9 EU countries want a new interpretation of European rights to ease deportations

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ROME (AP) — Leaders of 9 European Union countries say they want a reinterpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights in order to better tackle irregular migration to the continent and increase deportations.

The leaders said in an open letter made public in Rome on Thursday that interpretations of the rights convention by the European Court of Human Rights have limited the flexibility of national governments and prevented them from expelling migrants who commit crimes.

The letter was signed by leaders of Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

The court’s interpretation of the convention in “cases concerning the expulsion of criminal foreign nationals” has protected the “wrong people” and placed too many limits on deciding who can be expelled, the letter said.

The European Court of Human Rights handles complaints against the 46-member states of the Council of Europe, under the European Convention on Human Rights, including many cases involving migrants and asylum-seekers. The intergovernmental organization is not an EU institution and was set up in the wake of the Second World War to promote peace and democracy.

Irregular border crossings into the European Union are down by 27% this year, according to the European Union Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex.

While numbers of unauthorized migration have fluctuated in recent years, they are nowhere near what they were at the height of the refugee crisis in 2015 when more than one million people arrived on European shores, mainly fleeing the Syrian civil war.

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Follow AP’s global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration