Posts
Serbia's
Interior Ministry says Slovenia will demand valid EU visas at its
borders as of midnight Tuesday, effectively closing the main Balkan
migration route toward western Europe
An
Afghan woman collects her laundry from a tree in Piraeus, near
Athens, Tuesday, March 8, 2016. European Union leaders hoped early
Tuesday they reached the outlines for a possible deal with Ankara to
return thousands of migrants to Turkey and said they were confident a
full agreement could be reached at a summit next week. (AP
Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Continued below
‘Not consistent with intl law’: UN lambasts EU-Turkey ‘quick fix’ deal on refugee returns
Syrian
refugees wait on a roadside near a beach in the western Turkish
coastal town of Dikili, Turkey, after Turkish Gendarmes prevented
them from sailing off for the Greek island of Lesbos by dinghies,
March 5, 2016. © Umit Bektas / Reuters
RT,
8
March, 2016
The
UN refugee agency has criticized the deal struck between the EU and
Ankara which seeks to send refugees back to Turkey. The UNHCR says
the agreement will expose migrants to huge risks, as well as break EU
and international laws on the right to protection.
Ankara
offered to take back all those who cross through its borders into the
EU, while resettling the same number of Syrian refugees in the
EU. In return in asked for billions more in cash, as well as
expedited talks on EU membership and a rapid implementation of
visa-free travel. The 28 EU members agreed and the decision is set to
be completed by March 17-18, pending more work by officials.
But
according to the UNHCR, the decision is a “quick
fix” that
will create a fragmented flow of refugees all trying to find ways
back into the EU.
Schengen
shell game? EU leaders laud ‘breakthrough’ Turkey refugee deal,
Ankara pushes for accession
Another
key problem associated with the decision, according to the UNHCR, is
that the refugee flow would be fragmented, resulting in disparate
groups that are all trying to return to the EU. "As
long as the conflict is not solved, it's a myth to believe that the
people will not try to leave. It may dissuade some people from
leaving through that route, but it won't dissuade everŠ¼ybody."
On
Europe’s commitment and its implementation so far, Cochetel
believes the objective of resettling 20,000 refugees in the space of
two years on a voluntary basis is still “very
low,” not
to mention Europe’s failure last September to relocate some 66,000
refugees from Greece. In fact, it failed on an epic scale, managing
to relocate only 600, according to Cochetel’s previous statements.
While
Turkey currently hosts three million Syrian refugees – the largest
number worldwide – its current acceptance rates for those from
Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan are also “very
low,” the
UNHCR director told Swiss radio RTS, as cited by Reuters.
"Sending
back people who would not have access to protection in Turkey poses a
certain number of problems in terms of international law and European
law," he
said. "I
hope that in the next 10 days a certain number of supplementary
guarantees will be put in place so that people sent back to Turkey
will have access to an examination of their request [for asylum],” he dded.
Similar
concerns were voiced by the UN Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF),
which stressed that "too
many details still remain unclear."
UNICEF
spokeswoman Sarah Crowe underlined that "the
fundamental principle of 'do no harm' must apply every step of
way." For
the particular agency, this applies first to the rights of children.
They are open to all sorts of dangers, including trafficking, forced
labor and other forms of exploitation.
Here is live coverage from AP
Meanwhile, Amnesty International blasted Ankara’s enduring record of leaving refugees to cope alone. It called the EU decision “alarmingly short-sighted and inhumane,” noting in a Tuesday statement how Turkey has “forcibly returned refugees to Syria and [how] many refugees in the country live in desperate conditions without adequate housing.”
Meanwhile, Amnesty International blasted Ankara’s enduring record of leaving refugees to cope alone. It called the EU decision “alarmingly short-sighted and inhumane,” noting in a Tuesday statement how Turkey has “forcibly returned refugees to Syria and [how] many refugees in the country live in desperate conditions without adequate housing.”
Amnesty’s
European head, Iverna McGowan, believes that "by
no stretch of imagination can Turkey be considered a 'safe third
country' that the EU can cozily outsource its obligations to."
IDOMENI,
Greece (AP) — The Latest on continuing migration to Europe (all
times local):
8:15
p.m.
Serbia's
Interior Ministry says Slovenia will demand valid EU visas at its
borders as of midnight Tuesday, effectively closing the main Balkan
migration route toward western Europe.
The
ministry says Serbia was informed of the new restrictions by Slovenia
and will act accordingly and close its borders with Macedonia and
Bulgaria for refugees and other migrants who don't have valid visas.
It
says "Serbia cannot allow itself to become a collective center
for refugees."
The
measure means that thousands of migrants currently stranded in Greece
on the border with Macedonia will not be allowed to proceed north
toward Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria.
Earlier
Tuesday, Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar said an EU summit —
dealing with the surge of migrants and refugees over the so-called
western Balkans route — has sent "a very clear message to all
traffickers and all irregular migrants that this route no longer
exists, it is closed."
Cerar
said "today or tomorrow" Slovenia will start allowing
passage only to those migrants with documents required by members of
the Schengen passport-free travel zone.
___
7:40
p.m.
Turkey
has reaffirmed an agreement with Greece to take back migrants
attempting to reach the European Union— a key condition set by EU
leaders for a landmark deal with Turkey to tackle the migrant crisis.
Greek
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmed
Davutoglu, in the Turkish coastal city of Izmir on Tuesday, a day
after the EU-Turkey summit in Brussels.
"We
have decided to intensify our cooperation and to re-affirm the
bilateral agreement. That is very important," Tsipras said.
Davutoglu
said the improved cooperation could "reduce the dramatic scenes
seen in the Aegean Sea to a minimum."
More
than 130,000 migrants and refugees have traveled to the Greek islands
from the Turkish coast so far this year.
The
two countries also signed a series of cooperation agreements to
further integrate highway, rail and maritime transport networks.
____
6:30
p.m.
Czech
Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka says his country is ready to accept
Syrian refugees directly from Turkey.
The
remarks Tuesday indicate a change of position for the Czechs on the
issue. Ahead of the EU summit meeting in Brussels Monday, Sobotka
said the Czech Republic won't participate for the time being in
voluntarily relocating refugees from Turkey.
Sobotka
says the Czechs would be ready to accept the refugees as part of the
previously approved plan to relocate 120,000 people among the EU
member states. But he says that his country won't take a bigger
number of migrants than the quota set by the plan.
As
part of a broader deal, Turkey has offered to take back some migrants
if an equal number are allowed into the EU legally.
___
5:45
p.m.
Police
say a 25-year-old tour bus driver has been arrested in Athens after
selling tickets to newly-arrived migrants for a trip to the
Macedonian border, and telling passengers that the border was open.
The
suspect, a Greek man, was arrested by the country's largest port of
Piraeus, near Athens, while preparing to take 25 passengers on the
600-kilometer (375-mile) trip to the border with Macedonia.
Police
say he was arrested on license violation offenses and three alleged
accomplices are sought for questioning.
The
arrest was announced the day after European Union leaders at a summit
in Brussels declared that the Balkan migration route is being closed.
Border
restrictions imposed along that route over the past month have left
some 33,000 people stranded in Greece, with more than a third of that
number camped out near the village of Idomeni by the Macedonian
border.
___
5:05
p.m.
Greece's
minister for migration says the government can provide shelter space
for up to 70,000 migrants — roughly double the current number of
people stranded in the country.
