597 Ricard Zapata-Barrero The external dimension of migration policy in the Mediterranean region: premises for normative debate question”.29 Finally, we can also mention the European Commission Communication stating the need for a thematic approach, emphasising the need to change the focus of the external dimension of migration policy from a security-based to a more development-based one centred on root-cause concerns: “Policy developments (…) referring to migration and development and to legal economic migration are probably destined to exert the more innovative effects. This goes in parallel with the fact that until recently the external dimension of the migration policy has been prevalently built around the objective of better managing the migratory flows with a view to reducing the migratory pressure on the Union. Although this remains a valid goal, the additional challenge today lies in the development of policies which recognise the need for migrant workers to make our economies function in those sectors where the EU is facing labour and skills shortages and, at the same time, which maximise both for the migrants and for their countries of origin the benefits triggered by the migration. This presupposes an approach which goes beyond the questions of border control and fight against illegal immigration, to incorporate other dimensions of the migratory phenomenon, in particular development and employment.” 30 This implies that the future thematic programme would have the following five strands: 31 • Fostering links between migration and development; • Promoting well-managed labour migration; • Fighting illegal immigration and facilitating the readmission of illegal immigrants; • Protecting migrants against exploitation and exclusion; • Promoting asylum and international protection, including through regional protection programmes. This root cause approach also belongs to the human rights framework referred to in the Report of the Global Commission on International Migration (October, 2005).32 Within the section on state sovereignty and responsibility, it is argued that: “The Commission also urges states to uphold those provisions of the trafficking and smuggling protocols that emphasise the need to combat the root causes of these phenomena by alleviating poverty, underdevelopment and a lack of equal opportunities, and by 29 LAVENEX, Sandra, op cit, 2004, p. 334. 680–700. 30 Thematic programme for cooperation with third countries in the areas of migration and asylum, Brussels, 25.1.2006, COM (2006) 26 final (3.2. Strategic guidelines, p. 10)l; 31 idem. 32 This report is available at the Global Commission’s website: www.gcim.org.
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