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[EN] RE: THE NAMELESS DEAD: IDENTIFYING MIGRANTS' BODIES IN GREECE

ARTE TV

Thousands of migrants risk their lives by crossing the Evros River, the natural border between Greece and Turkey and many drown or die of hypothermia in the attempt. When bodies wash up on the riverbanks, identifying them is difficult: Forensic scientist Pavlos Pavlidis tries to find out these people’s names so that their families can be informed.

7/2/2023

https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/104430-012-A/re-the-nameless-dead/

ΧΤΙΖΟΥΝ ΤΕΙΧΗ ΓΙΑ ΜΙΑ ΕΥΡΩΠΗ - ΦΡΟΥΡΙΟ

in.gr

Γιώργος Παυλόπουλος

Το στρατόπεδο των «σκληρών» φαίνεται πως επικρατεί στις τάξεις των ηγετών της ΕΕ έναντι εκείνων που προτείνουν μια πιο διαλλακτική (και ενδεχομένως πιο ρεαλιστική) προσέγγιση.

Η Ευρώπη βρίσκεται και θα συνεχίσει να βρίσκεται αντιμέτωπη με αλλεπάλληλες προσφυγικές κρίσεις τις οποίες, για πολλούς λόγους, δεν μπορεί να αποφύγει – αυτό είναι αδιαμφισβήτητο.

Ο πόλεμος στην Ουκρανία, το χτύπημα του Εγκέλαδου σε Τουρκία και Συρία, η επιταχυνόμενη κλιματική αλλαγή και, φυσικά, η φτώχεια οδηγούν κατά κύματα εκατομμύρια ανθρώπους στα σύνορά της. Ηδη δε, τα επίσημα στοιχεία του 2022 δείχνουν ότι τα σύννεφα αρχίζουν να σωρεύονται εκ νέου, κάνοντας τον πρόεδρο του ΕΛΚ, Μάνφρεντ Βέμπερ, να δηλώσει στο Politico ότι «υπνοβατούμε προς μια νέα προσφυγική κρίση».

Απέναντι σε αυτή την εικόνα και με δεδομένη την αποτυχία των «27» να καταλήξουν σε κοινή πολιτική, η επιλογή την οποία έχουν κάνει αρκετοί εταίροι μοιάζει, συνειδητά ή ασυνείδητα, να οδηγεί τη Γηραιά Ηπειρο τρεις και πλέον δεκαετίες πίσω: Σχεδόν 34 χρόνια μετά την πτώση του Τείχους του Βερολίνου και την τελευταία οκταετία, έχουν κατασκευαστεί τείχη μήκους περίπου 1.700 χιλιομέτρων στα εξωτερικά σύνορα της ΕΕ. Κι αυτό, όπως αναφέρει η «El Pais», «όχι για να προστατευτούν από τανκς και στρατιώτες, αλλά από μετανάστες και πρόσφυγες».

«Το παλιό φάντασμα των τειχών ρίχνει πάλι τη σκιά του πάνω από την Ευρώπη» σημειώνει η ισπανική εφημερίδα. Κάπως έτσι, η δημιουργία μιας «Ευρώπης-φρουρίου» τείνει να γίνει πραγματικότητα. Κι αυτό παρά το γεγονός ότι πολλοί έχουν αμφισβητήσει τη συγκεκριμένη λύση, τόσο από πρακτικής όσο και από ηθικής σκοπιάς – ανάμεσά τους και ο Κλάους Ντοντς, συγγραφέας του βιβλίου «Οι Πόλεμοι των Συνόρων: Οι συγκρούσεις που θα διαμορφώσουν το μέλλον μας», ο οποίος δήλωσε στην «El Pais» ότι «φράχτες και τείχη σπανίως αποδίδουν τόσο καλά».

