"One year after the agreement, migrants and asylum seekers are paying the price for their own health."
"One year after the agreement, migrants and asylum seekers are paying the price for their own health."
A year after the EU-Turchia agreement, Medici Senza Frontiere (MSF) is publishing an international report showing the human costs of the collapse of European policies in Greece and the Balkans, with an appeal to EU leaders and member states to radically change their approach to migration and urgently put an end to the needless suffering of thousands of people affected by the agreement. An appeal that will be relaunched by civil society on Saturday 25 March, when European leaders will gather in the capital to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Rome Treaties, through a protest action, "Not My Europe", on the attacks of the Tevere.
The MSF report "One year on from the EU-Turchia agreement: sfidare i 'Fatti alternativi' dell'UE" sfata, sulla base della realtà del campo, tre grandi "fatti alternativi" (o false verità) che l'UE attribuisce all'accordo, ovvero che offre ai migranti un'alternativa per non rischiare la vita, that the conditions of the Greek islands are quite reasonable to support the defense of the asylum procedure, that the agreement respects the fundamental principles of human rights.
In reality, the conditions and achievements of the agreement, which compensates Turchia for "blocking the eviction" of migrants and refugees and affecting the people affected by the Greek costs, are quite different, as the MSF team witnesses every day in Greece and along the Balkan route. One year after its entry into force, men, women and children are locked in unsafe areas outside Europe from which they cannot escape, forced to travel through ever more dangerous routes to reach the continent or to live in unsafe conditions within hotspots on the Greek islands.
"The agreement is having a direct impact on the health of our peacekeepers, many of whom are always more vulnerable," says Jayne Grimes, MSF psychologist in Samo. "These people have been escaped from situations of extreme violence, torture and war, and are facing very dangerous journeys. They have been subjected to violence and suffering on the borders of Europe. Their psychological state is aggravated by their precarious living conditions and the lack of information about their legal status. They are losing any hope of finding a more secure future, better than the one from which they were kidnapped."
According to MSF psychologists in Lesbo, the percentage of patients with symptoms of anxiety and depression is more than double and the percentage of post-traumatic stress disorders is triple. Traumas linked to violent episodes encountered by our staff and cases of psychosis, attempts at self-injury and suicide are on the increase. Even in Samo, through around 300 mental health consultations, our team has seen a similar deterioration in recent months. On the Balkan route in Serbia and Hungary, the MSF team has seen an increase in patients reporting traumas related to the violence that took place when the Balkan route was called off, a few days before the EU-Turkey agreement.
"European leaders continue to believe that by building walls and punishing those who try to cross them, they will convince others not to flee for their lives", says Aurelie Ponthieu, MSF's humanitarian and migration specialist. "Every day we deal with the injuries, both physical and psychological, inflicted by these detention policies. Such measures are considered not only inhumane and unacceptable, but also completely ineffective."
MSF, which has decided to announce its opposition to the EU-Turchia agreement to EU and Member State funds, stresses that the fullest respect for the right to asylum, the opening of legal and safe lives for those in need, such as reintegration, ricollocamenti, visti umanitari e ricongiungimento familiare, così como i visti per motivi di lavoro o di studio, sono l'unica soluzione umana per porre finre alle morti e alle sofferenze ai confini dell'Europa, sia in terra sia in mare.
Source: https://www.pressenza.com/it/2017/03/rapporto-msf-un-anno-dallaccordo-ue-turchia/ 15.03.2017