UN calls for up to 200,000 refugees to be shared among EU states
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees called Friday on the European Union to admit up to 200,000 refugees as part of a "mass relocation programme" that would be binding on EU states.
04.09.2015
(AFP) The UN High Commissioner for Refugees called Friday on the European
Union to admit up to 200,000 refugees as part of a "mass relocation
programme" that would be binding on EU states.
"People who are found to have a valid protection claim... must then
benefit from a mass relocation programme, with the mandatory
participation of all EU member states," Antonio Guterres said in a
statement.
"A very preliminary estimate would indicate a potential need to
increase relocation opportunities to as many as 200,000 places," he
added.
His call came ahead of a meeting later Friday of EU foreign ministers
to discuss the continent's refugee crisis, of which Syrian toddler
Aylan Kurdi, whose lifeless body was found face down in the surf on a
Turkish beach on Wednesday, has become a searing symbol.
Referring to the pictures of the dead child, which "had stirred the
hearts of the world public", Guterres said: "Europe cannot go on
responding to this crisis with a piecemeal or incremental approach."
"No country can do it alone, and no country can refuse to do its part," he declared.
His appeal tallied with a call by France and Germany for binding EU
quotas to share the burden of the influx of migrants and refugees, which
has hit Greece, Italy and transit countries in southeastern and central
Europe the hardest.
A European source stated that European Commission President
Jean-Claude Juncker would next week unveil a plan for the relocation of
at least 120,000 more refugees.