Greece’s Use of Migrants as Police Auxiliaries in Pushbacks
.png)
 |
| Women migrants from Afghanistan hold signs that read “Stop pushbacks” during a rally in Athens against Greece’s pushbacks of migrants and asylum seekers at the border with Turkey. February 6, 2022. © 2022 Dimitris Aspiotis/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images |
Greek authorities, including through proxies they use, are assaulting, robbing, and stripping Afghan asylum seekers and migrants, including children, before summarily pushing them back to Turkey via the Evros River. They are employing men who appear to be of Middle Eastern or South Asian origin, to force stripped or barely clothed migrants onto small boats, take them to the middle of the Evros River, which marks the land border between Greece and Turkey, and force them into the frigid water, making them wade to the riverbank on the Turkish side. These men often wear balaclava masks to conceal their faces and black or commando-like clothing.
This report is based on interviews with 26 Afghans, 23 of whom who were pushed back between September 2021 and February 2022 at Greece’s land border with Turkey. The 23 men, two women, and one boy described their crossing from Turkey to Greece, detention by Greek authorities or men they believed to be Greek authorities, their time in custody – usually no more than 24 hours – with little to no access to food or drinking water, and pushback to Turkey over the Evros River.
The men and the boy interviewed by Human Rights Watch said Greek authorities beat them at various times: when they were detained; while they were in custody; or as they were being forced into the Evros River. Twenty-two of the 26 people interviewed said that at some point, Greek authorities forced them to strip down to their undershorts or totally naked. All said Greek authorities stole their money, mobile phones, or other belongings.
Greek authorities detained 20 of the people interviewed by Human Rights Watch. None of them was properly registered – none had their fingerprints or photographs taken or a formal interview of any kind – and at no point from the moment of detention to removal were any of them given a chance to lodge asylum claims.
At the land border with Turkey, 16 people reported that the boats taking them back to Turkey were piloted by non-Greek men who spoke Arabic or South Asian languages common among migrants. They all reported that Greek police were close by when the men loaded the migrants onto small boats. These non-Greek men often wore black or commando-like uniforms in addition to balaclavas to to obscure their identities. All but five of the interviewees said the men ferrying the boats forced them to disembark in the middle of the Evros River, where they were then made to wade to the riverbank on the Turkish side, sometimes in chest- to chin-high water under freezing temperatures.
Several of the interviewees said that while they were in the custody of Greek law enforcement, they saw other police wearing uniforms with either a German or Austrian flag patch, but that these police did not interact with them or make efforts to intervene in the situation. Frontex, the European Border and Ciast Guard Agency, has its largest operation in Greece with more than 650 guest officers.
The findings in this report add to growing evidence of abuses collected by nongovernmental groups (NGOs) and media, involving hundreds of people of various nationalities, including Syrians, intercepted and pushed back from Evros by Greek law enforcement officers since March 2020 – the time of a standoff between Greece and Turkey at the land border. NGOs and the media are also reporting persistent allegations that Greek Coast Guard personnel unlawfully abandon migrants – including those who have reached Greek islands – at sea, on inflatable vessels without motors; tow migrant boats to Turkish waters; or intercept, attack, and disable boats carrying migrants. Human Rights Watch published a report with such findings in July 2020.[1]
In response to the findings of this report, Major General Dimitrios Mallios, chief of the Aliens & Border Protection Branch in Hellenic Police Headquarters wrote a detailed letter, appended at the end of this report, refuting the findings and allegations of misconduct, and asserting that “police agencies and their staff will continue to operate in a continuous, professional, lawful and prompt way, taking all necessary measures to effectively manage the refugees/migration flows, in a manner that safeguards on the one hand the rights of the aliens and on the other hand the protection of citizens especially in the first line border regions.”
Greece’s government should immediately halt all pushbacks from its territory, ensure fair treatment to people seeking safety in Greece and provide access to asylum procedures for all who request it. Greek judicial authorities, particularly the Supreme Court Prosecutor, should conduct a transparent, thorough, and impartial investigation into allegations that Greek law enforcement personnel are involved in acts that put the lives and safety of migrants and asylum seekers at risk. Any officer engaged in illegal acts, as well as their commanding officers, should be subject to disciplinary sanctions and, if applicable, criminal prosecution.
Greek lawmakers should urgently establish an inquiry into all allegations of collective expulsions and violence at the borders, and determine whether any government officials have given orders leading to acts that not only violate the law but put the lives and safety of displaced people at risk.
The European Commission, which provides financial support to the Greek government for migration control, including in the Evros region and the Aegean Sea, should urge Greece immediately to end all summary returns of migrants and asylum seekers to Turkey, press the authorities to establish an independent border monitoring mechanism that would investigate allegations of violence at borders, and ensure that none of its funding contributes to violations of fundamental rights and European Union (EU) laws, including by withholding such funding until abuses cease. The European Commission should also open legal proceedings against Greece for violating EU laws prohibiting collective expulsions.
Frontex should monitor and publicly report on Greek security force compliance with European and international human rights and refugee law, as well as compliance by its own officers and those contributed by member states. Frontex should also inform the Management Board and the Greek authorities of its intention to trigger article 46 of its regulation, under which the agency has a duty to suspend or terminate operations in case of serious abuses, if no concrete improvements are made by Greece to end these abuses within three months. It has triggered article 46 only once, in Hungary in early 2021, after a European court ruling. The European Parliament should continue scrutinizing Frontex on its failures to monitor and intervene to prevent collective expulsions and other abuses in the area of its operation on the Greece-Turkey border.
7/4/2022
