PACE condemns the EU-Turkey agreement
The refugee deal between EU-Turkey Agreement of March 18, 2016 has been discussed during the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
According to the PACE report, the Agreement raises several serious human rights issues, from overcrowding and anti-sanitary conditions of migrants in Greek islands to insufficient legal protection.
The report also condemned Europe’s “shamefully slow” progress on relocating refugees from Greece to other countries. Only 937 out of a promised 160,000 had been found homes as of March.
“Even on paper, [the EU-Turkey agreement] raises many serious questions of compatibility with basic norms on refugees’ and migrants’ rights. It has so far given every indication of being even more problematic in practice,” states the report by the Dutch parliamentarian Tineke Strik.
PACE advises Turkey to treat all the migrants returned from Greece in accordance with international standards and laws.
The agreement has received serious criticism in Europe. Turkey, already hosting 3.1 million refugees, agreed to take back irregular migrants from Europe, in exchange for an end to visa restrictions, as well as progress on EU accession talks.
The EU has also promised turkey €3bn humanitarian aid.
Some MEPs fear the deal risks tarnishing Europe’s moral authority further if EU officials fudge security and technical standards to meet Turkey’s demand of visa-free travel for its 79 million citizens by June.