Refugees don't justify walls, barbed wire and violent push-backs, U.N. says

Migrant are seen next to a tent on the Belarusian-Polish border in the Grodno region, Belarus November 10, 2021. Leonid Scheglov/BelTA/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) - European Union countries must uphold the rule of law and not enter a race to the bottom when faced with migrants and refugees trying to enter the bloc, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees told European lawmakers on Wednesday.

"These challenges simply do not justify the knee-jerk reaction we have seen in some places - the irresponsible xenophobic discourse, the walls and barbed wire, the violent push-backs that include the beating of refugees and migrants," Filippo Grandi told the European Parliament.