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Ref. DC 050(2016)

Council of Europe Secretary General welcomes European Commission's clarifications for EU-Turkey migration agreement

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Strasbourg, 17.03.2016 – The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, has welcomed the clarifications by the European Commission for further developing cooperation between the European Union and Turkey in tackling the migration crisis.

“It is extremely important that every application for asylum should be treated individually and there should be no question of ‘blanket’ returns or refoulement, in line with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. I welcome the fact that this was clarified by Commission First Vice-President Timmermans yesterday.

“I hope that these principles will prevail during the negotiations starting in Brussels today”, said the Secretary General.

Notes:

-          The 47-nation Council of Europe oversees the European Convention on Human Rights, which has been ratified by every country in Europe apart from Belarus

-          A factsheet on case-law from the European Court of Human Rights concerning “Collective expulsions of aliens” is available here.

Contacts:

¬   Daniel Höltgen, Spokesperson to the Secretary General, tel. +33 6 68 29 87 51

¬   Andrew Cutting, Spokesperson/Media Officer in Brussels, tel. +32 485 217 202