The EU, which is the richest bloc in the world, is said to be avoiding doing its fair share for refugees around the world by making deals to return them to their home countries, said AI which has published another report into the current refugee crisis.
Rich nations’ self-interest means #refugee crisis set to get worse, not better #humanrightshttps://t.co/AyupjZ6c5g pic.twitter.com/uhzNLJ8Yu3
— AmnestyToronto (@AmnestyToronto) 4 October 2016
"Wealthy countries have shown a complete absence of leadership and responsibility," the report, Tackling the Global Refugee Crisis: From Shirking to Sharing Responsibility,' says.
The report also offers a solution to the crisis, based on a system in which all countries fairly share ten percent of the world's refugees every year.
"Just ten of the world's 193 countries host more than half its refugees. A small number of countries have been left to do far too much just because they are neighbors to a crisis."
Rich nations' self-interest means refugee crisis set to get worse, not better.
— Amnesty Int'l NI (@AmnestyNI) October 4, 2016
The #refugeecrisis in numbers: https://t.co/XcEClaYza8 pic.twitter.com/y1Spfx93yU
'Intolerable Misery'
"That situation is inherently unsustainable, exposing the millions fleeing war and persecution in countries like Syria, South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iraq to intolerable misery and suffering," the report states.
Salil Shetty, Amnesty International's Secretary General, is calling on European leaders to explain:
"…why the world can bail out banks, develop new technologies and fight wars, but cannot find safe homes for 21 million refugees, just 0.3 percent of the world's population."
However, it's not the first time EU leaders have been accused of putting borders before people.
"There should be a clear political choice to protect refugees. This is our stance." Efi, #NansenAward winner + Greek human rights activist pic.twitter.com/ENjYyD5dB5
— UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) 3 October 2016
Maurice Wren, head of Britain's Refugee Council said on the anniversary of 800 people drowning in the Mediterranean Sea in April 2016, that:
"While European leaders demonstrate a collective failure of political leadership and moral courage, people who have escaped war and tyranny are met with barbed wire and tear gas.
"Mums are forced to bathe their infants in dirty puddles, and yet more refugee children drown on Europe's shores."
Over a quarter of those arriving in Europe via sea this year are children. Many are alone. https://t.co/ifEmvFcb1V pic.twitter.com/ntWk7rg92t
— Refugee Council (@refugeecouncil) October 3, 2016
This latest report from AI continues to point the finger at policies adopted in Europe that do more to protect individual countries' borders than safely resettle vulnerable refugees.
"The EU has a wide set of foreign policy human rights tools at its disposal, the focus should be on implementing these tools and commitments to address the push factors which lead people to move rather than on shortsighted migration control policies that rise destabilizing and exacerbating the crisis," Iverna McGowan, head of AI's European Institutions Office said.
However, when asylum seekers are allowed to stay in Europe, they're kept in "dire conditions."
100s refugees protest thru city centre against conditions at #Moria #Lesbos #Greece right now #EU pic.twitter.com/Nx3BaN74da
— Courtney Body (@courtneybody) September 24, 2016
Conditions that are well-documented by humanitarian organizations, yet seemingly ignored by EU politicians who continue to make "dodgy deals."
