BRUSSELS — The United Nations and human rights groups voiced deep concerns Tuesday about the legality of the European Union’s plans to send thousands of migrants back to Turkey amid fears the country cannot properly provide for them.
EU and Turkish leaders agreed to the broad outlines of a deal that would essentially outsource Europe’s refugee emergency. People arriving in Greece having fled war or poverty would be sent back to Turkey unless they apply for asylum.
For every migrant sent back, the EU would take in one Syrian refugee, thus trying to prevent the need for people to set out on dangerous sea journeys, often arranged by unscrupulous smugglers.
Turkey stands to gain billions of dollars in refugee aid, faster EU membership talks and visa-free travel for its citizens within four months under the plan, whose details are to be worked out at a March 17 EU summit.
In another development, Serbia’s Interior Ministry said that as of midnight Tuesday, Slovenia will demand valid EU visas at its borders, effectively closing the main Balkans migration route to western Europe for thousands who have continued to cross from Turkey to Greece.
Under the outlines of the proposed deal reached in Brussels, migrants who enter Europe illegally will be sent back and have to join the end of the queue to enter Europe, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Safety questioned
But the U.N. and rights groups are not convinced that Turkey is a safe destination. More than 2.7 million refugees, many from Syria, are in Turkey. Most are housed by Turkish families or live out in the open, and few have government-funded shelters.
“I am deeply concerned about any arrangement that would involve the blanket return of anyone from one country to another without spelling out the refugee protection safeguards,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told EU lawmakers.
In Geneva, UNHCR Europe bureau director Vincent Cochetel told reporters that collective expulsion of foreigners is prohibited under international law.
Amnesty International also warned that the plan is legally flawed. Europe’s attempt to have Turkey designated as a safe country is “alarmingly shortsighted and inhumane,” the group said.
“Turkey has forcibly returned refugees to Syria, and many refugees in the country live in desperate conditions without adequate housing,” said Iverna McGowan, head of Amnesty’s European office.
“By no stretch of imagination can Turkey be considered a ‘safe third country’ that the EU can cozily outsource its obligations to,” she said.
The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said the deal is cynical and a sign that “European leaders have completely lost track of reality.”
