(DAKAR) - An African rights watchdog expressed its concern on Thursday at a new European Union plan to stem immigration and warned that the pact would make matters worse for immigrants and increase crime.

Raddho slammed "the EU policies of criminalisation and locking up of migrants and asylum seekers" and noted its "intense worry" about the new immigration guidelines announced by France's EU presidency earlier this week.

"The establishment of a European pact on immigration and asylum will accentuate the vulnerability and the criminalisation of immigration and asylum rights," Dakar-based Raddho said.

It added it was "deeply worried with respect to the first measures announced by the French EU presidency."

The pact, presented Monday in Cannes, sets out principles for the EU to manage migration, fight illegal immigration and help development in poor countries that people are leaving or travelling through to get to Europe.

The agreement aims to organise legal immigration based on a state's needs and ability to welcome people, and combat illegal immigration, ensuring that foreigners who do not have papers are removed.

EU nations would base legal immigration on workers or professionals whose skills are tailored to their particular labour needs, favouring those who would stay in their countries long term.

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