5th March 2016

UNHCR sets out detailed plan to solve refugee situation in Europe

Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, outlined a detailed six-point plan. UNHCR's proposals make clear that equitable sharing of responsibility is key to bringing about a managed and orderly solution, and that EU Member States would need to agree a system of percentages of asylum-seekers for each Member State to take.

 

Grandi's plan to EU Member States to manage and stabilize the refugee situation calls for:

1) The full Implementation of the so-called "hot spot" approach and relocation of asylum seekers out of Greece and Italy and, at the same time, to return individuals who do not qualify for refugee protection, including under existing readmission agreements.

2) Step up support to Greece to handle the humanitarian emergency, including for refugee status determination, relocation, and return or readmission.

3) Ensure compliance with all the EU laws and directives on asylum among Member States.

4) Make available more safe, legal ways for refugees to travel to Europe under managed programmes – for example humanitarian admission programmes, private sponsorships, family reunion, student scholarships and labour mobility schemes – so that refugees do not resort to smugglers and traffickers to find safety.

5) Safe-guard individuals at risk, including systems to protect unaccompanied and separated children, measures to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence, enhancing search and rescue operations at sea, saving lives by cracking down on smuggling, and countering xenophobia and racism targeted at refugees and migrants.

6) Develop Europe-wide systems of responsibility for asylum-seekers, including the creation of registration centres in main countries of arrival, and setting up a system for asylum requests to be distributed in an equitable way across EU Member States.

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Members of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic