EU states must lighten Greece's refugee burden: Nowak

(VIENNA) - EU states should do more to lighten the migrant burden on Greece, which has created "catastrophic" conditions for refugees, the UN special rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak said Thursday.

"Greece has by far the biggest responsibility today in dealing with irregular immigrants," Nowak told Austrian radio Oe1.

"While in 2008, 50 percent of all arrests of so-called illegals in the European Union took place in Greece, in the first eight months of 2010, it was 90 percent," he added.

Tighter borders and regulations have diverted many refugees from Spain, Malta and Italy towards Greece, the Austrian diplomat said.

At the same time, Greece, as a common first port of entry into the European Union, must also deal with refugees sent back by other states under current EU migration regulations, known as the Dublin II system.

"Europe has to take action," Nowak said, calling for an "immediate stop to all Dublin II returns."

"It is incomprehensible that one country like Greece, which furthermore is in the midst of a big economic crisis, should take on most of the burden of immigration towards Europe," he noted.

In the long-term, "European states have to act collectively and figure out a sensible immigration policy, whether a quota system, fairer distribution, or the creation of a common asylum procedure."

Nowak, who was part of a UN fact-finding mission to Greece this week, noted that conditions in detention centres for refugees in that country were "catastrophic" and "inhuman."

"The Greek authorities are completely overextended," he said.