-refoulement principle guaranteed by the 1951 Geneva Convention;
11. Calls for an EU policy for the Mediterranean region and beyond, ensuring broad and intensified cooperation with third countries through the Union for the Mediterranean and other multilateral fora in order to fight human trafficking networks, while insisting that such cooperation must include binding human rights clauses, independent monitoring mechanisms, and oversight by the European Parliament;
12. Demands that the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) operates in full compliance with EU values and fundamental rights, and that the agency’s legal responsibility for pushback operations, as affirmed by the Court of Justice of the European Union, is fully respected and enforced;
13. Insists that Frontex is tasked with search and rescue in the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea and demands the transformation of Operation Themis into a wider and focused EU search and rescue operation of people in distress;
14. Mandates the establishment of a dedicated, civilian-led EU Sea Rescue Agency, separate from Frontex, with a sole mandate to coordinate and conduct search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, ensuring that lifesaving is not subordinated to border control objectives;
15. Invites the EU and its Member States to provide transit countries with extended assistance and further humanitarian supplies to be dedicated to the reception of asylum seekers and refugees;
16. Calls on the EU to enhance legal and humanitarian pathways to safely reach the EU, without being forced to rely on illegal human trafficking, such as humanitarian visas to refugees;
17. Calls for the establishment of common European asylum offices in third countries that respect European standards of treatment and human dignity;
18. Demands with immediate effect the decriminalisation of humanitarian sea rescue by EU states;
19. Calls on the EU to enhance legal and humanitarian pathways to safely reach the EU, without being forced to rely on illegal human trafficking, such as humanitarian visas to refugees;
20. Calls for the establishment of common European asylum offices in third countries that respect European standards of treatment and human dignity;
21. Demands with immediate effect the decriminalisation of humanitarian sea rescue by EU states;
22. Encourages the EU to open more legal channels for labour migration;
23. Requires the further expansion of legal migration pathways, including through the EU Talent Pool, the European Legal Gateway Office model, and Talent Partnerships with third countries, with a focus on matching skills with labour market needs while ensuring fair recruitment practices and protection of workers’ rights;
24. Demands the EU to further facilitate cross-border mobility for cultural and educational exchanges with third-country nationals;
25. Condemns any proposal regarding migration and asylum policy that relies on building walls and fences, and urges the EU and its Member States to build an open continent instead of a Fortress Europe and internal barriers;
26. Demands that the Schengen Agreements are safeguarded at all times, borders be reopened where they have been closed and border controls are put to an end without delay;
27. Calls on the EU to avoid externalisation agreements with third countries and to review and renegotiate the ones it already signed, to ensure they fully respect the 1951 Geneva Convention, include binding human rights clauses, and provide for independent monitoring and accountability mechanisms;
28. Urges the EU to withdraw from plans to fund maritime control centres in Libya, including the proposed centre in Benghazi, given documented human rights abuses by Libyan authorities and militias, and to instead prioritise dedicated EU-led search and rescue operations;
29. Demands significantly stronger political will towards the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), among other fora, to forge the necessary partnerships with Southern Neighbourhood states needed to overcome the short-term vision of the EU and its Member States to make development assistance primarily conditional on migration cooperation to the detriment of EU values as well as the quality of broader development goals;
30. Urges European leaders to change radically their migration and asylum narratives to make space for more sustainable and humane approaches;
31. Commits itself to explore opportunities for cooperation and exchange with young migrants and youth organisations working with refugees and migrants;
32. Requires the establishment of effective mechanisms to assess and match the skills of migrants with the labour market needs of Member States, facilitating seamless integration and contributing to the overall prosperity of the EU;
33. Mandates Member States to prioritise integration policies, including language training, education, housing, and labour market access, as essential components of a sustainable migration system that ensures social cohesion and public confidence;
34. Demands the expansion of youth mobility and civic engagement programmes, ensuring that refugees and vulnerable migrant groups have access to student exchanges, volunteering initiatives, and youth projects with optional financial support from the EU.