Latest editorial
THE deal discussed between the EU and Turkey yesterday is shameful in every respect.
First, it threatens to contravene the 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). As UN High Commission for Refugees European director Vincent Cochetel has pointed out, the ECHR prohibits the mass expulsion of foreign nationals.
Deporting refugees in Greece back to Turkey without processing their individual claims for asylum would violate the UN convention and cannot be escaped by importing an equal number of refugees from Turkey for resettlement in the EU. A last-minute commitment to process claims before deportation rings hollow in the face of abject EU failure to do so before now.
CLAUDIA WEBBE looks at how Britain’s Nato ally has upped the stakes in its effort to silence domestic dissenting voices
VIJAY PRASHAD details how US support for Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa allowed him to break the resistance of the autonomous Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)
Britain’s proud asylum history, from sheltering the Kindertransport escaping Hitler to Basque children fleeing fascist Spain, required tireless campaigning against persistent opposition — and it’s up to all of us to do our part today, writes SABINA PRICE
