Médecins Sans Frontières’ narrative of violent treatment of refugees at the external borders of the European Union

According to the report of the international group Tasnim news agency, “S Swiss RF wrote in an article: In its new migration report, Doctors Without Borders painted a bleak picture of the external borders of the European Union and North Africa, where physical violence, torture and exploitation are part of everyday life.

Felix Braunsdorf, refugee expert in this famous relief and rescue organization, in a conversation with “SRF” of Switzerland, described the conditions of refugees in these areas and in response to a question that the situation What is it like in the EU partner countries in North Africa? He said: In Libya, we see a system of detention centers in which refugees are returned by intercepting people by the Libyan Coast Guard in the Mediterranean Sea. These are the detention centers about which we are talking about the situation of severe torture. . These conditions have significant health consequences for asylum seekers. This is a kind of violence that we see and criticize in these external forms of cooperation with non-EU countries.

Ham said: This is the so-called second circle in which people who have reached the external borders of the European Union experience other forms or similar forms of violence, including physical violence in the form of beatings. However, we also see forms of failure to provide assistance to those seeking protection across the EU’s external borders. For example, when they try to apply for asylum at the Polish-Belarusian border and are then violently pushed back by Polish border guards.

He stressed: From August 2021 to September 2023, Médecins Sans Frontières helped more than 28,000 people at the EU’s external borders who were injured or harmed by border fences, pushbacks or the lack of search and rescue measures.

The MSF expert further answered the question of what the European Union should do to improve the situation. Also stop the dehumanization we are gradually witnessing. Because this is accompanied by the constant use of violence against those who seek protection, and after a certain period of time it is seen as a kind of normalization. This process should not happen.

He further said: The conditions for accepting refugees should be humane. We do not see this in the closed centers in the Greek islands. There are indescribable sanitary conditions there. For example, on the island of Samos, our teams detected an outbreak of scabies. There is no doctor in this camp for the 4,000 people who live there. That is why governments must ensure that humane reception conditions are established along external borders, where people can rest, where they can register and then their initial asylum application can be processed.

Next, the question was raised that reducing the number of asylum seekers is a high priority in European politics. Considering this issue, how should the European Union deal with this issue?

Felix Braunsdorf said in response to this question: We should not forget the fact that the situation of refugees Around the world it is somewhat different: the vast majority of refugees do not seek protection in rich countries like Europe, but in low- and middle-income countries – about three-quarters.

He added: Therefore, this political discussion in Europe is somewhat pessimistic. There are humanitarian crises in the world, such as the civil war in Sudan, which is currently escalating or provoking large refugee movements. Therefore, this political debate in Europe, which is mainly about the reduction of numbers, is – one might say – somewhat pessimistic.

However, migration remains an unresolved crisis in The European Union has remained, and in order to solve this crisis and reduce the victims of asylum seekers, instead of creating legal ways for immigrants to enter, the European Union continues to increase the lever of pressure on this oppressed group and puts stricter policies towards them on the agenda.

After years of discussion, the representatives of EU countries and the parliament reached an agreement at the end of last year on fundamental reforms in the asylum system and the tightening of strictures against refugees.

Based on this agreement, there should be uniform border procedures at the external borders of the European Union in the future. In particular, there are plans to get much tougher on people from countries that are considered relatively safe. Accordingly, until a decision is made on the asylum request, these people should be able to be accommodated in detention camps under prison-like conditions.

According to this plan, the distribution Asylum seekers seeking protection among EU countries will be reorganized using a “solidarity mechanism”. Countries that do not want to accept refugees must offer other support, for example in the form of cash payments. Based on this, rejected asylum seekers should also be easily deported to safe third countries in the future. They continue to treat asylum seekers.

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