The European Commission published its progress report today on the EU-Turkey Statement and the EU's relocation and resettlement schemes for migrants.
In response Oxfam said: "Europe continues in its cold and unwelcoming stance toward people arriving at its shores in search of a better and safer life, and is failing in its promised support to front line Member States. Europe is determined to push people from its borders and ignore human rights law. A few European countries are being left exposed to deal with the consequences. Oxfam sees so many instances where ordinary Europeans want to welcome people to their communities, showing the kind of leadership wholly lacking from their governments so far.
"Europe admits that refugee and migrant sites are terribly poor and overcrowded, but it is busily designing new ways to reduce their options to move on. Europe's efforts to return more people from where they came from, at all costs, lessens their chances to fair legal processes and forces them deeper into substandard living conditions, insecurity and poverty. We can do more to help those who need our assistance this winter.
"Europe is obsessed with returning people to Turkey, instead of doing what they demand of other countries around the world to welcome people and assess their asylum claims on their soil. Europe celebrates this deal as a flagship policy, but in reality it's failing, and Europe should scrap it and build a new policy based upon the respect of human rights, not one that circumvents it."