TURKEY ACCUSED OF ILLEGALLY DEPORTING UP TO HUNDREDS OF REFUGEES TO SYRIA.

 

 

Amnesty International has accused Turkey of breaking local and international law by deporting refugees back to Syria.
The charity claims that scores - and possibly several hundred – of refugees have been detained and forced to cross back into a war zone by Turkish authorities.
"Covert detention, deportation to a war zone: the charges are grave," says the BBC's Mark Lowen.
Andrew Gardner, the head of Amnesty in Turkey, says such treatment is "absolutely illegal because you cannot forcibly return someone to a place where their lives and rights are in danger".
He adds that Europe needs to "wake up" to the fact international law is being broken on its own borders.

 Refugees spoke of how they had been mistreated at EU-funded detention centres and then transported back to the border, where they were coerced into signing voluntary return documents.

 

"They drove us to the border and forced us to sign a piece of paper on which was written, 'I want to go back to Syria,'" said one man.
"I didn't want to go back to Syria. Some of my friends have now been put in prison there, and many people were afraid of returning to a war zone."
An estimated two million Syrian refugees are now in Turkey. Last November, Ankara signed a deal with the EU to receive €3bn (£2.2bn) in exchange for slowing the flow of refugees to Europe.
"But that is contingent on improving conditions for refugees so more feel they can stay here, not deporting them back to a war zone," says Lowen.
Turkey has "categorically denied" the accusations and insists the United Nations' refugee agency interviews all returnees at the border to make sure they're going to Syria voluntarily.

Denmark debates seizing valuables from refugees 

Danish MPs are debating a controversial immigration bill which would allow the government to seize valuables from refugees arriving in the country.
Under the proposed legislation, police will be given the power to confiscate gold, money and other items of value worth more than 10,000 kroner (around £1,000).
The bill was recently amended to allow asylum seekers to keep items that hold sentimental value. Items with a practical use – such as mobile phones and watches – will also be exempt.
The move has prompted comparisons to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany and been condemned by the United Nations' refugee agency, which warns it could further fuel fear and xenophobia.
"Refugees have lost their homes and almost everything they possess," UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told the BBC.
"It beggars belief that somebody would want to strip them away from the little they have managed to salvage from their lives."
The ruling centre-right Venstre party defended the law, calling it the "most misunderstood bill in Denmark's history".
Integration minister Inger Stojberg said similar laws already apply to Danish nationals seeking help from the welfare state.
"It is already the case that if you as a Dane have valuables for more than 10,000 kroner, it may be required that this is sold before you can receive unemployment benefits," she said.
Denmark is thought to have accepted 20,000 refugees last year, far fewer than neighbouring Sweden, which welcomed 163,000.
The bill will be voted on later this month and the Venstre party will require support from the Danish People's Party, the Liberal Alliance and the Conservative People's Party if it is to pass.

Refugees sew lips shut in protest at Macedonian border

A group of men, some of whom were believed to be from Iran's Kurdish minority, staged the protest after authorities deemed them to be "economic migrants" and denied them entry into the country.
Balkans nations have tightened border controls in the wake of the Paris attacks and will only accept those fleeing war in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, the BBC reports.
The decision has left thousands of people, including young children escaping conflict in other parts of the world, stranded in the remote village of Idomeni in Greece.
Asked where he wanted to go, an Iranian man involved in the protests told Sky News: "To any free country in the world. I cannot go back. I will be hanged," he said.
Temperatures continue to plummet and aid organisations are growing increasingly concerned about refugees forced to spend winter out in the open.
"Cold weather is coming to Europe at greater speed than its leadership's ability to make critical decisions," The Guardian reports.
Peter Bouckaert, the director of emergencies for Human Rights Watch, has accused European institutions of failing to respond to the humanitarian disaster. Those in need are forced to rely on volunteers for basic needs like shelter, food, clothes and medical assistance, he says.

"We have found out that one country after the other are closing their borders," said Marian, a 24-year-old refugee from Afghanistan. "With winter just around the corner, what will happen to us? What will happen to my children?"

Refugee crisis: is border-free Europe on the verge of collapse?

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has warned that Europe's passport-free zone could collapse in the wake of the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris.

