cision ending the containment policy [joint media release], 24 April 2018, <https://www.gcr.gr/index.php/en/news/press-releases-announcements/item/874-21-organoseis-katadikazoun>, last accessed 23 May 2018. 197 Decision 8269/2018, Gov. Gazzete 1366/Β/20-4-2018, Περιορισμός κυκλοφορίας των αιτούντων διεθνή προστασία. ΑΠΟΦΑΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΔΙΕΥΘΥΝΤΗ ΤΗΣ ΥΠΗΡΕΣΙΑΣ ΑΣΥΛΟΥ [Restriction of movement of international protection applicants. DECISION OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE ASYLUM SERVICE], 20 April 2018, <http://www.et.gr/index.php/anazitisi-fek>, last accessed 23 May 2018. 198 G., Pagoudis, ‘Τους περικύκλωσαν, τους άνοιξαν τα κεφάλια και έφυγαν ανενόχλητοι’ [They surrounded them, cracked their heads and left undisturbed], efsyn, 24 April 2018, <http://www.efsyn.gr/arthro/toys-perikyklosan-toys-anoixan-ta-kefalia-kai-efygan-anenohlitoi>, last accessed 21 May 2018; V., Paikos, ‘Κάψτε τους ζωντανούς!’ [Burn them alive!], I Avgi, 29 April 2018, <http://www.avgi.gr/article/10811/8863545/kapste-tous-zontanous->, last accessed 21 May 2018. 199 Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Resolution 2118 - Refugees in Greece: challenges and risks – A European responsibility, 21 June 2016, <http://www.refworld.org/docid/583734f54.html>, last accessed 21 May 2018] Recommendations General Recommendations The EU, alongside Greece, should as a matter of priority reconsider the alleged “benefits” of the EU-Turkey Statement which, though leading to diminished Greek-bound irregular arrivals, has adversely affected the lives of forcefully displaced populations. Two years on, it is becoming more evident by the day that, at its core, the Statement is a recipe for (humanitarian) disaster, as its constitutive elements (deterrence and externalization of international responsibilities) and mode of implementation (transformation of hotspot islands into “open prisons”) a priori deny international protection applicants effective access to the full set (and at times any) of their rights. This, to be noted, is the case at the same time as the Statement’s declared raison d'être –i.e. “to break the business model of the smugglers and to offer migrants an alternative to putting their lives at risk”200– has proven an illusion, as not only have third-country nationals/stateless persons not stopped risking their lives in search of a safe haven, but by being left with few to no alternatives to safely reaching their destination, the Statement has all but guaranteed their further victimization at the hands of smugglers. Therefore: 1. The EU-Turkey Statement should be reconsidered and ultimately abolished in favor of a policy that would reposition human rights at the forefront of its agenda. 2. In the same vein, compliance with the imperative to respect the (human) rights of all people on the move, irrelevantly of actual and/or potential international protection status, should form the core principle guiding the management of migration. Ongoing discriminations of newcomers’ on the basis of predetermined, biased, views on their “chances” and motives for applying for asylum inter alia contravene article 3 of the Geneva Convention and article 14 of the EU Convention on Human Rights, and should therefore be immediately brought to a halt. 58