[EN] AUSTERITY HIT NATION ACCUSED AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL OF IGNORING LAW

By NEOnline|AC

Amnesty Internation is accusing Greece of "blatantly ignoring their obligations" in law by refusing migrants, often fleeing from the conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan.
A new report, Frontier Europe: Human Rights Abuses on Greece's border with Turkey (pdf) shows how the Greek authorities use 'push backs', simply turning away groups of migrants at their border, refusing them the right to have their cases dealt with or challenge their eviction.

“These stories of push-backs are extremely alarming,” said Nicolas Beger, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office. “Our research indicates that the Greek authorities are regularly returning people, blatantly ignoring their obligations under international and EU law and endangering people’s lives.”

[EN] AS SYRIA IMPLODES, EUROPE BRACES FOR A SPIRALING REFUGEE CRISIS

The bird shot gave Chinois his scars. Perched on a Moroccan mountain lit only by the full moon and orange glow from a tiny corner of Europe below, he pulls up a trouser leg to show the holes pockmarking his knee. The metal pellets he managed to dig out are kept in a grubby handkerchief in his pocket. The others remain buried in the young Cameroonian’s flesh, hobbling his walk.

Coils of razor wire caused the badly-healed gash on Rodrigue’s thigh. It is surprising he does not have more: in the three years he has lived on the mountain, he has faced the towering fences, razor wire, pepper spray and pellet guns 13 times in an attempt to get into Melilla, a patch of Spanish territory on the northern Moroccan coast. And 13 times he has failed, picked up by Moroccan police and dumped at the Algerian border, only to trudge back to the slopes of Gurugu and wait for the opportunity to make another dash over one of the few land borders between Africa and Europe. “I will keep trying until I get to Europe,” says the 32-year-old, who is also from Cameroon.

He is one of tens of thousands of migrants and asylum-seekers massing at the gates of Europe. Many are on an illegal quest to breach a border for economic reasons. But joining them are increasing numbers of Syrians, Egyptians, Tunisians and Malians fleeing turmoil at home after the optimism of the Arab Spring turned into a reality of unrest and repression.

[EN] SYRIANS ACCUSE GREECE OF 'PUSHING BACK' MIGRANT BOATS

By Sue Lloyd-Roberts

BBC Newsnight

Coastguard signals to refugee boat

Some of the Syrians fleeing the conflict in their country have crossed Turkey aiming for Greece, in order to claim asylum in the European Union. But to get there they have to take to boats - and there have been persistent reports of Greek officials pushing them back into Turkish waters, sometimes with fatal results.

"Everything we would do for our families and our fathers, we do the same thing for these people. We bury them in the Islamic way," says Ekrem Serif-Oamadoglou, as he points to 400 freshly dug graves clustered on the remote hillside.

ΑΠΕΡΓΙΑ ΠΕΙΝΑΣ ΞΕΚΙΝΗΣΑΝ 400 ΚΡΑΤΟΥΜΕΝΟΙ ΜΕΤΑΝΑΣΤΕΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΟΡΕΣΤΙΑΔΑ

Σε απεργία πείνας προχώρησαν από σήμερα το πρωί, Τετάρτη 28 Αυγούστου, 400 περίπου μετανάστες που κρατούνται στο στρατόπεδο συγκέντρωσης στην Ορεστιάδα. Αφορμή στάθηκε η ανακοίνωση της διοίκησης του στρατοπέδου για παράταση της κράτησης στους 18 μήνες, η οποία ξεσήκωσε τους κρατούμενους που εκφράσανε την έντονη δυσφορία τους καθώς πολλοί από αυτούς βρίσκονται στο στρατόπεδο πάνω από ένα χρόνο χωρίς να έχουν διαπράξει κανένα έγκλημα και χωρίς μάλιστα να έχουν περάσει από καμία δίκη.

ΔΥΟ TΡΑΓΩΔΙΕΣ ΜΕ ΝΕΚΡΟΥΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΓΝΟΟΥΜΕΝΟΥΣ ΜΕΤΑΝΑΣΤΕΣ ΚΟΝΤΑ ΣΤΙΣ ΑΚΤΕΣ ΤΙΣ ΕΥΡΩΠΗΣ