Το ζήτημα, όπως ήταν αναμενόμενο, κυριάρχησε και στο ειδικό Ευρωπαϊκό Συμβούλιο που πραγματοποιήθηκε στις 9 Φεβρουαρίου. Τόσο πολιτικά όσο και οικονομικά, καθώς τίθεται, όπως πάντα, το μείζον ζήτημα του «ποιος θα πληρώσει». Υπενθυμίζεται, άλλωστε, ότι πριν από την έναρξη του Συμβουλίου 8 κράτη-μέλη (Αυστρία, Δανία, Σλοβακία, Εσθονία, Λετονία, Λιθουανία, Μάλτα και Ελλάδα) κατέθεσαν επιστολή με την οποία ζητούσαν όχι απλώς την ενίσχυση των συνόρων με συγκεκριμένα μέτρα, αλλά και τη χρηματοδότηση από την ΕΕ της κατασκευής των τειχών, μέσω του κονδυλίου των 6,7 τρισ. ευρώ που έχει ενταχθεί στον τρέχοντα επταετή προϋπολογισμό (ως το 2027) για τη διαχείριση των συνόρων.

Στο πλευρό τους δε φάνηκε πως είχαν και άλλες κυβερνήσεις, όπως της Τσεχίας, της Ουγγαρίας, της Βουλγαρίας, της Κύπρου, αλλά και της Ιταλίας, αποτυπώνοντας στην πράξη ένα εξαιρετικά ισχυρό μπλοκ, το οποίο άλλωστε είχε αρχίσει να συγκροτείται πολύ νωρίτερα, όπως αποδεικνύει και ανάλογη επιστολή που είχε σταλεί τον Οκτώβριο του 2021.

Η «ολιστική» προσέγγιση

Από την άλλη, η πρόεδρος της Κομισιόν και το «δίδυμο» Γερμανίας και Γαλλίας, μαζί φυσικά με αρκετές ακόμη χώρες, όπως η Ολλανδία, τάχθηκαν υπέρ μιας πιο ισορροπημένης και ρεαλιστικής προσέγγισης. Πρότειναν μια «ολιστική προσέγγιση», που θα περιλαμβάνει και την ενίσχυση των μέτρων επιτήρησης και προστασίας και την προσπάθεια σύναψης με τρίτες χώρες συμφωνιών ανάλογων εκείνης του 2016 με την Τουρκία.

Τελικώς, ύστερα από πολύωρη μάχη, στο τελικό ανακοινωθέν έδειξε να επικρατεί, στα σημεία έστω, η γραμμή των «σκληρών»: οι ηγέτες των «27», χωρίς να κάνουν λόγο για τείχη και φράχτες, έδωσαν εντολή στην Κομισιόν να «διαθέσει άμεσα σημαντικά κονδύλια και μέσα της ΕΕ (…) για την ενίσχυση των δυνατοτήτων και υποδομών προστασίας των συνόρων».

Ετσι, μετά τη λήξη της συνόδου, ο αυστριακός καγκελάριος, Καρλ Νεχάμερ, ισχυρίστηκε ότι κάθε χώρα θα μπορεί πλέον να διαθέτει τα ευρωπαϊκά κονδύλια για επιτήρηση και εξοπλισμό και τα εθνικά για να κατασκευάζει τείχη.

Οσο δεν υπάρχει ένα Ευρωπαϊκό Σύμφωνο για τη Μετανάστευση, ίσως ορισμένοι αισθάνονται πιο ασφαλείς πίσω από οχυρώσεις.

Έντυπη έκδοση «ΤΑ ΝΕΑ»

24/2/2023

https://www.in.gr/2023/02/24/world/xtizoun-teixi-gia-mia-eyropi-frourio/ 

[EN] GREECE BORDER ABUSES HIGHLIGHT EUROPE'S CLASHING PRIORITIES ON MIGRATION

The top rights officer at Europe’s border agency said in 

a confidential report that it should stop working with Greece 

because border guards there were mistreating asylum seekers.

Border guards with the Greek police patrol a barrier between Greece and Turkey in October. Greece has been criticized for forcing people back into Turkey without processing their asylum requests.Credit...Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press

By Monika Pronczuk and Matina Stevis-Gridneff

Monika Pronczuk and Matina Stevis-Gridneff reported from Brussels. Between them they have written about migration from most European frontiers over the past decade.

The human rights chief of the European Union border agency said last year that it should stop operating in Greece because of serial abuses by Greek border guards, including violently pushing asylum seekers back to Turkey and separating migrant children from their parents, according to confidential documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The E.U. agency, Frontex, deploys border guards from around Europe to help the Greek authorities with border operations, and provides equipment such as helicopters, boats and drones paid for by European taxpayers.

Instead of following the recommendation, taking legal action against Greece or investigating the findings, the E.U. set up an obscure “working group.” In a follow-up finding submitted last month, the rights chief said that there had been “no change in the reported practice.”

The reticence to act highlights a major tension in Europe’s migration policy: how to keep the number of migrants low while adhering to European laws.

The bloc’s rules protect the right of people to be given a chance to apply for asylum, and oblige E.U. nations to uphold that right.

But the arrival of more than one million refugees, mostly from Syria in 2015-2016, recast politics across Europe, pushing even traditionally progressive E.U. countries to the right and fueling the rise of identity politics.

After several years with fewer migrant arrivals in the E.U., angst over migration is now back.

Members of the European border agency Frontex outside a migrant camp on the Greek island of Kos in 2021. Frontex deploys border guards from around Europe to help Greece with border operations.Credit...Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Almost five million people, a record number, sought protection in the bloc last year. The vast majority, some four million, were Ukrainians who came through legal routes and were immediately granted the right to stay and work.

The remaining approximately 800,000 asylum seekers, mainly from Syria and Afghanistan, arrived in the bloc via unofficial routes, including the Greek-Turkish border.

In this political environment, the drive to keep down the number of arrivals has intensified, often trumping commitments to legal and human-rights protections, and becoming a priority over and above putting in place a shared, functioning policy.

“Among member states, there is currently no other consensus than on border control,” said Camino Mortera-Martínez, the head of the Brussels office of the Center for European Reform. “The debate on common asylum policy is going nowhere, so countries on external borders are left to their own devices.”

The case of Greece is emblematic of these complex dynamics.

For years, Greece, one of Europe’s biggest gateways for migrants arriving through Turkey, has been criticized by human rights organizations for forcibly sending people back to Turkey without processing their asylum requests.

But the E.U. needs Greece to keep its border tight; most migrants and asylum seekers who arrive in Greece go on to settle elsewhere in the bloc, in places like Germany, where there are more jobs and established migrant communities.

“The E.U. as an organization, and Greece as a frontline state, have a legal obligation to protect the external borders of the Schengen area,” said Ms. Mortera-Martínez, referring to Europe’s internal borderless region. “Because once someone comes in, they can freely move around.”

A dinghy with Afghan refugees approaches the Greek island of Lesbos in 2020, followed by a border patrol boat from Britain operating as part of Frontex.Credit...Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The role of Frontex is to help countries like Greece guard the borders but also to create a European standard for how to do so humanely and in accordance with E.U. law. But the agency, which has grown over the past decade to become the E.U.’s best-funded, has been accused of overlooking, covering up and even carrying out human rights violations.

Last year, its executive director stepped down after accusations of harassment, mismanagement and rights abuses. New leadership vowed changes, including strengthening the role of the rights chief.

The Greek files illustrate how, even in this bolstered role, the fundamental rights officer remains marginal when political decisions are at stake, such as suspending Frontex’s work in Greece.

The human rights officer, Jonas Grimheden, issues confidential quarterly reports on conditions and abuses at E.U. borders, including countries such as Poland and Italy, as well as Greece.

In the reports for the last two quarters, which were seen by The Times, the Greek segment is the longest and most dramatic.

The officer wrote that he had gathered continued “credible reports” of the Greek authorities systematically expelling migrants at both sea and land borders, denying them access to protection, separating children from their parents and treating migrants in a “degrading” way.

The severity of these claims prompted the officer to recommend suspending the operation, after he issued three escalating “opinions,” documenting his findings in detail, over the course of 2022, the documents said.

The documentation of illegal practices in Greece by Frontex’s human rights chief is significant, experts said, because it comes from the agency itself, rather than outside sources like the news media or nongovernmental organizations.

“By staying in an operation where there are rights violations, Frontex is in breach of the rule of law,” said Luisa Marin, a legal fellow at the Florence-based European University Institute and University of Insubria. Dr. Marin said there had been a “systematic disregard” of internal rules by Frontex’s management.

The officer’s recommendations are nonbinding, Frontex said in written comments to The Times. It said that it was addressing concerns together with the Greek authorities, and that the human rights officer had reported “progress” late last month.