The free movement of people guaranteed under the Schengen agreement is one of the founding principles of the EU, but it has come under increasing pressure during the ongoing refugee crisis.
The events in the French capital have increased support for tighter controls, with Valls saying some of those involved in the attacks may have taken advantage of the "chaos" at Europe's borders.
One of the suicide bombers involved in the Paris attacks left a fake Syrian passport at the scene. He had allegedly used it to gain entry into the EU through Greece.
Valls's warning comes as leaders meet for yet more crisis talks in Brussels. Today's emergency security summit is likely to result in increased checks across the union's borders, says Sky News.
A number of European nations have already introduced temporary controls at their own borders as they struggle to deal with huge influx of people coming through the EU's porous external frontiers.
But these security checks can are allowed for a maximum of two months and are only allowed for "public policy or national security" reasons.
"What you hear repeatedly from European officials and politicians is this: if the EU's external borders cannot be fixed then the Schengen zone cannot survive," says the BBC.
Finland's interior minister, Petteri Orpo, is among those warning that the end of the agreement is looming. "Tens of thousands of people were coming into Europe and they are not being registered," he warned. "We don't know who they are." 
But the Centre for European Reform argues that Europe should not dismantle Schengen – but rather improve the system by processing refugees more effectively, boosting external border security and sharing intelligence.
It also suggests that the fake Syrian passport in Paris could have been a deliberate plot to reignite the debate about Europe's asylum policies.
"Why would a terrorist leave a passport behind? European governments should not fall into [the] trap by responding with knee-jerk reactions such as closing borders."
Doing so would also do nothing to stop home-grown terrorists – like the French and Belgian nationals involved in the Paris attacks – as international law prohibits a country from denying entry to its own nationals.
So what does this mean for the future of the Schengen? "It is most unlikely that the Schengen agreement will be suspended because it is a core European freedom," says the BBC's Gavin Hewitt.
"What is more likely in the weeks ahead is that countries in the Schengen zone quietly begin reinforcing their national borders."

Refugee crisis: is EU aid offer to Africa 'bordering on blackmail'?

European leaders are meeting with their African counterparts at a summit in Malta today to discuss solutions to the worsening refugee crisis.
On the table is a controversial proposal to increase funding and other forms of aid to African nations that help stop the flow of hundreds of thousands of people across the Mediterranean.
"The aim is to tackle the economic and security problems that cause people to flee," reports the BBC. It is also hoped the deal will help persuade countries to take back failed asylum seekers.
European Council President Donald Tusk said efforts would focus on poverty reduction and conflict prevention. "It also includes the issue of taking back those who do not yet qualify for a visa, or those who do not require international protection," he said on the eve of the summit.
The European Commission is in the process of setting up a €1.8bn "trust fund" for Africa and is encouraging its 28-member states to match that amount – though this seems unlikely.
Observers have raised a number of concerns about the proposals. There are fears human rights could suffer if African nations seeking aid benefits prevent refugees from fleeing.
Cecile Kyenge, a Congo-born Italian member of the European parliament said the offer was "bordering on blackmail," according to South Africa's News24.
There are also concerns that plans to sharply reduce the number of people arriving in Europe would cut off a vital source of remittance income from their economies, Channel 4 News reports.
The United Nation estimates that nearly 800,000 refugees have arrived in Europe so far this year, while more than 3,000 have died or gone missing making the dangerous journey.
The vast majority of them are fleeing war in countries like Syria and Iraq, but many are also escaping conflict in Eritrea, South Sudan and Somalia.
Today's summit comes as yet more deaths are reported in the Mediterranean. At least 14 people, including seven children, drowned after their boat sank between Turkey and the Greek island of Lesbos.

Refugee crisis: Tony Abbott tells Europe it should turn back boats

Former Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, has raised eyebrows with a speech condemning Europe's response to the growing refugee crisis.
In his first major speech since being ousted from power, Abbott told guests at an annual event in London to honour Margaret Thatcher that "misguided altruism" was "leading Europe into catastrophic error".
More than 670,000 people have entered Europe this year in the largest migration since the end of the Second World War. The vast majority of them are fleeing war in countries like Syria and Iraq.