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EU-Turkey deal could see Syrian refugees back in war zones, says UN | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
A senior UN official says he is very concerned that a hasty EU deal with Turkey could leave Syrian refugees unprotected and at risk of being sent back to a war zone. | |
Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, questioned the legality of an outline deal struck by the EU and Turkey. | |
“As a first reaction I am deeply concerned about any arrangement that would involve the blanket return of anyone from one country to another, without spelling out the refugee protection safeguards under international law,” he said on Tuesday. | |
Related: Turkey and EU agree outline of 'one in, one out' deal over Syria refugee crisis | Related: Turkey and EU agree outline of 'one in, one out' deal over Syria refugee crisis |
At the heart of the deal between the EU and Turkey is a controversial refugee exchange programme. Under the plan, Syrian refugees on the Greek islands would be returned to Turkey, while European countries would take asylum seekers currently living in Turkey. | |
Speaking to the European parliament in Strasbourg, Grandi said asylum seekers should only be returned to other states if they are guaranteed that they are not then sent back to the place they had fled. The country of return also has to ensure asylum seekers have access to work, healthcare, education and social assistance, Grandi said. | |
Separately, Vincent Cochetel, the UN high commissioner for refugees’ (UNHCR)regional director for Europe, said an EU commitment to resettle 20,000 refugees over two years, on a voluntary basis, remained “very low”. | |
“The collective expulsion of foreigners is prohibited under the European convention of human rights,” Cochetel told a news briefing in Geneva. | |
The UNHCR called on Europe to ensure safeguards for refugees being returned to the Middle East at an EU summit next week. | |
EU leaders have hailed the one-for-one plan as a breakthrough that would deter Syrians from making the dangerous sea crossing across the Aegean. | |
Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, insisted that sending refugees back to Turkey was legal and in line with the Geneva convention. Citing specific paragraphs in the EU’s asylum procedure directive, he said countries could refuse to consider refugee claims if there was a safe place to send them back to. As Greece had decided Turkey was “a safe country”, he said, the returns policy was legal. | |
Human rights groups are not convinced. Amnesty International has said it is “absurd” to describe Turkey as a safe third country. The group says that some Syrians have been returned to Syria and been shot at while trying to cross the Turkish border. | |
Grandi reminded his audience that the Syrian conflict was entering its sixth year, and said Syrian refugees were facing “increasingly difficult” conditions in Jordan and Lebanon: 90% live below the poverty lines as they are not able to work and have run down all their savings. | |
In a veiled rebuke to the EU, he said Afghans, who are not deemed to have legitimate asylum claims by many European states, also had “urgent protection needs”. | |
According to the UNHCR, 31 out of Afghanistan’s 34 regions saw a surge in people fleeing conflict last year. The number of internally displaced Afghans has risen to 1m people, up 78%. | |
In a speech timed to coincide with International Women’s Day, the Grandi said people often didn’t realise how many women and children were fleeing conflicts around the world. | |
Grandi said: “In public opinion the image [of a refugee] is often of young single men arriving in Europe to look for work. Today, on International Women’s Day, I wish to report that nearly two thirds are women and children.” |