The former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has urged Europe to adopt harsh Australian-style border protection policies to avoid “losing control” in the face of record numbers of people seeking asylum. Abbott said the large numbers of people entering Europe “looks like a peaceful invasion” and said European countries risked losing their character if they allowed people he labeled “would-be economic migrants” to settle there. The United Nations has said that both Australia’s system of indefinite offshore detention and the process of returning asylum seekers after a summary assessment are illegal under international law. Abbott said it was a “decent and a humane impulse to give a better life to people from wretched places”. Abbott called for “an end to self-doubt about the entitlement of European nations, individually and collectively, to keep their character”.

Source: The Guardian September 18, 2016 22:52 UTC