UN says Turkey migrant plan illegal

A Kurdish family from the Syrian city of Afrin arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos, on November 17, 2015, after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey. The mass expulsion of migrants from Greece to Turkey under a draft EU-Ankara deal to ease the migrant crisis would be “illegal,” the UN warned on Thursday, as some of the bloc’s own ministers also criticised the plan. PHOTO | BULENT KILIC |

What you need to know:

  • The mass expulsion of migrants from Greece to Turkey under a draft EU-Ankara deal to ease the migrant crisis would be “illegal,” the UN warned on Thursday, as some of the bloc’s own ministers also criticised the plan.
  • EU leaders had hoped the mooted deal with Turkey - due to be finalised at an EU summit on March 17-18 - could stem the flood of migrants streaming through the bloc in search of a better life, many fleeing the five-year war in Syria.
  • The EU-Turkey plan drawn up on Monday would see Ankara take back all migrants landing in Greece, in a bid to reduce their incentive to get to Europe.
  • In return for every Syrian expelled from Greece, the EU would resettle one Syrian refugee from camps in Turkey - which is hosting about 2.7 million people who have fled the conflict across the border.
  • And in exchange for its cooperation, Turkey wants six billion euros ($6.6 billion) in aid, visa-free access to Europe’s passport-free Schengen zone and a speeding up of its efforts to join the EU.

GENEVA, Thursday

The mass expulsion of migrants from Greece to Turkey under a draft EU-Ankara deal to ease the migrant crisis would be “illegal,” the UN warned on Thursday, as some of the bloc’s own ministers also criticised the plan.

While EU countries squabbled over how to cope with the bloc’s worst migration crisis since World War II, UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said the proposed deal with Turkey raised “a number of very serious concerns”.

“Among my concerns is the potential for collective and arbitrary expulsions, which are illegal,” he told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

EU leaders had hoped the mooted deal with Turkey - due to be finalised at an EU summit on March 17-18 - could stem the flood of migrants streaming through the bloc in search of a better life, many fleeing the five-year war in Syria.

Underscoring yet again the human tragedy of the crisis, a fresh shipwreck off the Turkish coast claimed five lives including a baby as a boat full of migrants heading for Greece capsized.

EU-TURKEY PLAN

The EU-Turkey plan drawn up on Monday would see Ankara take back all migrants landing in Greece, in a bid to reduce their incentive to get to Europe.

In return for every Syrian expelled from Greece, the EU would resettle one Syrian refugee from camps in Turkey - which is hosting about 2.7 million people who have fled the conflict across the border.

And in exchange for its cooperation, Turkey wants six billion euros ($6.6 billion) in aid, visa-free access to Europe’s passport-free Schengen zone and a speeding up of its efforts to join the EU.

Ankara’s EU affairs minister Volkan Bozkir also underlined Thursday that the deal would not be retroactive, and would “not include the existing refugees on the Greek islands”.

The crisis has exposed sharp divisions in the 28-member bloc and the leaders of Greece and Germany blasted Balkan countries for slamming shut their borders.

The EU “has no future if it goes on like that,” warned Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the border closures were “neither sustainable nor lasting.”

SHARP REACTIONS

Their reactions flew in the face of the response of EU President Donald Tusk, who welcomed the Balkan route closure as being part of a collective response from the bloc.

The strong words came after Slovenia and Croatia barred entry to transiting migrants from Wednesday and Serbia indicated it would follow suit.

EU member Slovenia said it would allow in only migrants wishing to claim asylum there or those seeking entry “on humanitarian grounds” and in accordance with the rules of the no-passport Schengen zone.

Prime Minister Miro Cerar said the move meant that “the (Balkan) route for illegal migrations no longer exists”, while Tusk on Twitter called the decision “not a question of unilateral actions but common EU28 decision”.

The border closures have created a huge bottleneck on the Greece-Macedonia border and Tsipras retorted on Twitter that Tusk should “focus efforts on implementing our common decisions and not encourage those who ignore them”.