Germany to
return refugees to Greece starting in March
Berlin to
begin returning newly arrived asylum seekers to Greece after five-year
suspension of such transfers. Germany has decided to start returning newly
arrived asylum seekers to Greece starting in mid-March, according to an
interior ministry spokesperson, effectively reversing a five-year suspension of
such transfers owing to the poor conditions there.
Under the
European Union's so-called Dublin rules, would-be refugees must file for asylum
in the first member-state of the bloc they enter - often Greece, Italy or
Bulgaria.
If asylum
seekers have travelled on to other EU nations, they are to be returned to their
first port of call.
But that
requirement was halted for Greece in 2011, which together with Italy has been
the main point of entry for the more than one million migrants who have entered
the bloc since 2015, fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.
A German
interior ministry spokesman told AFP news agency that Germany would reinstate
the Dublin rule in two months' time and return newly-arrived asylum seekers to
their first EU port of call.
"In
line with the recommendation from the European Commission, Germany believes
that such transfers will be possible from March 15," said the spokesman,
Tobias Plate.
'Historic
migration flows'
Germany's
decision comes after the EU recommended on December 8 that member states resume
sending asylum seekers back to Greece from March next year.
Athens has
criticised the EU's assessment, with Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas saying
the current legal framework was "unable to respond to the historic
migration flows and leaves the burden to the member states that migrants first
arrive in".
About
62,000 refugees and migrants have been stranded in Greece after a series of
border closures further north early last year and the subsequent controversial
deal between the EU and Turkey to stem flows.
In recent
days, refugees in camps across mainland Greece and Greek islands have struggled
as temperatures have sunk as low as minus 18 degrees.
The severe
weather had been forecast well in advance, and the Greek government has come
under fire for not acting fast enough to ensure that all refugees are
adequately housed.
In Moria, a
camp on Greek the island of Lesbos, more than 4,500 people who live in tents
are among those hit the hardest by the snowy weather.
"While
thousands of asylum seekers are exposed to bitterly cold conditions and some
may freeze to death, politicians are cynically whitewashing the situation in
Greece," said Pro Asyl, the German refugee relief group, raising concerns
about Berlin's decision to start returning asylum seekers.
"Instead
of enforcing Dublin-deportations, it is of crucial importance to
comprehensively investigate the abject failure of the system of housing asylum
seekers in Greece and to house refugees in humane conditions without delay.
Human rights organisations have been working for months to get refugees out of
tents and miserable camps."
Pro Asyl
also warned that the measure would put the asylum system in Greece, a country
still dealing with a crippling financial crisis, under further pressure.
Germany's
2015 decision to open its doors to Syrian refugees, and to effectively suspend
Dublin rules for them, brought 890,000 asylum seekers in that year alone.
But the
move by Chancellor Angela Merkel has proved controversial, and the government
has since sought to bring numbers down.
Last year,
the figure dropped sharply to 280,000 arrivals, largely owing to the closure of
the Balkan overland route and a fragile EU-Turkey deal to limit the mass
influx.
The plan to
return asylum seekers to Greece could further slash new arrival figures, ahead
of general elections expected in September, when immigration is set to figure
as a key issue.
Trapped in
cold
More than
361,000 refugees and migrants reached Europe by boat last year, according to
the UN refugee agency. In 2015, more than a million made the perilous journey
across the Mediterranean Sea. Closed borders across Europe have left refugees
and migrants trapped in difficult humanitarian conditions in the Balkans,
Greece and elsewhere.
Rights
groups have expressed concern about the fate of refugees and migrants as a wave
of cold weather grips the region.
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου