The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee yesterday agreed by an overwhelming on a proposal that would see legitimate, asylum-seeking refugees being able to apply for humanitarian visas at European Union embassies and consulates overseas.

The aim of the measure is so that people seeking protection can access Europe without risking their lives by making the Mediterranean crossing in rickety boats.  It is estimated that at least 30,000 persons have died at the EU’s borders since 2000, but the real death toll will, sadly, never be known in full.

It must be reminded that there is absolutely nothing illegal about being a refugee and that the facility to seek asylum in a safe country is an international legal right afforded to each and every one of us – it’s just that the majority of us here in Europe are fortunate enough that we will never have to contemplate exercising that right.

The concept that the European Parliament will ask the Commission to consider is a legislative proposal establishing a European Humanitarian Visa that giving access to European territory, specifically to the member state issuing the visa, for the sole purpose of submitting an application for international protection.

For too long Europe has promised and bickered over creating legal and safe passageways for genuine asylum seekers into Europe but despite all that talk the bloc still, very evidently, lacks any kind of a harmonised framework of protected entry procedures.

Such is the situation as matters stand that a remarkable 90 per cent of people who have been granted international protection in the European Union had actually reached Europe through irregular means.

There is clearly something wrong with the formula, and by failing to create the structures to allow genuine refugees from seeking asylum and other forms of humanitarian protection, we are falling foul of our obligations to help  those in need, in their most dire hour of need.

And the fact that, instead of providing those legal, normal channels, we instead see people in valid need of humanitarian protection perishing at sea for lack of other options, with the only option being to somehow make to EU soil and claim asylum.

No, we are not responsible for these people, many would argue.  But the EU’s humanitarian credentials are something that we, as a bloc, hold dear and pride ourselves upon.  We are, however, failing miserably in this respect.  And this past summer has been a painful case in point, with the majority of EU government flatly refusing to share the burden and with others having done so, we suspect, only after no small amount of arm twisting.

This is an indelible stain on our humanity,

This proposal that will soon go before the European Commission is one small step in combating the scourge of human smuggling, while it will help to better manage the arrivals, reception and processing of asylum claims.

The proposal does not, however, make it free for all: prospective beneficiaries will have to prove well-founded exposure to or risk of persecution and not be in a resettlement process already.

Moreover, the assessment applications would not involve a full status determination process, but before issuing the visa, each applicant would be subject to a security screening, through the relevant national and European databases to ensure that they do not pose a security risk.

The proposal may be one small step, one tiny piece of the mosaic that the European Union but it is an extremely positive one.  It is hoped the Commission and later the Council will give it all due consideration.