Greece defended its record on handling asylum seekers yesterday saying that recent criticism from the United Nations (UN) was unfair.

Last week, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) called on European Union states to stop sending would-be migrants back to Greece, as its record in handling asylum seekers is too poor.

Speaking in Brussels, Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said that many people seeking asylum in Greece have no way of certifying their identity, country of origin or showing that their lives are at risk in their homeland.

If we provide them with asylum, we will either be accused of opening up the doors to the EU to illegal immigration or playing along with the game of human traffickers, said the minister.