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U.N. urges EU states to make 'concrete commitments' on refugees
A group of migrants gather near a line of lorries waiting on the motorway which leads to the Channel Tunnel terminal in Calais, northern France, June 24, 2015. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
26/06/2015
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations refugee agency on Friday welcomed the European Union's decisions on the migrant crisis but said much more needs to be done, including "concrete commitments" by member states.
European leaders argued into the early hours of Friday over how to handle the crisis in the Mediterranean, agreeing a plan to share out the care of desperate people fleeing war and poverty in North Africa and the Middle East.
They eventually agreed a voluntary scheme aimed at taking in 60,000 people and granted an exclusion for Hungary, which had earlier described the plan as absurd, and Bulgaria, one of the EU's poorest countries.
"This clearly is an important step along the way to finding answers to this crisis but clearly much more will have to be done, including addressing the root causes," Adrian Edwards of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told a news briefing.
With agreement to relocate 40,000 asylum seekers now in Italy and Greece who are in need of international protection, "the participation of all member states will be key to success", he said.
"With regard to the proposal for EU-wide resettlement of 20,000 refugees, UNHCR urges member states to make concrete commitments toward this goal," Edwards said. "There does need to be a joined up response by Europe focused on the asylum priorities."
The plan was meant as an emergency response to the tragedy of 2,000 migrants dying in the Mediterranean this year but has been overshadowed by divisions, particularly in Eastern Europe.
In all, 153,000 migrants have entered Europe by land, air and sea this year, a jump of 149 percent compared to the same period last year, Joel Millman of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. "We expect this to be the start of a very busy summer."
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
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