Greece has suspended migrant deportations to Turkey, a day after the first batch of people was sent back from the islands of Lesbos and Chios.
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Giorgos Kyritsis, a spokesman for the Greek government’s refugee crisis committee, told The Associated Press on Monday that Frontex, the EU’s border management agency which is responsible for implementing the deal, only has 200 officers in place to accompany the deported migrants, but nearly none of the other personnel that would facilitate screening those who apply for asylum. Local officials on the island Chios said more migrants could be sent back from there Wednesday. The EU will, in turn, take one Syrian migrant for each asylum-seeker sent back.
The deal has come under harsh criticism from human rights groups and aid organisations, who question why Europe is sending potentially vulnerable people back to Turkey where they say their protection is not assured.
Greece has reported a spike in the number of asylum applications of individuals who have arrived since March 20, the date the first phase of the European Union accord took effect and new arrivals were detained in holding centers.
A Greek Church official said the trip could take place as early as this month.
It is believed that thousands of the migrants in Greece are likely to be returned in the coming weeks.
“People that will be returned to Turkey will have the full right to exercise the rights on the European Union territory and the Greek islands and that they will be given the opportunity to claim their rights depending on their situation”.
The Holy Synod, the ruling body of the Greek Orthodox Church, said in a statement that it wants the pontiff to visit Lesbos, the Aegean island where hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants have arrived in the past year.
Migrants staged protests inside some detention camps, including on the island of Lesbos, yesterday, according to reports. The official spoke on customary condition of anonymity.
The Commission said in a document to EU institutions that “significant structural weaknesses and shortcomings” in the current system were rife, which placed “a disproportionate responsibility” on some nations, while others, mostly eastern European members, sought to shield their countries from having to carry much of the refugee burden.
According to the director of Greece’s Asylum Service, approximately 3,000 people on the islands are claiming asylum.
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“The Easter message of the risen Christ… invites us not to forget those men and women seeking a better future, an ever more numerous throng of migrants and refugees… fleeing from war, hunger, poverty and social injustice”, the pope said then. Still it pales compared to the more than 2.7 million registered in Turkey alone.In Germany, 16 Syrian refugees from Turkey landed in the central city of Hannover on Monday to be resettled and 16 more were expected on a flight later in the day.
