Eu Agreement Refugees

In March, on the fifth anniversary of the agreement, Amnesty International reprimanded EU officials for reaching an agreement “based solely on political convenience, without taking into account the inevitable human cost”. Secondly, in the report on the evolution of the refugee agreement, the European Commission welcomes the significant drop in arrivals from Turkey to the EU after four years of implementation: “From 10,000 people crossing the border in a single day (…), daily crossings have fallen to an average of 105 people per day.” As a result, the number of deaths during the crossing also “increased from 1,175 in the 20 months prior to reporting to 439.” [26] It can be said that the EU presents the refugee declaration as a tool that protects refugees from getting on a boat and drowning. However, the report does not question the causes of the drop in deaths: is it because refugees lead better lives and are no longer ready for violence and therefore do not have to cross the sea? Or is it because Turkey and the EU have secured borders and made crossings even more difficult? The 2016 agreement was adopted in the context of more than one million refugees, mostly Syrians, who are pouring into the EU via Turkey. If the aim of the agreement was to inaugurate a period of Euro-Turkish harmony, it has not kept its promises. Erdoğan`s decision in 2020 to temporarily reopen Turkey`s border with Europe was a sign of his government`s willingness to use its geopolitical position as a buffer between Syria and Europe. While Greece`s new conservative government tightened its tone and measures against refugees, Brussels continued to provide millions of dollars, but largely left Athens alone with the crisis. It has been 10 years since the conflict in Syria began driving Syrians from their homes to neighbouring countries. Since then, their number in Turkey has reached 3.7 million. In the absence of traditional durable solutions – in the form of voluntary return, resettlement or local integration – the presence of Syrian refugees in Turkey has been extended indefinitely in sight.

As Saskia Stachowitsch and Julia Sachseder argue, the migration crisis can be seen as a humanitarian problem that focuses on refugee security. On the other hand, it is an overextension of security or well-being, in which Europe is perceived as in danger. [24] Therefore, I apply an intersectional lens to the concepts of human security and migration crisis to discuss what is really in crisis in the context of the EU-Turkey Statement. In March 2016, the European Union reached a landmark agreement with Turkey, which landed hundreds of thousands of migrants on EU soil to limit the number of asylum seekers arriving. Irregular migrants trying to enter Greece will be returned to Turkey and Ankara will take steps to prevent the opening of new migration routes. In return, the European Union agreed to resettle Syrian refugees from Turkey one-on-one, reduce visa restrictions on Turkish citizens, provide Turkey with €6 billion in aid to Syrian migrant communities, update the customs union and restart stalled negotiations on Turkey`s accession to the European Union. Turkey was the largest refugee-hosting country in the world at the time – a position it continues to occupy – with the vast majority of its estimated 3 million refugees coming from Syria, although there are also large numbers of Iraqis, Iranians and Afghans. This “enduring reality” requires a rethinking of the agreement between the European Union (EU) and Turkey, adopted this week five years ago. Leaders should look for ways to move them forward, with a focus on development in addition to humanitarian assistance.

One way to achieve this is to adopt the policy ideas of the Global Compact for Refugees (GCR) to improve formal employment opportunities for refugees and members of their host communities. Success has been more mixed in Turkey, where Erdoğan`s government has claimed that key elements of the deal have not been respected. The European Union has agreed to provide €6 billion in humanitarian aid, education, healthcare, municipal infrastructure and socio-economic support to Syrian refugees in Turkey between 2016 and 2019. Although the European Union claims that the total amount has been allocated and more than €4 billion has been disbursed, the Turkish government has questioned the pace and nature of payments that have been made to refugee organisations and not to government accounts. In 2020, the European Union committed an additional €485 million to allow certain programmes to continue until 2021. .