A refugee influx can’t be used to justify building walls and violence against migrants, the UN high commissioner for refugees has warned the EU, amid mixed signals on whether the bloc would fund reinforcement of Belarus’ borders.
Filippo Grandi the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, spoke in front of the European Parliament. “xenophobic discourse”exhibited by its members.
“These challenges simply do not justify the knee-jerk reaction we have seen in some places – the irresponsible xenophobic discourse, the walls and barbed wire, the violent push-backs that include the beating of refugees and migrants,” Grandi told EU lawmakers, in a clear jab at Poland’s response to the crisis unfolding at its border with Belarus.
A union founded on the rule and law of Europe, the European Union should be and can improve and continue to set an example for others in these areas.
The commissioner’s address comes as the tense standoff continues on the Poland-Belarus border, where thousands of migrants from the Middle East have amassed, seeking to get into the EU. Warsaw sent additional military and police forces to help stop migrants from breaking through the razor-wire fencing.
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Meanwhile, EU officials have sent mixed signals on whether the bloc should fund the military-grade obstacles erected on Poland’s border, with the European Commission stating the money can be used for border infrastructure, but not barbed wire or fences.
“Our position is that European funding should not be used to finance this kind of infrastructure – fences or barbed wire,”A spokesperson for the EU Commission stated this Wednesday.
Charles Michel, the President of European Council sent a completely different message just a few minutes after making this statement. “legally possible”The bloc to finance “infrastructure to protect borders,” though he did not elaborate on the exact nature of such infrastructure.
“This is a decision that needs to be taken by the Commission, but in any case, the legal opinion of the Council is very clear,” Michel stated.
In June, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko declared that it would not stop migrants from reaching the EU. This triggered the ongoing migration crisis. Although Minsk claimed the action was in retaliation to EU sanctions, Brussels charged it with launching an entire migration crisis. “hybrid attack”On the bloc “weaponizing”Migratory. EU officials have also charged Belarusian security personnel with supporting migrants trying to cross borders.
The crisis escalated on Monday when a large caravan of migrants, mainly originating from the Middle East region, tried to take Poland’s border by storm, prompting a harsh response from Polish military and police and igniting a new war of words between Brussels and Minsk, with each blaming the other for the situation on the frontier.
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