• Live
    • Audio Only
  • google plus
  • facebook
  • twitter
News > World

Refugees to Return to Turkey Under Highly Inhumane Conditions

  • Refugees with their mouths taped stage a protest at a makeshift camp at the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni, Greece, April 1, 2016.

    Refugees with their mouths taped stage a protest at a makeshift camp at the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni, Greece, April 1, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 3 April 2016
Opinion

Hundreds of refugees will be deported back to Turkey Monday, but neither Turkey nor Greece are properly prepared to move that many human lives.

Less than 24 hours before Greece is due to begin returning migrants to Turkey, little sign of preparation is evident on the Greek island of Lesbos, where hundreds of thousands of people have entered into Europe since last year.

RELATED: Europe's 'War' Against Refugees a 'Scandal' Comparable to WWII

More than 5,600 migrants have been registered on Greek islands since March 20, the date on which the controversial Turkey-EU agreement took effect, to send all new refugees and migrants back to Turkey

Returns are due to begin on Monday, but where they will take place from and how many will be returned remains unclear.

“Planning is in progress,” said George Kyritsis, a Greek government spokesman for the migration crisis.

The returns are a key part of an agreement between the European Union and Turkey, which they say is aimed at ending the influx into Europe of migrants and refugees fleeing poverty and war in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

 

Under the agreement, migrants who cross into Greece illegally from Turkey from March 20 will be sent back to Turkey once their asylum applications have been processed.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and human rights groups have denounced the deal as lacking legal safeguards. Amnesty International echoed these statements calling the deal “a historic blow to human rights.” It said it would sent a delegation to Lesbos and nearby Chios on Monday to monitor the situation.

“The returns in particular are a flagrant violation of EU and international law, making a mockery of the global Refugee Convention,” Amnesty said in a statement.

But Greece is not the only one unprepared for the move. According to reports by the BBC, there are few signs that Turkey is ready to receive the hundreds of people being sent back to its shores, while the U.N. and rights groups have expressed fears about migrant welfare and whether some may be forced back into Syria. 

OPINION: The Making of the Migration Crisis

The Athens News Agency reported over the weekend that the returns would begin on Monday morning on two Turkish passenger ships chartered by Frontex, the EU border agency. The ships will sail from Lesbsos across to the Turkish coastal town of Dikili.

Some 250 people will be returned each day through Wednesday, it said, without citing sources.

Greek officials would neither confirm nor deny the report. A police spokesman on Lesbos said the force was still awaiting instructions.

The EU plans to send hundreds of police and migration officers to Greece over the weekend to help carry out the first returns.

On Friday, Greece's parliament passed an asylum amendment bill needed to implement the agreement. The legislation does not explicitly designate Turkey as a “safe third country” – what is needed to make any mass returns legally sound.

WATCH: teleSUR's The World Today – The Refugee Trail: Syria to Europe

Comment
0
Comments
Post with no comments.