ΔΕΛΤΙΟ ΤΥΠΟΥ

Δύο χωριστά περιστατικά με βάρκες, που εχθές έθεσαν σε κίνδυνο τις ζωές δεκάδων μεταναστών στο Αιγαίο, υπενθυμίζουν με τραγικό τρόπο τους κινδύνους που διατρέχουν οι άνθρωποι οι οποίοι αποπειρώνται να φθάσουν στα σύνορα της Ευρώπης, δήλωσε η Διεθνής Αμνηστία.
Συνεχίζεται επιχείρηση έρευνας και διάσωσης από την Αλικαρνασσό, στις τουρκικές ακτές, όπου πιστεύεται ότι μια βάρκα με 13 μετανάστες χάθηκε εχθές νωρίς το πρωί.
Επίσης, εχθές η ελληνική ακτοφυλακή διέσωσε 21 μετανάστες που έπεσαν από φουσκωτή βάρκα, η οποία μετέφερε 46 άτομα κοντά στη Χίο. Ένας από τους μετανάστες ανασύρθηκε αναίσθητος και αργότερα αποδείχτηκε νεκρός.

[EN] GERMAN REPORT ON HORRENDOUS TREATMENT OF REFUGEES ON EUROPE’S BORDERS

Stefan Steinberg

On Tuesday, the German television news program “Report Mainz” broadcast a [short film][go to the 16:30 mark] dealing with the horrendous treatment of refugees trying to reach Europe.
The report began with the picture of a dead body of a man washed up on the beaches of the Greek island of Lesbos, a holiday destination 6 miles off the coast of Turkey. At the end of the report we learn that the same corpse was transported away by the island’s authorities and dumped in an anonymous grave next to a local rubbish tip.

[EN] SYRIAN REFUGEES FIND LITTLE TO CHEER IN GREECE

Since March 2011, 20,000 Syrians fleeing the war have entered Greece, which is ill-equipped to deal with the influx

Like so many Syrians fleeing their war-shattered country, Mohamad Alkhalil did not think it could get any worse.

In the space of two years, the 26-year-old had survived a bullet in his foot, severe shrapnel wounds and a long stint in hospital in Turkey and pursuit by the security forces from whom he had defected to sign up with rebel fighters in the Free Syrian Army in June 2011.

"In that time, I have lost 46 members of my family, all in bombardments of our village near Hama," he says, showing pictures on his iPhone of a succession of relatives, some old, some young, who have died since the start of the conflict.

"My brother Noor was killed on 20 January 2012," he adds, pointing to man with slicked-back hair standing in front of a Cadillac. "My cousin," he continues, pointing to a tousled-haired youth in a body bag "was killed a few months later. We were close and, after that, I decided my best option was to go to Europe."

[EN] ARD: MANY REFUGEES LOSE THEIR LIVES TRYING TO REACH GREECE

According to Amnesty International only 0.9% of asylum applications get approved.

The reportage begins with the image of a corpse on a steep beach of Lesvos island, with the presenter Fritz Frey indicating that they he was an Afghan refugee who lost his life trying to reach Greece. This shows the “dark side” of Lesvos, an island that, as he points, is a favorite holiday destination for many Germans.

ARD: ΠΟΛΛΟΙ ΠΡΟΣΦΥΓΕΣ ΧΑΝΟΥΝ ΤΗ ΖΩΗ ΤΟΥΣ ΠΡΟΣΠΑΘΩΝΤΑΣ ΝΑ ΦΤΑΣΟΥΝ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ

 Η Διεθνής Αμνηστία υποστηρίζει ότι εγκρίνεται μόνο το 0,9% των αιτήσεων για πολιτικό άσυλο

Το ρεπορτάζ ξεκινά με την εικόνα ενός πτώματος σε απόκρημνη παραλία της Λέσβου, με τον παρουσιαστή  Φριτς Φράι να επισημαίνει ότι επρόκειτο για  Αφγανό πρόσφυγα που έχασε τη ζωή του προσπαθώντας να φθάσει στην Ελλάδα δείχνοντας τη «σκοτεινή πλευρά» της Λέσβου, που όπως επισημαίνει ο ίδιος, αποτελεί αγαπημένο προορισμό διακοπών για πολλούς Γερμανούς.
 Κατά τη διάρκεια του ρεπορτάζ προβάλλονται -μεταξύ άλλων- βίντεο με εικόνες από περιπτώσεις κατά τις οποίες η ελληνική ακτοφυλακή εντοπίζει πλεούμενα με πρόσφυγες και το ρεπορτάζ επισημαίνει πολλάκις ότι οι ελληνικές αρχές τους συμπεριφέρονται σαν να πρόκειται για παράνομους μετανάστες και όχι για πρόσφυγες.

ΘΡΙΛΕΡ ΣΤΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΟΤΟΥΡΚΙΚΑ ΣΥΝΟΡΑ

Σοβαρές καταπατήσεις ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων στα «περάσματα» της Ελλάδας διαπιστώνει η Έκθεση της Διεθνούς Αμνηστίας

Του Δημήτρη Αγγελίδη

Το αγόρι που διηγείται την ακόλουθη ιστορία είναι μόλις 17 χρόνων. Είναι από το Αφγανιστάν και αυτά που έζησε στα τέλη Φεβρουαρίου δεν μπορεί παρά να ντροπιάζουν κάθε Ελληνα και κάθε Ευρωπαίο, τουλάχιστον όποιον μπορεί ακόμα να υποψιαστεί τι σημαίνει να έχεις χάσει στα 16 σου τους γονείς και τη μεγαλύτερη αδερφή σου από βόμβα, να το έχεις σκάσει με τα μικρότερα ορφανά αδέρφια και ανίψια σου στο Ιράν και στην Τουρκία, και να βρίσκεσαι μεσάνυχτα στο Αιγαίο, πάνω σ΄ ένα φουσκωτό μαζί με άλλους 36 πρόσφυγες από τη Συρία, το Σουδάν και το Ιράν.

«Ημασταν στη θάλασσα τρεισήμισι ώρες. Τότε μας βρήκε το ελληνικό σκάφος με τους Ελληνες αστυνομικούς. Μας πήραν στο σκάφος τους. Μας χτύπησαν πολύ άσχημα. Μας πήραν ό,τι είχαμε, χρήματα, κινητά, ρούχα. Την αδελφή μου τη χτύπησαν τόσο άσχημα που τώρα έχει σ΄όλο της το σώμα μελανιές. Γύρω στις 6 το πρωί, μας ξαναπήγαν στα τουρκικά ύδατα και μας έβαλαν ξανά στη βάρκα μας. Πήραν ένα μαχαίρι κι έσκισαν τη μια πλευρά της βάρκας. Αφαίρεσαν τη μηχανή και μας άφησαν στη μέση της θάλασσας, χωρίς τίποτα εκτός από μια χαλασμένη βάρκα».

EΚΘΕΣΗ ΔΙΕΘΝΟΥΣ ΑΜΝΗΣΤΕΙΑΣ: ΖΩΕΣ ΣΕ ΚΙΝΔΥΝΟ ΣΤΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΣΥΝΟΡΑ

Καταγγελίες για καταπατήσεις ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων στα όρια με την Τουρκία

Πουλιόπουλος Γιώργος

Σκάφος του Λιμενικού μεταφέρει στην Ιεράπετρα αλλοδαπούς που επέβαιναν σε τουριστικό πλοιάριο την Τρίτη 9 Ιουλίου 2013 (ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ)

Aκρως ανησυχητική για την εικόνα που διαμορφώνεται από ανθρωπιστικής άποψης στα χερσαία και θαλάσσια σύνορα Ελλάδας - Τουρκίας είναι η έκθεση της Διεθνούς Αμνηστίας με τίτλο «Σύνορα της Ευρώπης: Καταπατήσεις Ανθρωπίνων Δικαιωμάτων στα Σύνορα της Ελλάδας με την Τουρκία», τα συμπεράσματα της οποίας ανακοινώθηκαν σε συνέντευξη Τύπου σήμερα, Τρίτη. Πρόσφυγες και μετανάστες που προσπαθούν να φτάσουν στην ΕΕ μέσω της Ελλάδας, τις περσότερες φορές προερχόμενοι από χώρες σε εμπόλεμη κατάσταση όπως το Αφγανιστάν και η Συρία, επιστρέφονται παράνομα στην Τουρκία από έλληνες ακτοφύλακες και συνοριοφύλακες.

ΟΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΕΣ ΑΡΧΕΣ ΘΕΤΟΥΝ ΣΕ ΚΙΝΔΥΝΟ ΖΩΕΣ ΑΠΩΘΩΝΤΑΣ ΠΡΟΣΦΥΓΕΣ ΚΑΙ ΜΕΤΑΝΑΣΤΕΣ ΠΙΣΩ ΣΤΗΝ ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ

Πρόσφυγες και μετανάστες που προσπαθούν να φτάσουν στην Ε.Ε. μέσω της Ελλάδας από χώρες σπαρασσόμενες από συρράξεις, όπως η Συρία και το Αφγανιστάν, επιστρέφονται παράνομα στην Τουρκία από έλληνες ακτοφύλακες και συνοροφύλακες, αποκαλύπτει σήμερα η Διεθνής Αμνηστία σε νέα της έκθεση.

