Migranter ankommer Lesbos / Foto: Wikipedia Commons 

Den øverste administrative domstol i Grækenland har slået fast at flygtninge og migranter, der kommer ad søvejen fra Tyrkiet til de græske øer i Ægæerhavet, ikke kan nægtes at rejse videre til fastlandet, skriver The Telegraph.

The ruling by Greece’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, affects asylum seekers who reach the Aegean islands of Lesbos, Samos, Kos, Chios, Rhodes and Leros.

To år efter at mennesketrafikken til Grækenland og videre opover i Europa blev reduceret på grund af aftalen – til en pris af seks milliarder euro – mellem EU og Tyrkiet om returnering af migranter til Tyrkiet, kan kendelsen opmuntre flere personer til at begive sig ud på den korte sørejse til en af de græske øer. Vel vidende at de ikke bliver hængende fast der, fornyes håbet om at kunne nå frem til Nordeuropa.

The court said that newly-arrived refugees must not be detained in squalid, overcrowded camps on the holiday islands but allowed to continue by ferry to the port of Piraeus, near Athens.

Sagen blev fremmet af aktivister, som mener at forholdene for de mennesker som hænger fast på øerne er inhumane:

It was handed down in response to a challenge launched by the Greek Council for Refugees, which argued that it was illegal and inhumane to keep migrants and refugees cooped up on the islands, which lie just a few miles off the Turkish coast.

Domstolens begrundelse for at give medhold ser imidlertid ud til at være en anden:

The court found no «serious and overriding reasons of public interest and migration policy to justify the imposition of restriction on movement” of asylum seekers.

Kendelsen vil da heller ikke komme dem, som allerede er strandet på øerne, til gode:

The decision was met with fury, however, by the 15,000 asylum seekers who have been stuck in camps on the islands for up to two years. The ruling does not apply retrospectively and so they will not be allowed to leave until their applications have been considered – a tortuously long process.

For nyankommne er vejen derimod banet for videre rejse frem:

Under the new ruling new arrivals may be able to effectively jump the queue and go straight to the mainland.

Presset på Balkan-grænserne risikerer dermed at stige igen. I EU er man alvorligt bekymret, siger en talsmand i Bruxelles til Reuters.

Køb Hege Storhaugs bog her!