A new report published on Wednesday by Jesuit Refugee Services or JRS says European
governments actively hinder refugee arrivals and these deplorable types of practices
are rapidly becoming the norm through Asia and Africa as well.
As the world
prepares to commemorate the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
JRS urges states respond swiftly to all migrants and refugees in distress at sea and
offer them access to asylum procedures to determine whether they are in need of international
protection. It also calls for states to end the practice of forcibly removing migrants
to third countries where their human rights cannot be effectively protected.
Philip
Amaral is the Advocacy and Communications Officer for JRS Europe and he spoke to Susy
Hodges about examples where international laws on refugees are being flouted by governments. He
says one such example was the 2008 agreement between Italy and Libya where the Italian
authorities "began pushing back boatloads of migrants to Libya ... onto the high seas,
back to danger, back to persecution."
He says another major area of concern
is the practice of forcibly removing migrants to third countries under an EU law known
as the Dublin Regulation which means that migrants are sent back to their first point
of entry where they are often "detained in abhorrent conditions." Amaral says migrants
told JRS "they feel like banana crates being transferred back and forth" between
EU member states trying to shirk their responsabilities.
Listen to the full
interview by Susy Hodges with Philip Amaral: