CAMPAIGN FOR THE ACCESS TO ASYLUM
ANNOUNCEMENT
Illegal pushbacks, Lives
at risk, NGOs under prosecution: Investigations on pushbacks at the EU level,
targeting of those highlighting them in Greece
Athens, 16 March 2021
In the past year we have become witnesses
of an escalation in the number of reported refugee and migrant pushbacks from
the Greek borders (land and sea) to Turkey[1],
in the context of the broader harshening of the European Union’s political
stance vis a vis the management of the Refugee Issue, since the
EU-Turkey Statement was adopted[2].
Without undergoing registration, without access to the asylum procedure or any
other legal procedure, men, women and children who have just entered and/or are
already in the country seeking protection are summarily, violently and
indiscriminately returned to Turkey, in violation of any notion of national,
European and international law.
The modus operandi, under which these incidents are reported to occur,
places frequently in danger the lives of refugees and migrants and includes the
use of physical and psychological violence against them. Particularly at sea,
there are reported incidents where refugees and/or migrants are arrested,
evidently, by the Greek security forces during their attempt to access the
territory or after they have already disembarked on Greek shores, and after
being violently embarked on sea rafts, are abandoned in the sea area between
Greece and Turkey or even on uninhabited islands[3],
with their lives being in direct danger. Furthermore, during incidents that have
recently come to light, the victims had allegedly already been admitted to
reception facilities, before being found in the same forcible way in the middle
of the sea, at night, to be rescued by the Turkish authorities.[4]
In several of
these incidents, it has been reported that FRONTEX
forces, which remain inactive or at times allegedly provide support and
assistance to reported pushback incidents, were present or at least aware[5]. However, for these alleged practices of
FRONTEX, investigations are already underway by OLAF[6], as
well as by a Working Group of the European Parliament[7].
By contrast, in what regards the alleged
practices of the Greek authorities, there has been no sufficient and effective
investigation whatsoever[8].
In spite of the systematic reports and
complaints that are brought to public light[9],
in spite of interventions by the National Commission for Human Rights[10],
and of appeals by UN agencies[11]
and Council of Europe Bodies[12]
to end informal forced returns and the use of violence
against refugees and migrants at Europe’s borders, the Greek government
persists in downplaying any relevant publication as fake (fake news)[13],
instead countering the protection of the borders from attempted entries that
are guided by the Turkish authorities[14].
This reaction is also combined with the
systematic defamation of NGOs and those working with them, particularly on the
islands. It results in the targeting of
organisations, employees and volunteers who support
asylum cases, denounce rights violations, pushbacks or simply provide
humanitarian relief. It creates a generalized state of mistrust, which incites attacks
by racist groups which, while lynching, harassing and injuring employees and
citizens that show solidarity, have attacked NGO facilities through arsons and vandalisms.
Moreover, the Greek authorities are publicly
attacking organizations that bring to light the aforementioned practices, as
well as anyone who might dare provide assistance to refugees either during the
attempted entry into Greece or even after they have disembarked on the Greek
shores, indiscriminately relating them with migrant smuggling networks[15].
Recently this practice has concerned targeted publications on investigations
against organizations which systematically publicize reports on pushback
incidents[16].
The investigations concern allegations of facilitating entry to the territory, setting
up a criminal organization for the purpose of smuggling migrants, at times
espionage, and are governed by a veil of secrecy, while no one is aware if they
are conducted under the supervision of judicial authorities. Organizations have
even been targeted by the Minister of Migration himself, as organizations that
have set-up migrant smuggling networks with the aim of facilitating their entry
to the territory, as early as from their countries of origin. Coincidentally,
the organization to which the competent Minister referred to by name during a
press briefing on 8 December 2020[17],
happens to be the organization that has publicly denounced the aforementioned
pushback incidents from inside the Greek state’s facilities (on 18 February
2021 from Megala Therma, in Lesvos, and on 8 September 2020 from the RIC of
Samos)[18].
At the same time, the Greek Government
has set a disproportionately strict operating framework for those organizations
wishing to support refugees and migrants in the country, through the existing
register of Non-Governmental Organizations. It should be recalled that already since July 2020[19],
and again in November of the same year[20], the Expert Council on NGO law of
the Council of Europe had stressed the “significant
chilling effect” and the impediments placed by the provisions of the specific
Registry to the work of NGOs, which includes the monitoring of the level of
compliance to legality by state authorities in general.
The Campaign for Access to Asylum raises
the alarm on the consequences with respect to freedom of speech and democratic
values that can result from the ongoing
efforts to create a climate of intimidation and distrust over the work of
particularly those NGOs that operate at the country’s borders and receive
reports and testimonies on pushbacks which, as they ought to, they publicise. In
full accordance with the repeated calls issued by the foremost competent
national and international bodies and organizations, the Asylum Campaign
reiterates the call for putting an end to the practice of illegal pushbacks and
the use of force against refugees and migrants, as well as for the effective
investigation and prosecution of relevant incidents. At the same time, the
Campaign calls on the Greek and European authorities:
·
To
safeguard the
independence of
non-Governmental
Organisations that
engage in
the support
of refugees
and migrants,
particularly at the external borders of the European Union.
·
To
protect them
from any
unjust and
unsubstantiated accusation addressed
against them, which also puts at risk the principle of solidarity that binds
their work.
·
To safeguard the search and rescue operation
of both the competent
authorities, as well as all actors
that can
provide assistance
at Europe’s land
and sea
borders, where human
lives are
constantly put at risk.
·
To
establish the
appropriate mechanisms
that will
be able
to contribute
to the
search and
rescue of
all people that
find themselves
in danger
at Europe’s borders
and in
any area
under their
jurisdiction or over which they exert
effective control.
