EU-Turkey Refugee Deal: Buck-Passing and Bargaining on Human Lives at Risk?

Abstract

Since the early stages, the EU-Turkey Refugee Deal has generated several controversies concerning its legal and moral standing. In the first section of this paper, for important informative purposes, I will briefly discuss several points related to how the legality of the deal could be contested. In the second section, I will turn my attention to a more detailed examination of whether the deal could be considered immoral with regard to two morally condemned practices, namely: buck-passing, or evasion of responsibility, and bargaining on human lives at risk. In the final section, I will attempt to outline guiding principles for a hypothetical deal that would be more responsive to the principles underpinning the Refugee Convention than the morally condemnable principles in the actual deal based on those two grounds discussed here.