Brussels-Paris, 25 February 2014 - On 26 February, the European Parliament will vote on the “EU-Turkey agreement on the readmission of persons residing without authorisation”. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and Migreurop call upon the European Parliament to vote against this agreement until the full respect of rights of migrants and refugees can be guaranteed at all stages of the readmission procedure.
This agreement would allow the EU and Turkey to return foreign nationals irregularly entering and/or residing on their territories. However, EMHRN and Migreurop believe that the following three aspects of the agreement and its implementation are particularly problematic:
1) The lack of substantial human rights safeguards concerning the treatment of third country nationals upon readmission by Turkey, who may be subject to arbitrary detention or be deported despite being eligible for refugee status or the domestic “temporary asylum” status.
2) The excessive room for discretion left to EU member state authorities when examining protection claims and inconsistent respect of international obligations in connection with the treatment of intercepted irregular migrants subject to readmission returns, therefore undermining the right to asylum in the EU.
3) The lack of transparency, monitoring and accountability over the implementation of the agreement.
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