UN Body Blasts EU Refugee Relocation Scheme
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The UN refugee agency criticized the European Union’s relocation scheme for refugees, saying it is “not enough” to deal with the influx of refugees on front-line states.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said at a news conference in Athens on Monday that the current scheme to host 160,000 refugees from Greece and Italy over the next two years should be expanded.
"You cannot have a technocratic approach to relocation. Without a human approach to relocation, this process could fail," he said after a three-day visit to refugee camps in Greece.
The EU is dealing with a wave of refugees from Middle Eastern and African countries. Figures show that more than 600,000 people have arrived in Europe so far this year. Some 3,000 have already lost their lives on their way to the European countries.
On Friday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the number of people arriving in Greece has increased to 7,000 a day, adding that the figure was 4,500 at the end of September, Press TV reported.
The current EU relocation scheme only considers people from Syria, Iraq and Eritrea as eligible for resettlement.
Guterres also criticized the “ethnic or religious discrimination” of the scheme as Cyprus and Slovakia said they prefer to accept Christian refugees. Guterres said such policies only endorse the propaganda of the Daesh Takfiri and other militant groups.
The former Portuguese prime minister also said addressing the refugee crisis requires a "humane" mechanism which “is based on dialog that is based on persuasion. That is not yet in place.”
