Aid organizations sue Netherlands over EU-Turkey asylum deal

Three aid organizations are suing the Dutch State over the asylum deal between Turkey and the European Union in 2016. The NGOs hold the Netherlands responsible for violating “Dutch, international, and EU law and for the years of inhumane conditions on the Greek islands,” NOS reports.

The Netherlands was the EU president when the deal was concluded and is, therefore, responsible for violating the human rights of asylum seekers, said the three Dutch NGOs - Amnesty International, Stichting Bootvluchteling, and Defense for Children.

The Turkey asylum deal was intended to end the mass migration of asylum seekers from Turkey to Greece. The deal stipulated that people who made the crossing “irregularly” would be sent back to Turkey unless they applied for asylum in Greece. The EU concluded the agreement despite warnings that Turkey was not a safe country for asylum seekers and that Greece’s asylum system was not functioning.

“As a result of this disastrous deal between EU member states and Turkey, tens of thousands of asylum seekers were stuck on the Greek islands in appalling conditions in camps and closed reception centers,” said Dagmar Oudshoorn, director of Amnesty International Netherlands. The EU member states tried to avoid their responsibility as determined by international law with the deal, and many thousands of people suffered as a result.

The three aid organizations want the Dutch State to take responsibility for the consequences of the deal. They also want the Netherlands to ensure that the implementation of the agreement is aligned with national, EU, and international law to prevent more human rights violations.