Mrs Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, yesterday cautioned EU leaders on immigration policy.
"I would ask that leaders (meeting at the EU Summit) in Seville remember the commitments they have made to a Europe based on freedom, democracy and human rights," she told The Irish Times.
"A lot depends on how they frame it," Mrs Robinson continued.
"They must be very solicitous about language and approach, because what they say in Seville will impact in police stations, holding stations, the way customs officials treat very vulnerable people who have no documents and don't understand the language."
Mrs Robinson said she was calling on the EU to refrain from imposing sanctions on countries whose citizens flee towards Europe.
"There is a change of mood. I sense that countries are stepping back from that approach, which would have very harsh repercussions," she said.
The former President was in Paris to receive the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The prize includes a cheque for €122,000.
A spokeswoman for Mrs Robinson said part of the prize-money would go to the High Commission's library.
The prize is named after the first president of the Ivory Coast and has been awarded annually since 1989. Earlier winners were Mr Nelson Mandela, Mr Yitzhak Rabin, Mr Shimon Peres, Mr Yasser Arafat and US senator Mr George Mitchell, for his work on the Belfast Agreement.
Mrs Robinson will complete her mandate as High Commissioner on September 11th. UNESCO's director-general, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, praised her "rare courage and exceptional devotion to the cause of the oppressed".
There was an undercurrent of tension over events in Israel and the occupied territories throughout the two-hour ceremony. Although Mrs Robinson did not mention Palestine in her acceptance speech, a Frenchman representing a Muslim association handed journalists a petition saying, "Madame Robinson, human rights are on the line today in Palestine. What are you doing?"
UNESCO deleted a sentence in the speech delivered by Mr Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the secretary-general of the international "Francophonie" organisation and head of the UN.
Referring to Mrs Robinson's "refusal to compromise" and "simple language", the text prepared by Mr Boutros-Gahli said: "I can conceive of no other attitude when wounded Palestine is buried under a wall of hatred, under the wall of shame."
