Create effective legal pathways, fighting human trafficking and irregular migration

We have to create more effective pathways for legal and managed migration that facilitate access to protections such as; humanitarian visas, resettlement, possibilities for circular migration, students visas and seasonal employment visas. We also need an immigration policy that reflects demographic and global labour market realities and development challenges and opportunities, and that reunites families and partners. This will shorten asylum procedures and will create safe, orderly and regular migration at our borders and ensure security. Legal pathways will reduce the need for migrants to resort to ruthless human traffickers and smugglers to reach our shores. In that sense we should intensify joint efforts to prevent and combat the trafficking of migrants and to break this business model. Nevertheless, people who are not entitled the stay in the EU, must return to their country of origin in order to ensure the functioning and the legitimacy of the EU’s asylum and migration policies. We believe in a humane and dignified return policy, which respects the principle of non-refoulement, in line with the requirements of fundamental rights. Placing migrants and asylum seekers in detention should be seen as a last resort to be used only in strictly limited circumstances. The EU needs a comprehensive approach to reducing the incentives for irregular migration and to securing a well-functioning asylum and migration system. Such a policy should be designed and implemented in cooperation with the countries of origin. Therefore, cooperation with countries of origin for the return of refused asylum seekers must only take place with states which fully comply in practice with international human rights law.