Quelle: Amnesty International
A former detainee holds up a label from one of the items provided to refugees held in the partly EU-funded Erzurum Deportation Centre in eastern Turkey
The European Union (EU) is in danger of being complicit in serious human rights violations against refugees and asylum-seekers, said Amnesty International today, as it published damning evidence that the Turkish authorities have been unlawfully apprehending, detaining and pressuring refugees and asylum-seekers to return to warzones.
The report Europe’s Gatekeeper documents how, since September, in parallel with EU-Turkey migration talks, the Turkish authorities have rounded up and herded scores – possibly hundreds – of refugees and asylum-seekers onto buses and transported them more than 1,000 kilometres to isolated detention centres where they have been held incommunicado. Some report being shackled for days on end, beaten and forcibly transported back to the countries they had fled.
“We have documented the arbitrary detention of some of the most vulnerable people on Turkish soil. Pressuring refugees and asylum-seekers to return to countries like Syria and Iraq is not only unconscionable, but it’s also in direct breach of international law,” said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Director for Europe and Central Asia.
“By engaging Turkey as a gatekeeper for Europe in the refugee crisis, the EU is in danger of ignoring and now encouraging serious human rights violations. EU-Turkey migration-related cooperation should cease until such violations are investigated and ended.”
This apparent policy shift is a new development and contrasts with the generally favourable, humanitarian approach of the Turkish authorities towards refugees and asylum-seekers. Up until September this year, the main human rights concerns facing refugees and asylum-seekers in Turkey have not included unlawful detention and deportation. Turkey hosts the largest refugee population in the world, with about 2.2 million registered refugees from Syria and approximately 230,000 asylum-seekers from other countries.