Greece’s proposed 7-mile fence along its border with Turkey would shut out asylum-seekers fleeing violence and abuse in their homelands, the U.N. refugee agency has noted.
The U.N. refugee agency says that the fence could force illegal migrants and those in need of international protection to take riskier routes with the help of human traffickers, Reuters reports.
On Monday, Greece said it planned the fence to prevent a wave of immigrants from flowing into the debt-ridden country. According to Reuters, nine out of 10 illegal immigrants use Greece to move into the European Union.
"Building fences, we believe, rarely solves the underlying problem of migratory pressures," said Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told a news briefing.
