tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post3791911893740819798..comments2024-03-22T19:52:46.571+00:00Comments on SOCIALISM OR YOUR MONEY BACK: Safe Havens? - No chancePoetry Coalshedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05514953133244910986noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-70718049269196493792014-05-16T11:42:58.370+00:002014-05-16T11:42:58.370+00:00Since November last year, Bulgaria has virtually c...Since November last year, Bulgaria has virtually closed its borders to an inflow of Syrian asylum seekers and other migrants trying to enter the country from Turkey, while EU institutions concerned appear to have acquiesced to this. Bulgaria implemented a plan in autumn last year “to manage the crisis resulting from the enhanced migratory pressure.” Its main elements included building a 33 kilometre fence on the border with Turkey and increasing by 1,500 units the border police contingents patrolling that border. It seems to have paid off: just over 100 asylum seekers managed to enter Bulgaria each month in the first part of this year. Documents show, as part of implementation of the Bulgarian plan, people crossing the border from Turkey into Bulgaria were being summarily pushed back into Turkey, without being given a chance to lodge asylum applications and sometimes suffering abuse from border guards. According to rights groups, this strategy by the Bulgarian government breaches the non-refoulement principle (not returning or expelling people to places where their lives and freedoms could be threatened) included in the 1951 Refugee Convention that Bulgaria has ratified, as well as in EU legislation that Bulgaria is bound to implement (the EU’s Return Directive, the Schengen Border Code and the EU Charter of Fundamental Human Rights).<br />http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/05/bulgaria-country-syrian-refugees/<br />ajohnstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com