Oxfam slams EU for intention to suspend asylum-seeking procedures
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Oxfam says EU members should work on improving the existing migration system instead of suspending undesirable parts of it.
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EU migration ministers will meet on Thursday to discuss amendments to the asylum and migration policy. (AFP)
International non-governmental organization Oxfam considered on Wednesday that the European Union's intention to partly suspend its asylum-seeking procedures is dangerous to the very roots of the European migration system and can cause more migration-related issues.
EU migration ministers will meet on Thursday to discuss amendments to the asylum and migration policy, which will allow member states to ignore the European asylum regulation as an emergency measure.
Oxfam EU migration expert, Stephanie Pope, stressed that "EU ministers must scrap this attempt to dismantle EU asylum rules. It allows European countries to erode asylum standards when they feel migration is being used to put pressure on them."
"This proposal is just another step towards Fortress Europe," she added.
Pope pointed out that EU members should work on improving the existing migration system to make it more efficient and transparent instead of suspending undesirable parts of it.
The expert indicated that the EU's failure to fix migration issues had led to serious consequences, including children in detention and the creation of "prison-like" refugee camps funded by Brussels, urging the EU to create a system of shared responsibility and clear asylum applications.
The EU has been maintaining its efforts to fight the alleged instrumentalization of migration by third parties. In December 2021, the European Commission proposed that Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia restrict the right to seek asylum at certain border checkpoints amid a months-long migration crisis on their borders with Belarus.
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