UN agency concerned by EU-Turkey agreement to return all new irregular migrants

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR on Tuesday said it is concerned by the latest agreement reached by the European Union(EU) and Turkey to deal with the current refugee crisis, which plans to return all new irregular migrants crossing from Turkey into the Greek islands.

"UNHCR has taken note of the Statement of the EU Heads of State and Government of Turkey last night and we are concerned with some aspects of the proposal," UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler told a press briefing here on Tuesday.

The spokesperson said that UNHCR welcomes the EU's financial contribution to support Turkey and the refugee communities in Turkey, with recognition of Turkey's contributions for years to host close to 3 million refugees and just recently adopted a work regulation for Syrian refugees.

"On the face of what appears to have been agreed, we are, however, concerned about any arrangement that involves the blanket return of all individuals from one country to another without sufficiently spelt out refugee protection safeguards in keeping with international obligations," the spokesperson said.

He stressed that an asylum-seeker should only be returned to a third state if responsibility for assessing the particular asylum application in substance is assumed by the third country, or the asylum-seeker will be well protected, or the individual, if recognized, will be able to seek asylum in accordance with accepted international standards.

"Legal safeguards would need to govern any mechanism under which responsibility would be transferred for assessing an asylum claim," he said, adding that pre-departure screening would also need to be in place to identify heightened risk categories that may not be appropriate for return even if the above conditions are met.

The spokesperson urged that details of all these safeguards should be clarified before the next meeting of the EU Council on 17 March. Enditem