© yeowatzup
© yeowatzup

MSF rejects EU funding

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has announced its rejection of EU funding over objections to the controversial EU-Turkey migrant deal.

The announcement was made following a decision on Friday 17 June, affecting global MSF projects. By refusing ~€60m, which is the equivalent amount the charity received in donations from EU member states, EU institutions and Norway in 2015, MSF has criticised the EU-Turkey deal designed to ensure the deportation of migrants aiming to enter Greece by boat unless they qualify for asylum.

MSF International secretary-general Jerome Oberreit said: “For months MSF has spoken out about a shameful European response focused on deterrence rather than providing people with the assistance and protection they need. The EU-Turkey deal goes one step further and has placed the very concept of refugee and the protection it offers in danger.

“It’s really important to see the real people instead of the political football that they have become. We’re talking about Europe’s refugee shame.”

MSF has denounced the deal, wherein Turkey will receive €6bn in humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees, as a political tool to enforce borders, which could render refugees in a more vulnerable position than that which they have sought to flee.

“Is Europe’s only offer to refugees that they stay in countries they are desperate to flee? Once again, Europe’s main focus is not on how well people will be protected, but on how efficiently they are kept away,” Oberreit continued. “There is nothing remotely humanitarian about these policies. It cannot become the norm and must be challenged.

“We are calling on European governments to shift priorities – rather than maximising the number of people they can push back, they must maximise the number they welcome and protect.”

MSF has been vociferous against what it views as a fading responsibility for vulnerable people. Recently withdrawing from the World Humanitarian Summit, MSF has accused the EU and the UN of allowing “systemic violations” of humanitarian law to continue unchecked.