Under the terms of the EU-Turkey deal, all “irregular migrants” arriving on the Greek islands from Turkey since March 20 face being sent back, although the accord calls for each case to be examined individually.
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Turkish Interior Ministry employees check documents of a Pakistani migrant wrapped with a blanket beforegetting on a ferry for Turkey in the port of Mytilini of the Greek island of Lesbos, Friday, April 8, 2016.
Refugees held on the Greek islands Lesbos and Chios live in “appalling” conditions with little access to legal aid or information about their fate under a European Union (EU) agreement that will send some back to Turkey, Amnesty International said on Thursday.
“A setup that is so flawed, rushed and ill-prepared is ripe for mistakes, trampling the rights and well-being of some of the most vulnerable people”, Gauri van Gulik, AI’s deputy director for Europe, said in a statement.
The first group of 202 refugees to be returned, majority from Pakistan and Afghanistan, were sent back to Turkey on Monday.
Also on Friday, Canberra announced that dual nationals convicted of terrorism would be stripped of their Australian nationality.
However, the returns process was interrupted as asylum applications surged in Greece.
“If we can establish the same with Libya as what we’re working on with Turkey, as well as on our own borders: we have much to do”, the German chancellor said after talks with her French counterpart in the French town of Metz near the German border.
Now local authorities in Lesvos are awaiting for the arrival of the “Tera Jet” ferry which carries 80 migrants from the Greek islands of Kos and Samos.
The diplomat said the second option is less popular, supported mainly by Germany and Sweden, which have already admitted the lion’s share of migrants who did not want to stay in Greece and Italy.
The first groups of people were returned to Turkey earlier this week following the implementation of the controversial deal.
Turkey, home to 2.7 million Syrian refugees, will receive funds from the European Union to spend on refugees.
In return, Turkey is slated to receive benefits including visa-free travel for its citizens to Europe, which in the accord is promised “at the latest” by June 2016. “They are just trying to tease Turkish people”, Erdogan said.
Germany is due to release data on Friday that are expected to show a sharp decline in asylum requests in March, after several countries along the Balkan migrant route up from Greece closed their borders.
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Activists have been voicing concerns about sending the deportees to Turkey; a country with a spotty human rights record. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.
