Greece: Pushbacks and violence against refugees and
migrants are de facto border policy
·Amnesty
International reveals new evidence of torture,
ill-treatment and illegal pushbacks of refugees and
migrants to Turkey
·People apprehended and
detained up to 700km away from the border before
being transferred and returned at the land
border with Turkey
·Amnesty calls on
the EU border force Frontex to suspend or
withdraw its Greek operations
·Spokespeople available
Greek border forces are violently and illegally detaining
groups of refugees and
migrants before summarily returning them to Turkey, in
contravention of their human rights obligations under EU and
international law, new research from Amnesty International has revealed.
The report, Greece: Violence, lies
and pushbacks, documents how
the Greek authorities are conducting illegal pushbacks at land and sea.
It focuses primarily
on unlawful operations in the Evros region, at the land
border between Greece and Turkey. In February and March 2020, Greece violently pushed
back refugees and migrants in response to Turkey’s unilateral opening of the land
borders. By documenting incidents that occurred in the
aftermath of those events, from June to December 2020, this new
research demonstrates that human rights violations at
Greece’s borders continue and have become an entrenched
practice.
It is clear that multiple arms
of the Greek authorities are closely coordinating to brutally apprehend and
detain people who are seeking safety in Greece, subjecting many to violence,
then transferring them to the banks of the Evros river before summarily
returning them to Turkey,
Adriana Tidona,
Migration researcher for Europe at Amnesty International
“Our research shows that violent pushbacks have become the
de facto Greek border control policy in the Evros
region. The level of organization needed to execute these
returns, which affected around 1000 people in the incidents we
documented, some numerous times and sometimes via unofficial
detention sites, shows just how far Greece is going to
illegally return people and cover it up.”
The vast majority of people Amnesty International spoke
to reported that they had experienced or
witnessed violence from people they described as
uniformed Greek officials, as well as men in civilian clothing. This
included blows with sticks or truncheons, kicks, punches, slaps, and
pushes, sometimes resulting in severe
injuries. Men were often subjected
to humiliating and aggressive naked
searches, sometimes in the sight of women and children.
In most cases, the acts of violence reported violated
the international prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment. Some
incidents also amounted to torture, due
to their severity and humiliating or punitive intent.
Saif*, a 25-year-old Syrian man pushed back four times in August 2020, told
Amnesty International that on his second attempt, the group he
was travelling with was ambushed by “soldiers” in black gear
and balaclavas and transferred to the banks of
the Evros river, which runs across the Greek and Turkish
border. Two people in the group tried to escape but were stopped and
ruthlessly beaten by one of the soldiers. Saif, who suspected that the
man’s spine had been broken, told Amnesty International: “He could not move at all,
he could not even move his hands.” According to
Saif, after soldiers took the two injured men across the river to
Turkey, Turkish soldiers and an ambulance came to assist the injured.
One individual told Amnesty International that during one of
the return operations, he and his group were forced off the boat and into
the water near an islet in the middle of the Evros river, where they remained
stranded for days. A man who was forced off the boat could not swim
and screamed for help as he bobbed up and down in the water and was
seen to be swept away with the current.
Pushbacks are not only taking place in border
areas. People are also being apprehended
and detained far into the Greek mainland before being
returned to the Evros region to be illegally returned. Amnesty
International spoke to four people who were
arbitrarily apprehended and detained in areas of northern Greece
and ultimately pushed back to Turkey in larger groups. Among them
were a recognized refugee and a registered asylum seeker who had
been living in mainland Greece for almost a year.
One of them, Nabil* a 31-year-old Syrian man and registered
asylum-seeker in Greece told Amnesty International that he was
arrested at the port in the city of Igoumenitsa, in
North-western Greece. Police told him that he would be transferred to
Athens and released, however he was then transferred to a second detention
site closer to the Evros land border, beaten and ultimately pushed
back in a group of 70 people, including children. He told Amnesty International:
“Before I entered the bus, I showed the police my asylum card, but they took it
from me, shredded it, and told me to get into the bus.”
All of the people we spoke to
were pushed back from areas where Frontex has significant numbers of staff. The
agency cannot therefore claim to be ignorant of the abuses that we, and many
others, have documented. Frontex has the duty to prevent human rights
violations, if they cannot do this effectively, they should withdraw or suspend
operations in Greece.
Adriana Tidona
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact: Alison
Abrahams on alison.abrahams@amnesty.org +32 2 548 27 73 or +32 483 680 812 Or press@amnesty.org +44 20 7413 5566
Background
Amnesty International’s report GREECE: VIOLENCE, LIES
AND PUSHBACKS is based on
conversations with 16 people, who experienced 21 pushbacks. It primarily focussing pushbacks
from the Evros border between June and December 2020. Based
on their testimonies, these unlawful operations are estimated
to have affected around 1000 people.
Today, Human Rights Watch is
releasing related research which looks at Frontex’s accountability for human rights violations
at the EU’s external borders, including in Greece.
Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, has an obligation to take reasonable measures to protect people from human rights
violations and to suspend or withdraw its activities if
such violations are occurring.
*Names have been changes to protect identities.
23/6/2021
