We use cookies to help provide you with the best experience using our website.
If you're happy to accept cookies, continue to browse our site or click 'x' and we'll close this message.
Learn more
Migrant 'pull factor'
Sending migrants intercepted at sea back to their country against their will would "act as an increased pull factor across the Mediterranean and encourage more people to put their lives at risk.
We wrote to Mrs. May:
"I was interested to read today's article in The Times (http://thetim.es/1cTlppJ, £) in which you said that the "mandatory relocation or resettlement of migrants across Europe ... would only strengthen the incentives for criminal gangs" to transport people across the Mediterranean, and that an approach where no migrants intercepted at sea were returned to their country "would only act as an increased pull factor across the Mediterranean and encourage more people to put their lives at risk."
Could you send me the relevant evidence that the relocation and interception policies pursued by EU countries acts as either an incentive or a pull factor on migrants attempting to enter the EU?
I'm asking as part of the Ask for Evidence campaign, through which we're encouraging members of the public to question the evidence behind public policy claims. I plan to share your response publicly with supporters of the campaign.
Thanks and best regards
Prateek
--
Prateek Buch, PhD
Policy Director, Evidence Matters"