NGO Concerned Over Funding, Quality of Refugee Camps Proposed in Africa

The idea of creating camps for European refugees in Africa isn't good, as living conditions there remain questionable, the Norwegian NGO representative told Sputnik on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov — The funding and living conditions of the recently-proposed camps for European refugee in Africa remain questionable, according to representative of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

On Monday, EU interior ministers gathered in Brussels to discuss a proposal to accommodate migrants in African camps in order to deny them the right of asylum in Europe.

"NRC does not think such camps is a good idea. We fear refugees easily could end up in substandard, underfunded camps for an indefinite period of time," NRC's Senior Adviser Pal Nesse said.

Nesse added that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) previously requested resettlement of Syrian refugees from overcrowded camps in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey.

"The response from the international community, including European countries, have been very limited. This is an example of the reluctance to assist those already in need of protection — but who are still not on European shores," the senior adviser said.

Earlier in the day, UNHCR welcomed the initiative to relocate 40,000 refugees residing in Greece and Italy across Europe and called for further action to resolve the migrant crisis. It also called on EU member states to review the wider relocation proposal involving 120,000 people, a final consensus on which was failed to be reached.

Over 500,000 migrants have arrived in the European Union since the beginning of 2015, according to the European Commission, seeking asylum and fleeing violence in their home countries in North Africa and the Middle East.