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Executive Summary for June 6th

We review the latest issues relating to refugees, including the Czech Republic pulling out of an E.U. quota system, Greece dismantling a people-smuggling ring in Athens and the stagnating deportation rate for rejected asylum seekers in Germany.

Published on June 6, 2017 Read time Approx. 2 minutes

Czech Republic Pulls Out of E.U. Asylum Seekers Quota Scheme

The Czech Republic announced it will pull out of the E.U.’s quota system for relocating asylum seekers from Italy and Greece among member states and will accept no more migrants before the agreement ends in September.

Czech interior minister Milan Chovanec said: “Due to the aggravated security situation and the dysfunctionality of the whole system, the government approved … a proposal to halt this system for the Czech Republic.”

In 2015, the European Commission set quotas for member states to relocate 160,000 migrants and refugees who had arrived in the two Mediterranean countries.

Several countries refused to adhere to the plan including Poland, Hungary Slovakia and now the Czech Republic. Others have taken in far fewer than their quota, and fewer than 18,500 people have been relocated to date.

The Czech Republic has admitted only 12 migrants out of its quota of 2,691 since 2015.

Greek Police Dismantle People-Smuggling Ring

Greek police said seven members of a people-smuggling ring operating out of the capital have been arrested.

Police raided the house in Athens, where the ring was allegedly working, on May 30 and 31. They arrested six Afghans and a Sudanese as well as five migrants waiting to be smuggled out of Greece.

“The traffickers we’ve arrested provided irregular migrants with fake or stolen passports to facilitate their transfer by regular flights from airports,” said Ioanna Rotziokou, a spokesperson for the Greek police.

The group is accused of charging migrants up to $18,000 (€16,000) per person to smuggle them to other E.U. member states and Canada over the past two years.

Migrant Deportation Rate Stagnates in Germany

In Germany, deportations and voluntary returns of rejected asylum seekers have stagnated or slowed in 2017 compared to last year, according to a local German newspaper.

German leaders have vowed to accelerate deportations of migrants who do not receive asylum in Germany.

Yet police data shows the figures are similar or slightly lower than last year. Some 8,620 people were deported in the first four months of 2017, compared to 25,375 deportations in 2016.

Fewer people are also registering for the U.N. refugee agency’s Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR) program. Some 11,195 people have chosen to voluntarily repatriate this year, compared to 54,006 people in 2016.

A spokesperson for the German interior ministry said returns have stagnated this year because an extremely high number of people were repatriated in 2016.

“Repatriations and voluntary departures in 2016 took place to a particularly large extent in the West Balkan countries,” she said.

A “lack of cooperation” from other countries, particularly in North Africa, has also contributed to slower repatriation rate in 2017, she added.

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