Action against the flogging of the blogger Raif Badawi. ©Henning Schacht/Amnesty International

By engaging Turkey as a gatekeeper for Europe in the refugee crisis, the EU is in danger of ignoring and now encouraging serious human rights violations

16/12/2015 – The report Europe’s Gatekeeper documents how, since September, in parallel with EU-Turkey migration talks, the Turkish authorities have rounded up and herded scores – possibly hundreds – of refugees and asylum-seekers onto buses and transported them more than 1,000 kilometres to isolated detention centres where they have been held incommunicado.

Ensuring access to asylum is an obligation, not an option

Hungary should take heed and act now to restore the rights of asylum-seekers to access its territory and fair asylum determination proceedings.

Every letter, email and petition signature that authorities receive is a chink in an armour that would otherwise be impenetrable, chipping away at the power of those authorities who commit human rights abuses.

This is yet another example of Europe’s wholesale failure to deal with the current refugee crisis. From Greece, Turkey and across the Balkan states, the plight of refugees and migrants will only worsen unless states grasp the nettle and provide a coordinated response.

In the wake of this weekend’s EU-Turkey migration talks, it’s a stain on the EU’s conscience

The emergency powers currently being rushed through parliament provide for a sweeping extension of executive powers at the expense of essential human rights safeguards. They must be used only when strictly necessary and should not become a permanent addition to France’s anti-terror arsenal

In the wake of this tragedy, the failure to extend solidarity to people seeking shelter in Europe, often after fleeing the very same kind of violence, would be a cowardly abdication of responsibility and a tragic victory for terror over humanity