The European Union on Wednesday proposed permitting Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to detain asylum seekers for as much as 16 weeks with a purpose to stem a move of migrants from neighboring Belarus. File Picture by EPA-EFE/STR
Dec. 1 (UPI) — The European Union on Wednesday proposed permitting three international locations bordering Belarus to increase processing instances for individuals searching for asylum.
Underneath the proposal, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland can be permitted to increase the registration interval for asylum purposes to 4 weeks, up from the present interval of three to 10 days, whereas additionally permitting individuals to be held in particular asylum processing facilities for as much as 16 weeks as a substitute of 4.
“As we speak, to guard our borders and to guard individuals, we’re giving flexibility and assist to Member States to handle this emergency state of affairs, with out compromising on human rights,” stated Ylva Johansson, commissioner for Dwelling Affairs.
The method would apply to the three nations for less than sixth months if granted approval by all EU member states.
The measures come as Poland and the European Union have accused Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko of luring weak individuals from the Center East to Belarus after which bussing them to the EU border, resulting in the dying of a younger Syrian final month.
Margaritis Schinas, EU vice chairman for Selling our European Approach of Life, referred to as the strategy a “hybrid assault directed at our Union.”
“Collectively, the EU made clear that makes an attempt to undermine our Union will solely solidify our solidarity with each other,” she stated.
Rights teams on Wednesday criticized the emergency measures with Eve Geddie, Amnesty Worldwide’s Europe director, saying the bloc was permitting the three international locations “to throw out the rulebook as a result of presence of some thousand individuals at its border.
Erin McKay of Oxfam referred to as on EU leaders to chorus from making the method tougher for asylum seekers.
“Stopping, detaining and criminalizing individuals looking for security in Europe breaks worldwide and European asylum legislation,” McKay stated. “Supporting the detention of migrants at EU borders places politics over individuals’s lives.”