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UK decision to send Syrians back to EU states, disgraceful: Activist

Monday, 13 March 2017 4:17 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 13 March 2017 4:17 PM ]

A member of the Jordanian security forces checks identification cards of Syrian refugees from the makeshift Rukban camp, as they cross to visit a UN-operated medical clinic immediately on the Jordanian-side for checkups, on March 1, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The UK government has been using the European Union’s faulty laws to send Syrian refugees back to Eastern European countries where they were abused.

Ian Rintoul, a member of the Refugee Action Coalition believes this is an “opportunistic” decision by Britain, adding that it is a “fundamental violation” of the asylum seekers’ human rights.

“It is really a very disgraceful decision ... that the European countries ... force people back to places that we now know are very routinely mistreating people [and this] is really a disgraceful decision on Britain’s part. So I am hoping that legal action in Britain can actually prevent this from happening,” the activist told Press TV in an interview on Monday.

He also noted the UK government is trying to use the Dublin regulations, which require the refugees and asylum seekers to apply in their first EU country of entry, to say that it has got the right to send the Syrian refugees back to other EU states where they are being mistreated.

Rintoul opined that the Dublin regulations are long past their date and should be torn up.

He asserted that Britain should fulfill its commitments under the refugee convention to provide protection to asylum seekers and to ensure their claims are properly assessed.

According to the activist, it is well-established that asylum seekers have faced torture and mistreatment in many European states and they will not be properly treated if they are deported back to those countries.

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