European nations have largely failed to fulfil their commitments to relocate asylum seekers from Greece and Italy with only a third of their promises fulfilled, according to Amnesty International.
Under a two year scheme agreed in September, 2015, 160,000 asylum seekers who arrived in Greece and Italy were to be given the opportunity to resettle elsewhere in Europe via a quota system. The scheme expires this week.
Amnesty said Poland and Hungary have been among the worst offenders and refused to accept a single asylum seeker from Italy and Greece while Slovakia has only accepted 16 of the 902 it was assigned and the Czech Republic only 12 of 2,691. Spain has fulfilled just 13.7 per cent of its quota, Belgium 25.6 per cent, The Netherlands 39.6 per cent and Portugal 49.1 per cent.
Malta is the only EU country to fulfil its quota while non-EU nations Norway and Liechenstein, who voluntarily entered the scheme, have both fulfilled commitments to relocate 1,500 and 10 asylum seekers respectively. Among EU nations which have made the most progress toward honouring their commitments are Finland – which has welcomed 1,951 asylum-seekers or 94 per cent of its legal commitment – and Ireland – which has taken in 459 asylum-seekers or 76.5 per cent of its legal commitment.
Iverna McGowan, director of the Amnesty International European Institutions Office, said most EU member states had “fundamentally failed” refugees and asylum-seekers, “shirking their responsibilities and leaving thousands abandoned in Italy and Greece”.
“This isn’t about paying lip service to doing right by refugees and asylum-seekers, it is a legal obligation,” she said. “EU countries must now step up and make good on the promises they made, or risk being taken to the European Court and potentially facing tough penalties.”
Amnesty is calling on on European governments to step up efforts to fulfil their quotas as designated by the relocation scheme.
