UN Chief condemns restrictive EU asylum policies

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, on Thursday condemned the increasingly restrictive European asylum policies in a speech to the Austrian parliament. "I am concerned that European countries are now adopting increasingly restrictive immigration and refugee policies. Such policies negatively affect the obligation of member states under international humanitarian law and European law," he told MPs. 

    The Austrian parliament’s lower house voted on Wednesday in favour of a law that will allow police to reject asylum seekers at the border and to stop most successful applicants from applying to be reunited with their families for three years.

    The law must still be passed by Austria’s second parliamentary chamber on Thursday, but since this is a formality, the interior ministry expects to begin enforcing the law at the start of June.

Source: QNA