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 human cost of Fortress Europe: Human rights violations against migrants and refugees at Europe’s borders,
shows how EU migration policies and border control practices are
preventing refugees from accessing asylum in the EU and putting their
lives at risk in the course of increasingly perilous journeys.
“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 bolsteri
ng 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.”
