Even children will be interned

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has expressed shock over the decision of the EU to keep refugee children and families detained in internment camps at the outer borders. “This absolutely inhumane plan undermines all assertions of a value-driven policy,” criticized Jasna Causevic, STP expert on genocide prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, in Göttingen on Friday. “Being on the run is a traumatic experience in itself, especially for children. If they are then locked up for six months or longer, treated like criminals, this will only increase their suffering – without any reason.” 

Clearly, the strategy of the EU and its member states to make Europe unattractive by means of an inhumane refugee policy will not help to put an end to the deaths at the outer borders. “The people are trying to flee to Europe because they are often threatened with unimaginable suffering – not because they studied the asylum regulations of the EU,” Causevic emphasized. “The prospect that they might not be able to expect much better treatment in the EU is contrary to all international agreements and guidelines. Instead, we need a humane asylum policy that protects the most vulnerable of the vulnerable.”