EU-Turkey deal

The European Union’s latest row with Turkey will aggravate what is already Europe’s worst humanitarian disaster, Oxfam and the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) said on the fourth anniversary of the EU-Turkey deal.

The European Union’s deal with Turkey to control migration and return “irregular” migrants has led to policies and practices in Greece that are short-sighted, unsustainable, ineffective and dangerous, say Oxfam and 24 other NGOs in an open letter ahead of the deal’s third anniversary.

One year after the EU-Turkey deal was struck, Greece has become the testing ground for the EU's migration policies. Oxfam, IRC and NRC have analysed the situation in a joint report which documents the immense human suffering as well as the erosion of basic human rights and the right to asylum.

EU leaders are sticking to the EU-Turkey deal, no matter what this means for the people in need, Oxfam said in reaction to discussions of EU leaders meeting in Brussels today.

Today the European Commission published its progress reports on the EU-Turkey Statement and the EU's relocation and resettlement schemes. The documents signal the bloc is determined to keep vulnerable people away from its borders, while still failing to improve conditions for those who are living in sites.