In their determination to seal off their borders, the European Union
and its member states are putting the lives and rights of refugees and
migrants at risk, Amnesty International said in a new report published
today.
“The
effectiveness of EU measures to stem the flow of irregular migrants and
refugees is, at best, questionable. Meanwhile, the cost in human lives
and misery is incalculable and is being paid by some of the world’s most
vulnerable people,” said John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia
Programme Director at Amnesty International.
Border control
The
EU is funding its migration policy to the tune of billions of Euros.
Millions of Euros are spent each year by member states on fences,
sophisticated surveillance systems and patrolling their borders.
In
a revealing indicator of relative priorities, the EU spent nearly €2
billion protecting its external borders between 2007 and 2013, but only
€700 million on improving the situation for asylum-seekers and refugees
within the EU over the same period.
The EU and member states are
also cooperating with and funding neighbouring countries, such as
Turkey, Morocco and Libya, to create a buffer zone around the EU in an
effort to stop migrants and refugees before they even reach Europe’s
borders. At the same time they are turning a blind eye to the human
rights abuses migrants and refugees are suffering in these countries.
“EU
countries are basically paying neighbouring countries to police their
borders for them. The problem is that many of these countries are
frequently incapable of guaranteeing the rights of refugees and migrants
that are trapped there. Many end up destitute, exploited, harassed and
unable to access asylum,” said John Dalhuisen.
“EU member states
cannot divest themselves of their human rights obligations towards those
seeking to enter their territory by outsourcing their migration control
to third countries. Such cooperation needs to stop.”
Illegal “push-backs”
Refugees
and migrants that do make it to Europe’s borders risk being pushed
straight back across them. Amnesty International has documented
push-backs by border guards in Bulgaria and, in particular, Greece,
where the practice is widespread. Push-backs are unlawful, deny people
the right to seek asylum, typically involve violence and at times even
endanger lives.
Push-backs do not only take place at EU’s south
eastern borders. In February 2014, Spanish Civil Guard opened fire with
rubber projectiles, blanks and tear gas against about 250 migrants and
refugees swimming from Morocco along the beach towards Ceuta, the
Spanish enclave in North Africa. Fourteen people lost their lives.
Twenty-three people who managed to reach the beach were immediately
returned, apparently without access to any formal asylum procedure.
“According
to the UN Refugee Agency there are more displaced people today than at
any time since the end of the Second World War. Shockingly, the European
Union’s response to this humanitarian crisis has been to add to it,”
said John Dalhuisen.
“Almost half of those trying to enter the EU
irregularly flee from conflict or persecution in countries like Syria,
Afghanistan, Eritrea and Somalia. Refugees must be provided with more
ways to enter the EU safely and legally so that they are not forced to
embark on perilous journeys in the first place.”
Lives lost at sea
In
the face of ever greater obstacles to reaching Europe by land, refugees
and migrants are increasingly taking the more dangerous sea routes to
Greece and Italy. Every year hundreds of people die trying to reach
Europe’s shores.
Following the tragedies off the coast of the
Italian island of Lampedusa, where more than 400 people lost their lives
in 2013, Italy launched a search and rescue initiative called
“Operation Mare Nostrum.” It has rescued more than 50,000 people since
its launch in October 2013.
But it is not enough. In the first six
months of 2014 alone, more than 200 people lost their lives in the
Mediterranean and Aegean seas; hundreds more are missing feared dead.
Many of those who perished were clearly escaping violence and
persecution.
“The responsibility for the deaths of those trying to
reach the EU is a collective responsibility. Other EU member states can
and must follow Italy’s lead and stop people drowning at sea by
bolstering search and rescue efforts in the Mediterranean and the
Aegean,” said John Dalhuisen.
“The human tragedies unfolding every
day at Europe’s borders are neither inevitable, nor beyond the EU’s
control. Many are of the EU’s making. EU member states must, at last,
start putting people before borders.”