Frontex border guards in Kastanies, Greece, detain migrants from Afghanistan and Eritrea who entered from Turkey in 2020. The human rights chief at Frontex said he had gathered “credible reports” of abuse of migrants.Credit...Byron Smith/Getty Images

“As a conclusion, currently, we don’t see a reason to pull out from one of the most challenging border areas of the whole E.U.,” Frontex said in a statement.

Mr. Grimheden said in an interview that he had drafted “opinions escalating the concerns I have seen in Greece, and reported on that to the Management Board throughout 2022 but also earlier and this year.” He added that he saw “some positive procedural steps being taken by Greece, which now have to lead to concrete results on the ground.”

European Commission said it reserved its right to launch a process, known as an infringement procedure, that could lead to taking Greece to court. Frontex has only once suspended operations over human rights abuses, in Hungary in 2021, after this procedure led to a successful court case against the country.

The Greek government said that it respected European and international law and that the allegations were being investigated. It also said that it had appointed its own human rights officer and had a broader plan, developed with the Commission, to tackle problems.

“Protecting Europe from irregular arrivals is a priority for the European Council,” the Greek government said, referring to an E.U. leaders meeting in Brussels last week.

A statement after the meeting on Friday made no mention of human rights or European asylum law, but the leaders demanded more money from the bloc’s budget to build fences to keep out would-be migrants and asylum seekers.

“I am glad we agreed on operational and concrete steps forward,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the Commission, told the news media after the summit. “We will act to strengthen our external borders and prevent irregular migration.”

Spanish aid workers throw life jackets to migrants on an overcrowded rubber dinghy 100 miles from the Libyan coast last year. Credit...Pau De La Calle/Associated Press

14/2/2023

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/14/world/europe/eu-greece-border-abuses.html

[EN] GREEK-TURKISH BORDER: RECORDER OF THE DEAD FROM EVROS

GLOBE WORLD NEWS ECHO

David Sadler

Not only on the Mediterranean, but also on the Evros border river, people are dying trying to escape to the EU. Undocumented dead end up with coroner Pavlidis. He determines the identities – and restores some dignity to the deceased.

By Rüdiger Kronthaler, ARD Studio Rome

Pavlos Pavlidis enters the autopsy room in the University Hospital in Alexandroupoli. On behalf of the public prosecutor’s office, he has to autopsy a find. He is the forensic doctor on the Evros, the border river between Greece and Turkey, the EU’s external border.

Rudiger Kronthaler
ARD studio Rome

Pavlidis examined 63 dead refugees in 2022, more than ever before in one year. “The first thing I do is take photos,” says Pavlidis. Even if the river is not particularly wide, the leading cause of death is drowning. “Many refugees often cannot swim well and the tugboats overload the boats, which capsize easily,” explains the doctor.

Pavlidis: on the Greek side 600 dead in 22 years

Many dead are also found on land in the forests near the border. Pavlidis found hypothermia and diseases caused by exhaustion to be the most common causes of death among them.

“In the last 22 years I’ve seen around 600 dead – only on the Greek side,” says the medical examiner. “Theoretically and hypothetically, we can say that there are just as many dead on the Turkish side. So we’re talking about 1,200 to 1,500 people.”

The Greeks call the border river Evros, in Turkish it is called Meriç

“There’s a life in every bag”

Since most of the refugees found have no papers with them, Pavlidis also has to clarify their identity. To do this, he measures the size of the bones during the autopsy, takes a DNA sample and looks for special features.

He also collects the personal belongings of the dead. Under his desk are two large boxes with numbered bags containing watches, jewelry and prayer beads. They belong to dead people whose identity is still unclear, says Pavlidis. “There is a life in each of these bags. The question mark remains as far as their data is concerned. We have not managed to return these dead to their relatives.”

38 km long fence system

The border on the Evros is strictly shielded and has been fortified with a massive 38-kilometer fence since 2020. Nevertheless, according to the UNHCR, more than one in three refugees came to Greece overland last year, a total of 6,000 people.

