EU-Turkey Deal Could Have 'Problematic Knock-on Effect', Warns U.N.
The U.N. human rights chief voiced alarm Thursday over an EU-Turkey deal to slow migrant arrivals to Europe, saying it had legal flaws and contradictions that could have global repercussions.
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a statement there was "a contradiction at the heart of the agreement," and voiced deep concern at the "arbitrary detention of refugees and migrants."
The European Union and Ankara struck a deal nearly a week ago aiming to cut off the sea crossing from Turkey to the Greek islands, which bore the brunt of a refugee wave last year.
Under the agreement, which took effect Sunday, all migrants landing on the Greek islands face being sent back to Turkey, although the deal calls for each case to be examined individually.
"The declared aim to return all refugees and migrants contrasts with the assurances about individual assessments," Zeid said.
"If the safeguards are to be considered real, then the individual assessments must allow for the possibility that the persons in question will not in fact be returned," he said, adding "otherwise it could still qualify as a collective expulsion."
Zeid also questioned the assertion in the agreement that Turkey was considered "a safe third country", meaning that refugees who had passed through the country should be sent back there instead of being permitted to seek asylum in Greece.
Zeid also echoed criticism by the U.N. refugee agency and others, which suspended some activities in Greece warning reception centers had become "detention facilities".
"The use of detention for all new arrivals in the Greek islands, including children and other vulnerable persons ... appears to contravene a range of international and EU human rights laws and standards," Zeid said.
The aim of the EU-Turkey deal is to reduce the incentive for Syrian refugees to board dangerous smugglers' boats to cross to Greece, encouraging them instead to stay in Turkish refugee camps to win a chance at resettlement in Europe.
In 2015 more than a million migrants entered Europe, about half of them Syrians fleeing war.
Of these, around 850,000 people made the sea crossing to Greece from Turkey.
Zeid insisted that the migrant crisis was "manageable if the EU acts on the basis of its own well-established and greatly respected laws and principles."
But he warned, "if the EU starts to circumvent international law, there could be a deeply problematic knock-on effect in other parts of the world."
Source: Agence France Presse
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