HUMAN WRONGS WATCH

Human Wrongs Watch

By Martin Kreickenbaum*, 22 December 2014, WSWS — For weeks, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) has been trying to win support for his proposal to set up refugee camps that would be maintained by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR) in North Africa.

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He thus takes up an initiative launched more than ten years ago by former British Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Tony Blair and the then-Social Democratic Party (SPD) Interior Minister Otto Schily.

In a television interview on ZDFs Morgenmagazin last month, de Maiziere explained his plans for such camps, describing them in his typically cynical manner as “welcoming and departure centres”.