(Brussels) In the run-up to the European Council’s meeting on 17 and 18 March, Amnesty International has again raised the delicate issue of Turkey, warning against “European leaders’ attempts to use Turkey as their border guard to stop refugees and asylum-seekers”. Indeed, according to Iverna McGowan, Head of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office, this is “a dangerous and deliberate ploy to shirk their responsibilities to people fleeing war and persecution”. “Instead of sharing the responsibility for their protection and assistance – she explains -, EU efforts to address the refugee crisis have focused on ensuring that refugees and asylum-seekers remain in Turkey”. As Amnesty International observes, “using Turkey as a ‘safe third country’ is absurd, as many refugees still live there in terrible conditions, with no adequate accommodation”. “Hundreds of thousands of Syrian children receive no formal education, and some have been deported back to Syria”, the humanitarian organization reports. “It is important that both the EU and the international community in general step up their efforts to resolve this crisis, by providing humanitarian financial assistance and by resettling larger numbers of refugees”, Amnesty concludes.