11/3/2020

Doras calls on the Irish Government as a member of the EU to take steps to ensure Greece upholds the right of people arriving from Turkey to seek asylum, and to treat them in a humane and dignified manner.  

Doras director John Lannon said “We are deeply perturbed by the situation developing on the border between Greece and Turkey, particularly at the island of Lesbos. We believe that heavy-handed and militarised responses to people’s desperation at the European Union’s borders does not reflect the way the majority of people living in the EU feel, and that supporting Greece in repression at its borders is illegal and immoral.”

“The EU should do everything necessary to support Greece in receiving people in desperate need, rather than enabling them to turn boats back. A more effective dispersal policy in Europe, which EU member states must cooperate on, is required to alleviate the pressure Greece is put under.”

Doras also calls on the Irish Government to take responsibility as a member of the EU, by launching search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, as well as increasing the amount of people to be resettled under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) between now and 2023.

“We are simply not doing enough as a country to respond to people fleeing desperate situations. Our history of migration in the face of conflict and hunger means we should be well positioned to understand and empathise with people fleeing the same today” said John Lannon.