Greek lawmakers have passed an asylum amendment bill needed for the implementation of a European Union agreement with Turkey for the return of refugees and migrants from Greek islands to Turkey. The deal aims to end the uncontrolled influx of refugees and other migrants after more than one million people crossed into Europe last year.
- Both Greece and Turkey had to amend their legislation to permit the start of the scheme – denounced by the U.N. refugee agency and rights groups for lacking legal safeguards – to send back all migrants who reached Greece after March 20.
- The bill was passed by 169 lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament.
- The legislation does not explicitly designate Turkey as a “safe third country” – a formula to make any mass returns legally sound.
- The European Commission sees this as not essential, provided rules are in place to allow people to be sent back to a “safe third country” or a “safe first country of asylum”, with each case examined individually.
Did You Know?
- The European migrant crisis or European refugee crisis began in 2015, when a rising number of refugees and migrants made the journey to the European Union (EU) to seek asylum, traveling across the Mediterranean Sea or through Southeast Europe.
- They came from areas such as Western and South Asia,Africa, and the Western Balkans.
- According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the top three nationalities of the over one million Mediterranean Sea arrivals in 2015 were Syrian (49%), Afghan(21%) and Iraqi (8%).
