Greece extends border wall, installs surveillance system to prevent Afghan refugee influx

Greece said it has completed a 40-kilometre wall on its border with Turkey and installed a surveillance system to prevent possible asylum seekers from trying to reach Europe after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. The Taliban’s sweeping advance on 15 August 2021, Sunday, has sparked fears that Europe could face a migration crisis similar to that in 2015. Now, to stop a repeat of scenes six years ago, Greece’s citizens’ protections minister, Michalis Chrisochoidis, said that the country took the latest action so that borders remain “safe and inviolable”. 

The Greek government has already said that it would not allow refugees to cross into Europe and would turn people back. Migration minister Notis Mitarachi said that Greece will not be a gateway to Europe for illegal Afghan migrants. European leaders desperately want to avoid another large-scale influx of migrants and refugees from Afghanistan.  

Europe fears Afghan refugee crisis

According to The Associated Press, EU officials suggested setting up “deportation centres” in countries neighbouring Afghanistan so that EU countries can deport Afghans who have been denied asylum even if they cannot be sent back to their homeland. Even Germany warned last week that there must be “no-repeat” of the migration crisis of 2015. French President Emmanuel Macron stressed that “Europe alone cannot shoulder the consequences” of the situation in Afghanistan and “must anticipate and protect ourselves against significant irregular migratory flows”. 

Besides that, there have been few concrete offers from European countries, which besides evacuating their own citizens and Afghan collaborators, say they are focusing on helping Afghans inside their country and in neighbouring countries such as Iran and Pakistan. It is worth noting that more than one million people escaping war and poverty in the Middle East crossed over from Turkey into the EU in 2015 – including in boats over the Aegean Sea. About 60,000 stayed in Greece as more travelled north into other countries.

Meanwhile, international organisations have urged countries to act quickly to safeguard those at risk in Afghanistan, urging them to expedite visas, provide emergency evacuation, offer resettlement, and cease all deportations to Afghanistan. Amid the Afghanistan crisis, India and the UK have joined hands to tackle the shared security threats and refugee crisis, UK's Foreign Secretary & First Secretary of State Dominic Raab informed. In a statement on Twitter, the senior British official revealed that he had spoken to External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar, and the two had discussed the situation in Afghanistan. After the interaction, it was decided that the UK and India would work together to ease the humanitarian plight of ordinary Afghans and tackle shared security threats and support refugees. 

(Image: AP)