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UN chief warns about inefficacy of barriers to deal with refugee crisis

Friday, 18 March 2016 10:29 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 18 March 2016 10:33 AM ]

This AFP photo shows UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaking on March 14, 2016 at the United Nations in New York.

The United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says Europe cannot resolve its refugee crisis by building barriers and walls to keep asylum-seekers at bay.

In an interview published Friday, Ban told the German daily, Bild, that “building walls, discriminating against people or sending them back is no answer to the problem.”

His remarks were published on the same day that EU leaders were to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to finalize an agreement, according to which Ankara would take back all the refugees that have reached Europe via Turkey.

Some EU countries have moved to prevent the refugees from coming in by enforcing border restrictions and building fences.

Refugees rest next to a border fence at the Greek-Macedonian border, March 8, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

The refugees seek to travel through the Balkans to reach more prosperous countries in Western Europe. Most of them are fleeing conflict-ridden zones in Africa and the Middle East, particularly Syria.

Many blame major European powers for the unprecedented exodus of the refugees from their home countries, pointing to Western interference in the conflict zones for an increase in violence and the subsequent departure of more people.

According to a recent report by the European Commission’s bureau of statistics, the Eurostat, some 1,255,600 refugees reached Europe in 2015, with more than a third of them having gone to Germany. People from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan topped the Eurostat’s list of refugees.

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