UN warns against refugee backlash amid Islamophobia debate

A refugee boy holds up a placard reading "Sorry for Brussels." Image from Reuters/International Business Times

New York, (IINA) - As thousands of refugees continue to cross into Europe fleeing conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, United Nations officials warned Tuesday about a potential backlash following the terror attacks in Brussels, International Business Times news reported.
“To lump everyone together and say refugees are posing a security risk, that is not true,” said Amin Awad, the U.N.’s refugee coordinator for Syria, the Associated Press reported. “Any sort of hostility toward refugees because of the Brussels attack or Paris attack is misplaced.”
“Every one of you who said refugees are welcome, if you said ‘let them in’, [then] you are responsible for Brussels. And you still can’t see,” controversial columnist Katie Hopkins tweeted. She immediately faced backlash from other social media users, with one even reporting the comment to police as hate speech, The Independent reported.
Over 1 million refugees entered Europe last year, many fleeing conflicts, including Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The European Union agreed to a controversial deal with Turkey last week hoping to stop human smuggling and slow the rate of refugees crossing the Mediterranean. For each refugee Greece sends back to Turkey, the EU has agreed to resettle one Syrian refugee. If more than 72,000 refugees land in Greece in the coming weeks and months, the deal will be reevaluated. Approximately 2,000 refugees had landed in Greece since the deal went into effect on Sunday.
The EU said it hoped Greece would begin sending back refugees by the beginning of April. The U.N.’s refugee agency pulled its staff out of detention facilities on Greek islands Tuesday saying the proper safeguards were not yet in place.
SM/IINA

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