For Justice and Refugee Rights:
Let's cancel the agreement between the European Union and Turkey.
Barcelona, November 30, 2016
Various organizations from Catalonia have promoted the presentation of a legal challenge before the Court of Justice of the European Union against the Agreement signed on March 18th between the European Council and Turkey. The purpose of the challenge is for this Agreement to be “declared null and void and without any legal effect” and to immediately halt the collective and forced return to Turkey of the so-called “irregular migrants” who, since March 20th, have arrived on the Greek islands, as, in reality, these are people who have the right to asylum in the countries of the European Union.
The appeal presented examines and certifies that Turkey is not a “safe country,” providing data from the European Court of Human Rights detailing the practice of torture carried out by that country. In turn, it denounces that said Agreement massively and continuously violates the democratic values of the EU, mainly the Charter of Fundamental Rights, due to the lack of respect for “human dignity,” as well as individual freedoms, in addition to the numerous rights derived from the principles of solidarity and equality before the law. It also denounces the non-compliance by the EU with the asylum regime and its own Community Directives.
The irreparable damage that said Agreement has caused and continues to cause is evident. The EU's passivity in the face of an unprecedented humanitarian tragedy, which has worsened since the signing of the Agreement, is irritating. It is clear to European governments that those affected by this measure—as illegal as it is cruel—are, in their vast majority, refugees who, before the date of the Agreement, were accessing European borders, driven by wars, particularly that of Syria, violence, or misery. Refugees, often completely vulnerable, trapped by mafias and border official corruption.
For all these reasons, we, the European citizenry, demand the immediate withdrawal of this Agreement and any subsequent European agreements that may be inspired by it, and that the right of asylum for refugees be guaranteed. Only in this way will we prevent the Mediterranean from continuing to be the place where Europe and its values have shipwrecked.
Can you sign this manifesto at http://noacordueturquia.pangea.org