UN: Most of those reaching EU have right to seek asylum

9/9/2015 5:06:00 AM

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) A large majority of refugees arriving in Europe have a legalright to seek asylum from persecution and death in their home countries UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday.

Ban spoke by telephone with the leaders ofAustria Czech Republic Germany Greece Hungary Poland and Slovakia to discuss the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe according to a statementissued by his spokesperson.

"The Secretary-Generalappealed to these leaders to be the voice of those in need of protection and to quickly find a joint approach to address their basic needs" read the statement.

Europeis facing its biggestrefugeecrisis in decades with thousands of asylum seekers from Middle Eastern and African countries trying to reach WesternEurope.

The European Commission isset to announce Wednesday plansto resettle refugees across all EU member states.

"Recognizing the challenges this poses to some member states the Secretary-General stressed the individual and collective responsibility of European states to respond responsibly and humanely" the UN statement said.

"[Ban]stressed that the large majority of people arriving in Europe are refugees fleeing war and violence who have a right to seek asylum without any form of discrimination" it added.

The recent influx which peaked during the weekend has prompted diverse responses from some European nations including the suggestion that most of those flooding into Europe were migrants who chose tomove not because of a direct threat of persecution or death but mainly to improve their lives.

More than 380000 refugees and migrants have crossed the Mediterranean Sea this year in a desperate bid to reach Europe according to the UN refugee agency.

At least 2850 have died or gone missing during the journey.

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