Strasbourg, 21/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - The agreement between the European Union and the Turkish government on 18 March 2016 to manage migration, raises a number of “human rights questions" that are sufficiently serious for not sending Syrian refugees back to Turkey. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) argued this line in a resolution adopted on Wednesday 20 April during its plenary session in Strasbourg.
Zsolt Nemeth (EPP, Hungary) resumed the inherent challenges, during the Tuesday evening debate at the PACE premises and explained "Either we support the report by Tineke Strik on the EU/Turkey agreement or we support this agreement but not Ms Strik”. The MEP said that there was no question of "adopting a position against the EU and entering into conflict with our Turkish friends". This, however, was not the opinion of the majority of his colleagues.
The resolution prepared by Ms Strik (Greens/EFA, the Netherlands) was adopted by 58 votes in favour, 47 against, with 7 abstentions. The PACE subsequently questions the validity of this agreement (see EUROPE 11515) and calls on the different stakeholders, as well as the EU, Greece and Turkey, to implement a raft of measures to guarantee the protection of migrants and refugees/human rights.
In an address to Greece, as the implementing party of the agreement, and the EU, the PACE asks them to "send the EU Court of Justice the question of interpretation of the notion of sufficient protection included in Article 35 of the European directive on asylum procedures". Whilst awaiting the decision, the PACE argues that sending Syrian refugees back to Turkey should be suspended.
In operational terms, the Assembly is recommending that both Greece and the EU provide it with assistance, abstain from systematically placing and retaining asylum seekers and guarantee them robust respect for the planned demands, particularly, by way of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The resolution emphasises that voluntary repatriation of asylum seekers to Turkey should be forbidden. It also calls for "sufficient resources", if needs be, made available by other EU member states, in order to produce an effective and satisfactory asylum procedure and swift decisions in the first instance and in appeal. All appeals against a decision to be sent back to Turkey should have an automatic suspensive effect and the legislation should be adapted in this sense, explains the resolution. The PACE also calls for a, "treatment that is dignified and in compliance" with EU law for all migrants and asylum seekers, whose requests have been rejected.
The resolution also highlights the financial assistance promised by the EU in November 2015 to help Turkey provide support to Syrian refugees. It is urgent that this financial assistance is immediately paid because Turkey is currently taking in more than 2.7 million of these refugees and has already spent more than €7 billion to support them.
This is a considerable effort and has not been equalled by other member states of the COE and PACE has praised it in this connection. Nonetheless, MEPs call on the Turkish authorities to guarantee more effective respect for human rights. The resolution is therefore recommending that Turkey "withdraws its geographical reservation to the 1951 Convention on the status of refugees" and abstains from any refoulement of asylum seekers sent back from Greece, whilst guaranteeing access to appeal with suspensive effect, as requested by the European Convention of Human Rights. They also call on Turkey to ensure that all migrants and asylum seekers sent back from Greece are treated in scrupulous respect of international standards.
The lack of solidarity by all the other EU member states is highlighted unequivocally. The resolution points out that, "the majority of them have not respected their commitments in the area of relocating refugees from Greece". It also highlights that the closing of the "Balkans route", "has increased the pressure weighing down on Greece, a country that is already suffering from the effects of budgetary and financial austerity".
Athina Kyriakidou, the Cypriot socialist, said that "this is illustrative of Fortress Europe, which is building walls around itself". The EU/Turkey agreement has therefore been severely criticised by the PACE. The immediate drying up of migratory flows as argued by Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, during his speech to the PACE ahead of the vote did not therefore prove convincing. During the debates, the fact that "other routes will be found by way of Libya and Albania" was repeated many times. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)