MSF rejects EU funding in protest against Turkey migrant deal
Medical aid charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it will reject all funding from the European Union (EU) and its member states in protest at a deal the EU reached to stem the flow of migrants and refugees via Turkey.
Under the deal, struck in March to stem a human tide that brought a million refugees and migrants to Europe in 2015, Turkey agreed to halt illegal migration through its territory in return for financial and political rewards.
Jerome Oberreit, MSF’s International Secretary General, said the agreement went against the fundamental principles of providing assistance to people in need.
It’s really important to see the real people instead of the political football that they have become
“This is jeopardising the very concept of the refugee,” he said on Friday. Oberreit said MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders and active in disaster zones across the world, will lose €37 million (US$41.6 million) of funding from EU states and 19 million euros from EU institutions.
In the short term it would cover the shortfall from emergency reserves.
“It’s really important to see the real people instead of the political football that they have become,” he said. “We’re talking about Europe’s refugee shame.”
The EU-Turkey deal did nothing to address the chronic deficiencies of EU policy, but simply outsourced European obligations, Oberreit said.