Η έκθεση «Σύνορα της Ευρώπης: Καταπατήσεις Ανθρωπίνων Δικαιωμάτων στα Σύνορα της Ελλάδας με την Τουρκία» εξετάζει την επικίνδυνη χρήση από τις ελληνικές αρχές των «απωθήσεων» -όταν στέλνουν πίσω μέσω των συνόρων ομάδες μεταναστών, στερώντας τους το δικαίωμα να επεξηγήσουν την κατάστασή τους ή να προσβάλουν την απέλασή τους.

[TR] IYUNANISTAN YETKILILERI MÜLTECI VE GÖÇMENLERI TÜRKIYE’YE GERI ITEREK HAYATLARINI TEHLIKEYE ATIYOR

Uluslararası Af Örgütü bugün yayınlanan yeni raporunda, büyük çoğunluğu Suriye ve Afganistan gibi çatışmaların sürdüğü ülkelerden gelerek Yunanistan üzerinden Avrupa Birliği’ne ulaşmaya çalışan mülteci ve göçmenlerin, Yunanistan sınır ve sahil güvenlik güçleri tarafından hukuka aykırı bir şekilde Türkiye’ye geri gönderildiklerini açıkladı.

40 sayfalık “Avrupa’nın Sınırında: Yunanistan’ın Türkiye Sınırında İnsan Hakları İhlalleri” adlı raporda, Yunanistan yetkililerinin, göçmenleri gruplar halinde, tehlikeli bir şekilde Türkiye’ye “geri-itme” uygulamaları inceleniyor. Geri-itme (toplu sınır dışı) uygulamaları sırasında sınırı geçenlerin bireysel durumları göz önünde bulundurulmuyor ve sınır dışına karşı kendilerine herhangi bir itiraz hakkı tanınmıyor.

Rapor Türkiye’den Yunanistan adalarına geçmeye çalışan mülteci ve göçmenlerin tehlikeli yolculuğuna dikkat çekiyor; Yunanistan’a geçmeyi başaranların çoğunlukla karşı karşıya kaldıkları son derece kötü tutulma koşullarını inceliyor.

[FR] INTERNATIONAL AMNESTY: LES AUTORITES GRECQUES METTENT EN DANGER LA VIE DES REFUGIES ET DES MIGRANTS EN LES RENVOYANT VERS LA TURQUIE

Les réfugiés et les migrants qui tentent d'atteindre l'Union européenne (UE) via la Grèce depuis des pays déchirés par la guerre comme la Syrie et l'Afghanistan sont renvoyés illégalement en Turquie par les garde-côtes et garde-frontières grecs, révèle Amnesty International dans un nouveau rapport rendu public mardi 9 juillet 2013. 

Ce document d'une quarantaine de pages, intitulé Frontier Europe: Human Rights Abuses on Greece's border with Turkey, dénonce le fait que les autorités grecques recourent aux renvois, pratique dangereuse qui consiste à repousser des groupes de migrants de l'autre côté de la frontière, les privant du droit de voir leur cas individuel examiné ou de contester leur expulsion. 

[EN] INTERNATIONAL AMNESTY: GREEK AUTHORITIES PUT LIVES IN DANGER BY PUSHING REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS BACK TO TURKEY

Refugees and migrants trying to reach the European Union (EU) via Greece from conflict-torn countries like Syria and Afghanistan are being unlawfully returned to Turkey by Greek coast and border guards, Amnesty International reveals in a new report out today.

The 40-page report intitulé Frontier Europe: Human Rights Abuses on Greece's border with Turkey, examines the Greek authorities’ dangerous use of ‘push backs’- when they turn groups of migrants back across the border, denying them the right to have their individual cases heard or to challenge their expulsion.

[EN] AERIAL SURVEILLANCE AT THE GREECE-TURKEY BORDER: FRONTEX WANTS TO BUY A PLANE

Statewatch

The EU border agency, Frontex, is looking to buy a plane that will allow it to undertake night-time surveillance of the land border between Greece and Turkey as part of a pilot project that will run from July until September. Aerial surveillance imagery will be used to guide the actions of border guards stationed on the ground, in a region where intensified border controls have already led to the death of migrants attempting to reach Europe by increasingly dangerous routes.

Aerial surveillance

According to a procurement notice posted at the end of March on the Frontex website, the company that wins the contract "shall provide the necessary technical equipment and staff to perform aerial surveillance at the external EU land border between Greece and Turkey," using a manned plane that will have the Democritus International Airport near Alexandroupoulis as its base. [1]

[EN] ‘WHAT DOES EUROPE WANT FROM US?’ – MIGRANTS DETAINED FOR MONTHS ON END IN GREECE

By Irem Arf Rayfield, Researcher on Refugee and Migrants’ Rights in Europe

http://www.whenyoudontexist.eu/

 

Flying back from our research mission in Greece, I can’t shake off the image of exhaustion in the eyes of the newly arrived migrants on the island of Lesvos when describing their dangerous journey across the Aegean Sea.

