Germany to Return Asylum Seekers to Greece Starting March
In mid-March Germany will start returning asylum seekers who first entered Europe via Greece in line with a recent recommendation from the European Commission, an interior ministry spokesperson told Agence France-Presse.
This move revokes a five-year suspension of the Dublin agreement, under which all asylum seekers are deported to the first port of entry to Europe.
The spokesperson insisted that the decision is legitimate given that the Dublin rules stipulate that refugees must apply for asylum in the first E.U. country they enter. Under such an agreement, Italy and Greece shoulder most of the responsibility for processing asylum claims.
The announcement has raised criticism from refugees, the Greek government and humanitarian organizations, who argue Greece is unable to provide adequate living conditions for refugees.
Elinor Raikes, a representative for the International Rescue Committee told Al Jazeera that the plan is a “rather premature and nonsensical idea,” arguing that many Greek camps were “substandard and dangerous.”
Greek migration minister Ioannis Mouzalas decried the recent decision, saying that the current legal framework is “unable to respond to the historic migration flows and leaves the burden to the member states that migrants first arrive in.”
Thousands of Gambians Flee Senegal Ahead of Presidential Inauguration
Thousands of Gambians have fled to neighboring Senegal ahead of Thursday’s inauguration of the new president Adama Barrow, according to the BBC.
Although Mr. Barrow won the December 1 election against President Yahya Jammeh, the incumbent has refused to hand over power.
Many Gambians are fleeing to Senegal, mainly due to threats of persecution and onset of new violence. Others are sending their children across the border, fearing political unrest.
The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) confirmed last week that several thousand Gambians have sought refuge in Senegal since January 3.
“UNHCR teams report seeing buses filled with children, accompanied by women, cross the border,” the regional representative for UNHCR, Liz Ahua, confirmed.
Trump Calls Merkel’s Refugee Policy a ‘Catastrophic Mistake’
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump called German chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to let 1 million refugees enter the country a “catastrophic mistake,” Reuters reported.
In an interview published last Sunday, Trump said the E.U. had become “a vehicle for Germany,” adding that he expects the E.U. to further unravel with major countries leaving the bloc, similar to the U.K. with its Brexit vote. Trump attributed the “migrant crisis” as a major reason for the exit votes.
Germany’s deputy chancellor and minister for the economy, Sigmar Gabriel, responded to Trump’s criticisms, arguing, “there is a link between America’s flawed interventionist policy, especially the Iraq war, and the refugee crisis … we shouldn’t tell each other what we have done right or wrong, but we [should] look into establishing peace in that region.”
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