Under the plan agreed at an European Union summit last month, migrants arriving in Greece will be returned to Turkey, while European Union countries will resettle Syrian refugees directly from Turkey.
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Just over 200 migrants and refugees – primarily from Pakistan and Afghanistan – were deported from the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios on Monday.
If proved, the claims would undermine the EU’s argument that the deportation deal, which could lead to the expulsion of nearly all asylum seekers who arrived in Greece after 20 March, was in line with worldwide law.
The deportations from Greek islands that were due to take place Wednesday are not likely to go ahead as authorities try to get to grips with the rising rate of asylum applications.
Under the accord, the European Union will take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and reward it with financial aid, visa-free travel and progress in its European Union membership negotiations.
Human rights organizations including the UNHCR have condemned the agreement, arguing that it violates protections for refugees and that Turkey can’t guarantee the safety of the people who are being sent back.
The government says the Syrians already have been interviewed by Dutch immigration authorities in Turkey who established that they are eligible to asylum.
On Monday, Reuters reported that at least two dinghies carrying more than 50 migrants and refugees, including children and a woman in a wheelchair, reached Lesvos, with the support of the Greek coast guard as the boats were about to sink.
Under the 1-for-1 part of the deal, Germany on Monday accepted 32 asylum-seekers from Turkish soil. I didn’t hear they were sending back Syrians to Turkey… Greece on Monday expelled 202 migrants under the deal.
Dozens of Pakistani migrants now being detained at a camp in Greece, have staged a protest amid fears they will be sent to Turkey soon.
Under the deal, Ankara will take back migrants and refugees, including Syrians, who entered Greece illegally.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR has stopped transporting arrivals to and from the Moria camp on Lesbos, initially set up to register arrivals but which has since become what UNHCR calls a “detention centre”. “Will they be safe once returned to Turkey?”.
Out of around 6,000 migrants who arrived on the islands after a deadline of Mar.20, more than 2,300 had applied for asylum, he said.
“This is all very new, very hard”, Wicher said.
The deal and its accompanied closing of land borders to migrants have also led to more than 52,000 people being stranded in Greece.
In an interview published Wednesday in the German daily Bild, Hollande said Wednesday that “in the end (Europe) always succeeds in finding a solution… but we have to pay a high price for the lost time”.
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“It is more a mistake than anything else – we hope”, he said.
