By Prensa Latina,
Lima : President of Peru Alan Garcia expressed hope for the European Parliament to reconsider the so-called Return Law, as it has aspects detrimental to the immigrants’ human rights.
Meanwhile, criticism of this measure that calls for deportation or imprisonment of illegal immigrants has intensified, with a youth protest outside the EU Embassy in the making.
Garcia said to hope for the Organization of American States to reach an agreement on the issue tomorrow and for the EP to reconsider the Return Law approved last week.
He added that the regulation is a backward step for democracy in Europe and criticized the desire to turn into a crime the act of immigrating illegally to Europe to find a job.
Holding an illegal immigrant in prison for up to 18 months would “disqualify Europe to give any advice regarding democracy,” noted Garcia.
He did not plead for dropping the regulation, but for it to be applied according to the situation in each country and not as strictly as said, as it puts human rights of Peruvian immigrants in Europe (at least 200,000) in danger.
The Peruvian president congratulated Spain for making the application of the regulation in its territory flexible and said to hope for other European nations to understand and refrain from falling into excesses.