·
To
put an
end to
the onerous
EU-Turkey
Statement that
has transformed
the eastern
Aegean region
into a
place of
extensive human
rights violations
and to
move forward
with establishing
legal pathways
that will
allow those
seeking international
protection in
Greece and
Europe to
do so
in a
safe and
orderly manner.
Signatories Organisations and Initiatives (in
alphabetical order):
CAMPAIGN FOR THE ACCESS TO ASYLUM
https://asylum-campaign.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/asylumcampaigngr/
kampaniagiatoasylo@gmail.com
CO-SIGNATORIES:
[1] Amongst many others: Human Rights Watch, “Greece: Investigate Pushbacks, Collective
Expulsions”, 16 July 2020, https://bit.ly/3rAxPJJ;
Εfsyn, “New denounciation on the pushback of two Kurdish families with five
minor children”, 21 September 2020, in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3bjjYSl; The Guardian, “Catastrophe for human rights’ as Greece steps up refugee
‘pushbacks”, 27 September 2020, https://bit.ly/2MFddAE;
To Vima, “Lesvos: Video records illegal pushback by the coastguard”, 16
November 2020, in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3sKRGGk; Der Spiegel,
“Griechenland setzt Geflüchtete nach Ankunft auf Lesbos auf dem Meer aus”, 8
December 2020, https://bit.ly/3rIogIu;
Racist Crimes Watch, “Pushbacks”, https://bit.ly/3qlyywG.
[3] Border
Violence Monitoring Newtork, “We were crying and swimming and crying and
swimming”, 27 January 2021, https://bit.ly/3eau4qv.
[4] Efsyn,
“Pushback from a state facility in Lesvos”, 22 February 2021, in
Greek at: https://bit.ly/384Bmbq;
EU Observer, “Afghan asylum family beaten in Greece, set adrift at sea”, 25 February 2021, https://bit.ly/3bu2vGP; Independent,
“Greek ‘pushbacks’ brought to European court after child refugees ‘towed out to
see and abandoned in raft’”, 4 March 2021, https://bit.ly/2O61zzp.
[5] Der Spiegel, “EU Border Agency Frontex Complicit in Greek Refugee Pushback Campaign”, 23 October 2020, https://bit.ly/3uQioPl;
EU Observer, “Revealed: Official Greek order to illegally pushback migrants”, 18 November 2020, https://bit.ly/3r7Vxwy.
[7] Euronews, “EU migration chief urges Frontex to clarify pushback allegations”, 20 January 2021, https://bit.ly/2OfbWkg;
European Parliament, “Respect of fundamental rights by FRONTEX: European
Parliament inquiry launched”, 23 February 2021, https://bit.ly/3sTbxTy.
[8] It should be noted that in previous incidents that had been reported in the Evros area, the Greek Ombudsman conducted an ex-officio administrative enquiry, without, however,
its results becoming public to this day. Greek Ombudsman, Decision on ex-officio enquiry, Γρ.Συν.105, 9, June 2017, in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3b77dtT.
[9] Border
Violence Monitoring Network, The black book of pushback, 18 December
2020, https://bit.ly/3uNHXAI;
RSA, Push backs and violations of human rights at sea: a timeline,
29 December 2020, https://bit.ly/3v4Euhg; Legal Centre
Lesvos, Collective expulsions documented in the Aegean Sea: March-June 2020,
13 July 2020, https://bit.ly/3uOpxzU;
Mare Liberum, Pushback Report 2020, 11 February 2021, https://bit.ly/3bUhjgU.
[11] UNHCR, “UNHCR warns asylum under attack at Europe’s borders,
urges end to pushbacks and violence against refugees”, 28 January 2021, https://bit.ly/3v8RCSB; IOM, “IOM Calls for End to Pushbacks and
Violence Against Migrants at EU External Borders”, 9 February 2021, https://bit.ly/2NWYthd.
[12] Council of
Europe, “Council of Europe’s anti-torture Committee calls on Greece to reform
its immigration detention system and stop pushbacks”, 19 November 2020, https://bit.ly/308udT6.
[13] European Parliament, “Investigate alleged pushbacks of asylum-seekers at
the Greek-Turkish border, MEPs demand”, 6 July 2020, https://bit.ly/30xxwn3.
[15] Greek Helsinki Monitor, “OMCT on Greece: Ongoing crackdown on migrants’ rights
defenders as pushbacks of people on the move continue”, 28 January 2021, https://bit.ly/3etPj6G; mitarakis.gr, «We received a chaotic situation in the migration issue. Today
we are closing facilities and enhancing security measures”, 14 February
2021, in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3b8oPFU.
[16] CNN Greece, “Oikonomou: Successful
identification of the NGOs that were involved in illegal smuggling of
migrants”, 4 October 2020, in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3kGi8Ol.
[17] Ministry of Migration and Asylum, “Ongoing Turkish provocation on the migration issue and
increased arrivals of Somali nationals on our islands during past weeks”, 8 December 2020, in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3kC76d2.
[18] Aegean Boat
Report, “Small Children Left Drifting in Life Rafts in the Aegean Sea!”, 22
February 2021, https://bit.ly/3elxjLJ
and “Two children left drifting alone in a rubber dingy by the
Hellenic Coast Guard”, 4 March 2021, https://bit.ly/3sTc0Fi.
[19] Expert Council on NGO Law of the Council of Europe, Opinion on the compatibility with European standards of
recent and planned amendments to the Greek legislation on NGO registration,
CONF/EXP(2020)4, 2 July 2020, https://bit.ly/3rLLVaY.
[20] Expert Council on NGO Law of the Council of Europe, Addendum to the opinion on the compatibility with European
standards of recent and planned amendments to the Greek legislation on NGO registration,
CONF/EXP(2020)5, 23 November 2020, https://bit.ly/3epJebB.
