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Most people arriving in Greece not for better economic future: UN official

Xinhua, March 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

Some 91 percent of the people arriving in Greece were Afghans, Iraqis and Syrians fleeing because of the conflict and human rights violations in their countries, and not people looking for a better economic future, a United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) official said on Tuesday.

Vincent Cochetel, Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Refugee Crisis in Europe at UNHCR, also said after months of the refugee crisis, there was still no consensus regarding terminology and the designation of some as "irregular migrants."

Speaking to a press briefing here on Tuesday, the UN official said that there were still ten days left until the next European Council meeting and that UNHCR hoped the European Union Member States and Turkey would come up with a balanced agreement, which would not be at the detriment of people seeking international protection.

"Turkey had done more than all EU countries put together and had the most asylum-seekers in the world. But there was no quick fix, and trading benefits for Turkey in exchange for a resettlement programme based only on existing commitments did not appear as balanced enough for refugees seeking protection," he said.

In response to the latest agreement reached by 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, Cochetel stressed that collective expulsion of foreigners was prohibited under the European Convention on Human Rights.

"An agreement that would be tantamount to blanket return of any foreigners to a third country was not consistent with European or international law," he noted.

According to him, UNHCR had no objection to interceptions in Turkish territorial waters, as long as the people intercepted were able to access protection if they were seeking it upon disembarkation on the Turkish shore.

However, he said, UNHCR was hoping that any arrangement between the EU involving third parties like NATO or other stakeholders, would abide by the basic principles of refugee protection. Endit