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Amnesty calls on EU to fast-track refugees and asylum seekers “as a matter of urgency” (8 March 2016)

Date: 08/03/2016
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Amnesty calls on EU to fast-track refugees and asylum seekers “as a matter of urgency”

Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia, Gauri van Gulik, has said that Europe has “an absolute duty” to protect refugees fleeing war zones – and must fast-track “significant, unconditional resettlement” of refugees and asylum seekers “as a matter of urgency”.

Ms van Gulik was speaking in response to the current EU-Turkey summit in Brussels on how to tackle the growing migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.

The EU summit is focusing on working with Turkey to prevent people traffickers transporting desperate refugees across the Mediterranean in unsafe vessels – and even returning refugees who have arrived on the Greek islands back to Turkey, rather than allowing them to make their way across EU member states to claim asylum.

Ms van Gulik said:

“Using Turkey as a ‘safe third country’ is absurd. Many refugees still live in terrible conditions, some have been deported back to Syria – and security forces have even shot at Syrians trying to cross the border.

“Europe has an absolute duty to protect refugees – and must make the bold decision to fast-track significant, unconditional resettlement as a matter of urgency.”

Amnesty International says it has documented unlawful detentions and deportations of refugees and asylum-seekers by Turkey since an EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan was initially agreed in October 2015.

The human rights organisation also says that, despite “the positive efforts of Turkey to accommodate Syrian refugees”, many still live in desperate conditions – with hundreds of thousands of Syrian children receiving no formal education.

Amnesty adds that asylum-seekers from other countries face similar problems – and remain “in a legal limbo”, without their claims for refugee status being processed.

Turkey is being offered billions of euros to help with accommodating refugees crossing from Syria – and the country is also being considered for fast-track EU membership.

Turkey currently has more than three million refugees seeking sanctuary – last year, Germany accepted more than one million refugees fleeing war zones.

Ms van Gulik added:

“If the EU is going to hand over such enormous, much-needed sums to Turkey, it has to come with absolute guarantees that it will be spent on support for refugees – and that the current human rights violations stop outright.”

Amnesty says that, according to UNHCR data, 91% of people crossing the Mediterranean by sea from Turkey to Greece since 1 January 2016 have come from Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq – and are therefore “highly likely to be in need of international protection”.

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