European leaders should hang their heads in shame over the pitifully low numbers
of refugees from Syria they are prepared to resettle, said Amnesty International.
In a briefing published today, An international failure: The Syrian refugee crisis,
the organization details how European Union (EU) member states have only
offered to open their doors to around 12,000 of the most vulnerable refugees
from Syria: just 0.5 per cent of the 2.3 million people who have fled the country.
“The EU has miserably failed to play its part in providing a safe haven to the
refugees who have lost all but their lives. The number of those it’s prepared to
resettle is truly pitiful. Across the board European leaders should hang their heads
in shame,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
The closest European capital – Nicosia – lies a mere 200 miles from Damascus. Yet
collectively, EU member states have pledged to resettle just a very small
proportion of Syria’s most vulnerable refugees. Amnesty International’s briefing
breaks down the figures.
• Only 10 EU member states offered resettlement or humanitarian admission
places to refugees from Syria.
• Germany is by far the most generous – pledging to take 10,000 refugees or 80
per cent of total EU pledges.
• Excluding Germany, the remaining 27 EU member states have offered to take a
mere 2,340 refugees from Syria.
• France offered just 500 places or 0.02 per cent of the total number of people
who have fled Syria.
• Spain agreed to take just 30 or 0.001 per cent of refugees from Syria.
• Eighteen EU member states – including the UK and Italy – offered no places at all.
As winter approaches, conditions for the 2.2 million people who have fled Syria to
neighbouring countries are deteriorating rapidly.
With only 12,000 places offered by EU member states for resettlement or
humanitarian admission, others attempt the journey under their own steam. Tens
of thousands have reached Europe trying to claim asylum having risked life and
limb in arduous journeys, on boats or across land.
Amnesty International’s research reveals that first they have to break through the
barricades of Fortress Europe. Many are faced with violent push-backs by police
and coastguards, or detained for weeks in deplorable conditions.
The journey to Italy by sea
Hundreds of people die attempting to cross the Mediterranean every year. In
October it is estimated that as many as 650 refugees and migrants died when
three boats sank attempting to reach Europe from North Africa.
More than 10,000 refugees from Syria are reported to have arrived along Italy’s
coast in the first 10 months of this year.
Amnesty International’s briefing gives first-hand accounts of those who have
attempted to reach Europe by sea.
Awad, a 17-year-old boy from Damascus, described how he managed to escape
through a window of a sinking boat and swim to the surface. There were
reportedly 400 people on board. He saw people clinging to dead bodies and boat
wreckage to stay afloat, while others fought over life jackets. Awad lost his
mother as well as other family members.
“I have no idea where my family are… I used to have ambition but now I have lost
my mother, I don’t want anything, I just want stability, everything else is second
to that.”
Another boy from Syria lost both his father and nine-year-old brother in the
accident.
“My experience didn’t just destroy my dreams; it destroyed my family’s dreams. I
am destroyed completely.”
Fortress Europe
In two of the main gateways to the EU, Bulgaria and Greece, refugees from Syria
are met with deplorable treatment, including life threatening push-back
operations along the Greek coast, and detention for weeks in poor conditions in
Bulgaria.
Greece: pushed back into the sea
Refugees have told Amnesty International how Greek police or coastguards,
wielding guns and wearing full face hoods, ill-treat them, strip them of their
belongings and eventually push them back to Turkey.
A 32 year-old man from Syria described how he and his mother were confronted
by the Greek coastguard near the island of Samos in October. They were part of a
group of 35 people including women and young children pushed back to Turkey.
“They put all the men lying on the boat; they stepped on us and hit us with their
weapons for three hours. Then at around 10 in the morning, after removing the
motor, they put us back to our plastic boat and drove us back to the Turkish
waters and left us in the middle of the sea.’’
The number of unlawful push-back operations from Greece is not known;
however, Amnesty International believes hundreds have been affected.
In the last two years the European Commission has provided €228 million to
bolster border controls.
In comparison, for the same time period, just €12 million was allocated to Greece
under the European Refugee Fund, which supports efforts in receiving refugees.
Bulgaria: detained and contained
In Bulgaria, an estimated 5,000 refugees from Syria arrived between January and
November 2013. The majority are housed in emergency centres, the largest of
which is in the town of Harmanli. It is effectively a closed detention centre.
Amnesty International found refugees living in squalid conditions in containers, a
dilapidated building and in tents. There was a lack of adequate sanitary facilities
with limited access to food, bedding or medicine.
A large number of people were in need of medical care, including some injured in
conflict, individuals suffering chronic diseases and those with mental health
problems.
Some of the refugees in Harmanli told Amnesty International that they had been
detained for over a month.
“Tens of thousands are risking perilous journeys by boat or land to try and reach
Europe. We have seen hundreds lose their lives in the Mediterranean. It is
deplorable that many of those that who have risked life and limb to get here, are
either forced back or detained in truly squalid conditions with insufficient food,
water or medical care,” said Salil Shetty.
Europe must act
“The platitudes of Europe’s leaders ring hollow in the face of the evidence,” said
Salil Shetty. “The EU must open its borders, provide safe passage, and halt these
deplorable human rights violations.”
Just 55,000 Syrian refugees (2.4 per cent of the total number of people who have
fled Syria) have managed to get through and claim asylum in the EU.
For those who manage to break through the barricades of Fortress Europe, many
head for Sweden or Germany, which have offered the most help to asylum
seekers. In the two years to the end of October 2013, Sweden has received
20,490 new Syrian asylum applications and Germany received 16,100 such
applications. Less than 1,000 people have claimed asylum in each of Greece, Italy
and Cyprus.
Amnesty International is calling on European member states to:
• Significantly increase the number of resettlement and humanitarian admission
places for refugees from Syria;
• Strengthen search and rescue capacity in the Mediterranean to identify boats in
distress and assist those on board;
• Ensure that those rescued are treated with dignity and have access to asylum
procedures;
• Ensure that unlawful push-back operations are ended;
• Provide legal safe passage for Syrian asylum seekers wishing to travel to
European member states.
• The EU, its member states, and the international community should continue to
provide support to countries hosting the largest numbers of refugees, particularly
Jordan and Lebanon.
Background information
The bulk of the 2.3 million refugees – 97 per cent – have fled to five neighbouring
countries – Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. The arrival of refugees from
Syria in Lebanon has increased the country’s population by nearly 20%.
Since July 2013, Amnesty International has conducted field research missions
looking at the situations of refugees in, among other countries, Bulgaria, Egypt,
Greece, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya and Turkey.