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On June 7, Greece recognized Turkey as a “safe third country” for asylum seekers from Pakistan, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Syria. The Greek government believes that individuals from these countries are not in danger in Turkey and are thus not in need of security in Europe. The notion of a ‘safe third country’ allows the Greek government to refuse asylum petitions from nationals of these countries and deport them back to Turkey on the basis that Turkey is a secure country. As a result, asylum applicants who arrived in Greece from Turkey may be returned to Turkey without having their claims considered by Greek officials.
In 2020, Greece received 40,559 asylum requests. Syrians, Afghans, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Somalis accounted for 66 percent of the requests for relief. The designation of Turkey as a safe third country puts hundreds of asylum applicants in Greece who travelled through Turkey in legal uncertainty, with many facing expulsion back to Turkey. A majority of Greek human rights NGOs along with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed their disappointment, stating: “Externalization merely moves asylum duties somewhere else and avoids international commitments.”
Turkey’s new designation relies on a 2016 agreement between the EU and Turkey targeted at reducing the number of people crossing the border between Turkey and Greece and restricting the number of asylum seekers. Under the agreement, irregular migrants seeking to reach Greece would be returned to Turkey, and Turkey’s government would take actions to prevent the creation of new migration routes. In return, the EU would resettle Syrian refugees from Turkey on a one-to-one basis, eliminate visa constraints for Turkish nationals, provide six billion Euros in assistance to Turkey for Syrian migrant groups, revise the customs union, and re-energize delayed discussions on Turkey’s accession to the EU.
Despite the 2016 agreement, repatriations to Turkey from Greece have been slow. No repatriations have occurred in over a year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic despite demands from Greek and EU officials in January 2021 to repatriate 1,450 asylum applicants to Turkey. Therefore, the EU-Turkey agreement effectively caused the Greek islands to become a prison for people seeking to reach other European countries, as Greece also implemented a “containment policy” which confines migrants to so-called refugee hotspots and other reception centers on the islands in order to facilitate quick processing and deportation to Turkey. The safe third country recognition, according to the Greek Migration Minister, is therefore an “additional move toward the complete and uncompromising execution of the EU-Turkey Joint Agreement” as it aids in the “battle against unlawful migration and illicit operations by smugglers.”
An EU member state can deem an asylum claim unacceptable if the applicant could have sought security in a “safe third country,” according to Article 33(2)(c) of the European Asylum Procedure Directive [APD]. This means that an EU member state can refuse to assess the merits of an asylum claim on the grounds that it is the responsibility of this other nation. Article 38 of the APD lays out the conditions that must be met before a third nation may be considered to be “safe:” 1) the “freedom and life” of asylum seekers are respected regardless of “race, faith, citizenship, participation in a specific social class or political ideology;” 2) asylum seekers are not at risk of “serious harm”; 3) it is possible to apply for and be granted protection as a refugee; and 4) the country respects the principle of non-refoulement and refrains from deporting migrants to another country where they would face persecution.
1. Non-discrimination
To qualify as a safe third country, asylum seekers in Turkey should not be discriminated against due to their “race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” However, Turkey does not provide the protections required by the 1951 Refugee Convention to persons seeking asylum from non-European nations. Additionally, on July 1, 2021, Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul Convention, a human rights treaty focused on preventing, prosecuting, and responding to violence against women. There have also been several examples of abuses of women’s and LGBTQ rights along with significant restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly. This leaves migrants in these identity groups in greater danger in the event of repatriation from Greece as per the new Joint Ministerial Decision, thereby violating the APD’s nondiscrimination requirement.
2. No risk of “serious harm”
Serious harm is defined as execution, torture or inhuman treatment, or “serious and individual threat to a civilian’s life or person by reason of indiscriminate violence.” Turkey not only makes life dangerous for asylum seekers, but it also violates the human rights of its own residents. There have been complaints of extensive arbitrary detention and as well as torture and inhumane treatment of detainees in Turkey, which caused the European Council for the Prevention of Torture to issue two reports in 2017 and 2019, respectively on the treatment and circumstances in custody of those apprehended by the authorities or gendarmerie.
Clearly, a nation that poses risks of “serious harm” for many of its own citizens and breaches the rights of minority communities cannot be deemed safe for asylum seekers, especially if they are members of similar minority communities.
3. Non-refoulement
A “safe third country” must not return migrants to areas in which they could face violence, which is not true in the context of Turkey. Several reports from Human Rights Watch (2015 and 2018), Amnesty International, and AIDA have warned of the refoulement of migrants from Turkey, including to Syria’s conflict areas.
Turkey’s actions in this regard also contradict the requirement that a third country can only be deemed safe if it “has signed and respects the norms of the Geneva Convention [including non-refoulement] without regard to geographical limits.” Yet Turkey has shown that it does not respect these norms. For example, many of the Syrians being deported unlawfully by Turkey have been granted the official status of ‘Turkish Temporary Protection’ and are usually in the course of acquiring citizenship. As per reports, these refugees are being held illegally and are compelled to sign ‘voluntary’ repatriation forms recognizing their alleged threat to public safety and wellbeing before being expelled. Turkish officials, on the other hand, say that 315,000 refugees have returned to Syria voluntarily by 2019. Given the numerous instances of coerced ‘voluntary’ returns, the actual number of voluntary returnees is unknown.
4. Access to and Protection under Refugee Status
The APD also requires that “the possibility exists to request refugee status and, if found to be a refugee, to receive protection.” As explained by Greek human rights organization Fenix, Turkey’s process often relies on arbitrary discretion in the registration of international and temporary protection applications, which implies that the right to asylum is frequently not recognized. There have also been reports of arbitrary imprisonment and unlawful deportations as well as lack of access to accommodation and medical treatment.
The classification of Turkey as a safe third country will negatively impact the human rights of asylum seekers in Greece by increasing time in detention centers, deportation delays, unlawful detention, and exacerbating the legal ambiguity that people confront.
The EU Commission, the Council and EU Member States should review the status of Turkey as a “safe third country” as it has many shortcomings in enforcing and upholding human rights principles and does not qualify under the APD requirements.
Further, Greece and the EU should formulate a list of safe third countries which comply with all requisites of the APD in order to safely ease the burden on Greece. They should also uphold their obligations to protect migrants and prevent compromising the European asylum acquis by ensuring that those seeking protection have access to a safe, non-discriminatory application process for asylum, and where needed, resettlement within the EU. EU officials must entirely rethink their strategy of trying to prevent migration through their current deterrence and containment policies, which are inflicting unnecessary injury onto the human rights of refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants.
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