Does the expansion of the border only shift the routes of the refugees instead of stopping them and thus makes the escape more dangerous? Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi says no and urges the fence to be expanded with European support. “We need the fence,” emphasizes the minister. “It is part of the strategy of protecting the external border.” At the same time, negotiations are to be held with Turkey on better retention of refugees.

“If they are children, then it is more depressing for me”

Forensic pathologist Pavlidis has meanwhile analyzed the find. “My first impression is it’s a young man, about 20 years old,” he says. “We don’t have a skull, just some bones. We don’t know the cause of death.”

Pavlidis – the recorder of the Evros dead – stores the dead man’s DNA in a database so that the police can compare it with open search queries. “There shouldn’t be any particularly hard cases for me,” explains the doctor. “But when it’s children, it’s more depressing for me.”

Nameless dead at EU external border

Rüdiger Kronthaler, ARD Rome, 02/08/2023 08:07 a.m

8/2/2023

https://globeecho.com/news/europe/germany/greek-turkish-border-recorder-of-the-dead-from-evros/

[EN] GREECE: CONFLICTING MESSAGING BY GOVERNMENT AS EVROS BORDER IS FURTHER FORTIFIED AND PUSHBACKS CONTINUE, SYRIAN REFUGEES INCREASINGLY UNSAFE IN TURKIYE DEEMED SAFE BY GREECE

Greek ministers are at one and the same time boasting over “dramatic” reduction of arrivals and urging assistance and solidarity from EU as member states of first reception cannot be left alone with “burden”. The fortification of the Evros region continues amid more reports of pushbacks. Syrian refugees facing an increasingly hostile environment and potential deportation in Turkiye – deemed safe third country by Greece.

The messaging from the Greek government on arrivals seems somewhat incoherent. According to Minister of Migration and Asylum, Notis Mitarachi the number of migrants arriving has dropped “dramatically” over the past two years and the number of asylum seekers residing in the country has also fallen. “After the explosion in the period 2015-2019, in 2021 we had the lowest flows of the decade, 8,745, and steadily low in 2022 too”. “The result is that instead of 92,000 asylum seekers living in 121 facilities, we have today 14,000 in 33 facilities,” the minister said, noting that in 2015 arrivals in Greece accounted for 75 per cent of the total number of irregular arrivals in the European Union, while in 2022 that figure stood at just per cent. Nonetheless Greek Minister for Civil Protection, Takis Theodorikakos urged EU support to control the number of people arriving in Greece. Speaking before ambassadors from other EU member states and Switzerland and the UK, Theodorikakos stated: “The task (of protecting the border) needs the support … of European public opinion, the European Union itself and its constituent members individually”. The minister further pointed out: “It is our steadfast position that member states of first reception cannot be (the migrants’) only European destinations. There must be solidarity among member-states and a fair sharing of duties…close coordination is a must”.

Regardless of the different interpretations of the reality, the Greek response to the alleged threat at the Evros border with Türkiye is rather concrete and manifest. The steel wall on the Evros, currently extending more than 27 kilometers, is being expanded adding a 35-kilometer stretch with the aim to cover most of the 192-kilometer border with Türkiye. Greece recently announced the deployment of 400 Frontex officers in Evros in 2023 adding to the 1,800 border guards already serving in the region. “Without the presence of these modern European border guards -who operate effectively as a deterrent – millions of migrants waiting to enter Europe would have moved to the border,” said Theodorikakos. Most notably the minister confirmed that Greek authorities have “prevented” 260,000 “illegal” migrants from entering the country and that Greek border guards prevent 300-400 people from entering on a daily basis. The minister, representing a government widely denounced for denying and deflecting mounting reports of systematic pushbacks, did not offer any details on how this “prevention” was conducted.

