An Assessment Of the EU-Turkey Agreement

Since its origin the European Union has championed refugee law and has been a supporter of human rights throughout the world. However, the EU-Turkey Agreement addressing the European migration crisis has sparked a debate with respect to whether the European Union is upholding its commitment to human rights, or symbolically neglecting its responsibility through its 2016 Agreement with Turkey. The migration crisis has undoubtedly torn at the heart of the members of the European Union and has created hostile tensions among member states that question future freedom of movement between states and, on a larger spectrum, the future of the European Union itself. This paper addresses whether or not the EU-Turkey Agreement is an ethical agreement on behalf of the European Union and assesses whether the European Union should reevaluate the Agreement in order to uphold its commitment to human rights. It concludes, based on the Asylum Procedures Directive of the United Nations Refugee Agency, that Turkey cannot be considered a safe third country and the European Union should rethink its partnership in the migration crisis with Turkey