Less than 1 pct of committed refugees actually relocated by EU: UN official

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on Monday urged the European Union states to make good on their commitments to relocate and resettle refugees, saying that 99 percent of the promised number have not been actually conducted yet.

"In September 2015 the EU committed to relocate 160,000 people from Greece and Italy, but according to figures published last month fewer than 1,600, less than 1 percent, have actually been relocated," he said during his opening remarks for the 32nd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council.

The UN official also deplored the widespread anti-migrant rhetoric that helped fostering a climate of divisiveness, xenophobia and even vigilante violence in the EU.

"Strongly" recommending comprehensive collection of data by the EU on the detention of migrants in all member states, he said he feared that these figures would be "very shocking".

"Recently I have sent staff to key locations along the Central Mediterranean and Balkan migration routes, they have observed a worrying increase in detention of migrants in Europe," he noted.

"Even unaccompanied children are frequently placed in prison cells or centres ringed with barbed-wire," the UN chief of human rights stressed, adding that alternatives to the detention of children must be developed.

Held between June 13 and July 1, the 32nd session of the UN Human Rights Council marks the 10-year anniversary since the council was formed. Enditem