However, despite the ongoing crackdown on NGOs and independent media and limitations on access to monitor violations, reports of pushbacks continue to emerge. According to Aegean Boat Report: “Only 18 per cent of people who started their trip towards the Greek Aegean islands in 2022 managed to arrive and were given the opportunity to apply for asylum”. The organisation notes: “This means 82 per cent ended up back in Turkey, due to pushbacks (41 per cent), engine problems, or being stopped by the Turkish coast guard (TCG) (41 per cent). Out of a total of 21,152 people who actually managed to arrive on the Greek islands: “9.656 (46 per cent) were forcibly removed by Greek authorities and left helplessly drifting in 575 life rafts in the Aegean Sea”. The fear of pushbacks for people arriving via the Aegean Sea is well-founded as a recent forensic reconstruction released by Legal Centre Lesvos, illustrates. The video documentation of an incident during a storm off Crete in October 2020 demonstrates how the Hellenic Coast Guard, instead of rescuing the approximately 200 people who were in distress at sea: “violently attacked, detained, and ultimately abandoned them at sea in a massive coordinated and illegal pushback operation”. According to the organisation that filed a case against Greece before ECtHR on behalf of 11 Syrian survivors “to date, the Greek authorities have denied that the pushback took place”.  The danger of the route was further illustrated when the body of an unknown person was recovered in late January on the coast of Kythira. The deceased is believed to be a victim of a shipwreck on 5 October last year leaving 11 people missing.

Based on information from the Greek government, data from UNHCR and updates from the Aegean Boat Report, Koraki estimates “that around 70,000 people arrived in Greece in 2022, yet just 16,683 were registered as new arrivals”. Koraki notes that because of the lack of reliable figures: “we cannot be clear how many people have actually entered Greece ‘by land’ (across the Evros river, in fact), only to be pushed back”. However, systematic pushbacks and non-response to distress alerts in the Evros region,despite interventions by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), continue, including recent examples documented by the NGO hotline Alarm Phone, journalists and media. On 24 January, the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), which is the National Institution for Human Rights in Greece and the independent advisory body of the State on issues of promotion and protection of human rights presented the Mechanism for Recording Incidents of Informal Forced Returns and its first Interim Report. Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) welcomed the initiative, stating: “It is an important day regarding the systematic recording of illegal informal forced returns from Greece to third countries, at a time when the defenders of the rights of refugees are receiving repeated blows”. The organisation further called the at least 50 incidents of informal forced returns documented in the interim report “shocking”. According to researcher, Eva K: “24 out of 50 incidents concerned Evros. She noted: “Don’t know to what extent this can be seen as representative, but if so …most incidents happen at the border most difficult to monitor”.

As Greek authorities announced on 1 December 2020, Turkiye remains on the list of “safe” third countries for applicants of international protection from main countries of origin including Syria. However, the situation for Syrian refugees in Turkiye has dramatically worsened over the past months due to the risk of deportation, as well as arrest, detention and ill-treatment by authorities, and a raise in hate crimes. According to Al Monitor: “Turkey’s bid to reconcile with the Syrian government has left many Syrian refugees in the country on tenterhooks as Ankara faces pressure to cut a deal with Damascus on the return of the Syrians amid rising anti-refugee sentiment in a critical election year”. Media reports how the Turkish far-right sells bus tickets’ to deport Syrian refugees in a new campaign with the Victory Party promising “donations will be spent on deporting Syrians, asking for names of people its supporters want out of the country”. Carnegie Middle East Center describes a “refugee fatigue” in the country, stating: “Most political parties—in the governing coalition and opposition alike—want to send refugees back to Syria, where there is no internationally-approved agreement toward ending the civil war. Nor has there been normalization between Syria and Turkey. This represents a toxic political cocktail for the refugees”. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there were 3,535,898 registered Syrian refugees in Turkey as of December 31, 2022.

For further information:

• ECRE, Greece: Increase of Pushbacks with Impunity Amid Ongoing Crackdown on Solidarity, Türkiye Considered “Safe” by Greek Authorities Sets New Record of Deportations, Thousands of Vulnerable Refugees Left Without Adequate Accommodation After Closing of ESTIA Programme, January 2023
• ECRE, Greece: Violations and Deflection Continue as Does EU Support and Will-full ‘Ignorance’, EUAA Joins Frontex on Controversy List, Unsafe Türkiye Remains ‘Safe’ Third Country, December 2022

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This article appeared in the ECRE Weekly Bulletin. You can subscribe to the Weekly Bulletin here.

27/1/2023

https://ecre.org/greece-conflicting-messaging-by-government-as-evros-border-is-further-fortified-and-pushbacks-continue-syrian-refugees-increasingly-unsafe-in-turkiye-deemed-safe-by-greece/