The same fatigue was shared by Syrian women we met in Athens – forced to leave their loved ones behind when they fled to Greece – where they now live in fear of racist attacks and the perils for their children in a merciless urban setting.
And finally the suffering of migrants and refugees held for months in the detention centres and police stations in north-eastern Greece, where our mission came to an end.
Migrants and refugees fleeing conflict and destitution have been funnelled towards this area where the Evros River marks the Greece-Turkey border and Europe’s frontier.

[EN] THE EU HAS TO FINALLY MAKE UP ITS MIND ABOUT A COMMON ASYLUM AND MIGRATION POLICY

By Felix Neugebauer

In February 2012, Greece announced that it will build a “six-mile long fence topped with razor wire on its border with Turkey to deter illegal immigrants.”^[1] While the fence, even during its construction, cut arrivals of illegal immigrants by land down, these outdated measures of control and deterrence have simply diverted immigration flows to the sea and the Greek islands of the Aegean. Thousands of ‘boat people’, mostly from Africa, attempt each year to cross the Mediterranean in overcrowded and frequently unseaworthy vessels in order to enter the southernmost EU member states. As Greece was about completing its fence, twenty Iraqis drowned when, within sight of Turkey, their small overcrowded boat sank off the Greek island of Lesbos.

[IT] EVROS, GRECIA: UN NUOVO MURO DIVIDE ASIA ED EUROPA

Di Giulia Bondi

http://partiallyfree.wordpress.com

Kastanies, il primo villaggio dopo la frontiera turca

La Grecia che arranca sotto il peso del debito pubblico è la stessa che investe circa 5 milioni di euro per costruire una barricata di acciaio e filo spinato a difesa del confine con la Turchia, un tratto di terra di 12,5 km, tra la città di Nea Orestiada e il villaggio di Kastanjes. Tutto il resto del confine, fino all’Egeo, è segnato dal fiume Evros. Dai campi o dal fiume, negli ultimi anni decine di migliaia di migranti sono entrati in Europa: nel 2010 circa 36 mila, nel 2011 28 mila, soprattutto da Afghanistan, Pakistan e Bangladesh. Un fiume umano che spaventa i governi, anche se in realtà la maggior parte degli stranieri extracomunitari entra nell’Unione dagli aeroporti, con visti turistici. A dicembre 2012 il “muro” è stato ultimato. Ma già a fine agosto, quando ne esisteva soltanto un frammento, il numero di migranti entrati dal confine dell’Evros era calato drasticamente, di pari passo con l’enorme dispiegamento di polizia (tra i 1800 e i 2mila agenti), e di tecnologie come le telecamere con sensori di calore, che individuano un essere vivente a 18 km di distanza. Se nella prima metà dell’anno entravano anche 300 stranieri al giorno, da settembre in poi la media non supera i 40 ingressi a settimana.“Stiamo assistendo a uno spostamento dei migranti sul confine turco-bulgaro, e soprattutto sulle isole di fronte alla Turchia, con picchi di 200 a settimana a Samos e Lesvos”, spiega Ewa Moncure, portavoce di Frontex, l’agenzia nata otto anni fa per proteggere i confini dell’Unione Europea, con un budget sempre crescente che per il 2012 ammonta a 115 milioni di euro. “I muri non servono”, ammette Moncure: “Bisogna agire sulle cause che spingono le persone a partire”.

[EN] SYRIANS FIND NO REFUGE IN GREECE

More Migrants Attempt Sea Journey but Find Hostile Greeting, Little Hope for Asylum

The Wall Street Journal

By MATINA STEVIS

LESVOS, Greece—On this Aegean island's shores, Syria's refugee crisis is crashing up against Greece's migrant-policy mess.
Mohamed Simo, a 28-year-old Web designer from Aleppo, Syria, wanted to avoid the limbo of refugee camps of Turkey and Jordan, so he paid smugglers to bring him to Europe. After what he said was a harrowing journey from Turkey in a sinking plastic boat on a cold February night, he washed up in this tourist haven and was detained by local police.

Thousands of Syrians escaping the war back home have snuck into the European Union in the past year. Many brave the treacherous Aegean-Sea route from Turkey into Greece. Once there, asylum is nearly impossible to obtain. WSJ's Matina Stevis reports.