Amnesty International slams EU asylum system
Amnesty International has blamed the European Union (EU)’s “collapsing” asylum system for the refugee crisis in the bloc, calling on EU leaders to take action to put an end to the suffering of incoming refugees.
“The real European crisis is one of leadership and Europe’s failure to radically reform its collapsing asylum system, with dire consequences for vulnerable people who need safety and sanctuary,” said Iverna McGowan, the acting director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office, on Monday.
EU Home Affairs ministers are set to hold an emergency meeting over the refugee crisis in Europe. The ministers will meet later on Monday to discuss the EU refugee quotas for distributing 160,000 asylum seekers across the continent.
McGowan said, “Ministers must abandon once and for all the Fortress Europe approach. Desperate people will keep coming and a coordinated emergency response coupled with an urgent overhaul of the EU’s approach to asylum can no longer wait.”
She described the current influx of refugees to Europe as the “worst refugee crisis since the Second World War,” saying, “European leaders’ focus on keeping people out is only exacerbating people’s suffering.”
“Despite the pleas of thousands of people across Europe that their leaders take action, the proposals on the table for Monday’s so-called emergency meeting fall dangerously short of addressing gaps and ensuring protection and dignity for those in need,” McGowan said.
The proposals that EU ministers will discuss on Monday reportedly exclude alternative safe and legal routes, such as an increase in resettlement locations and humanitarian admissions, family reunification and humanitarian visas, for refugees.
According to Amnesty, around 1.38 million resettlement locations for the most vulnerable refugees around the world will be needed over the next two years.
Europe is facing an unprecedented refugee crisis, which has escalated over the summer. The continent is now divided over how to deal with the flood of people, mainly Syrians fleeing the war in their homeland.
According to UN estimates, 300,000 people have left the Middle East and Africa so far this year in the hope of a better life in Europe.
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