A Greek appeals committee upheld a decision against a 20-year-old man who landed in Greece in late July. Announced in March, the deal is meant to deter refugees from travelling to Greece by ensuring the deportation of most arrivals back to Turkey. This was partly because the Greek appeals system, mostly staffed by independently appointed lawyers and refugee specialists, frequently judged Turkey’s treatment of refugees to be sub-standard and approved only a handful of Syrian deportations, which in any case were never completed. In June the Greek government reformed the three-man committees that judge asylum appeals, reversing the two-to-one balance of independent and government-appointed members on each panel in favour of the latter, in an attempt to speed up deportations. They say Turkey’s asylum process does not offer refugees basic rights such as access to legal work and often education or healthcare.

Source: The Guardian September 12, 2016 15:11 UTC