On 17 June 2024, the BBC published a report entitled, “Greek coastguard threw migrants overboard to their deaths, witnesses say”. The prestigious British international media outlet noted that the victims included nine people “deliberately thrown into the sea”. However, this is only a subset of the victims, as these nine are among more than 40 people who have allegedly died as a result of being forcibly ejected from Greek territorial waters or returned to the sea after arriving on Greek islands.
The BBC report explains that its team analysed 15 incidents, which took place between May 2020 and May 2023, from which it appears that at least 43 people were killed while trying to seek asylum on their arrival in Greece.
In five of the incidents examined by the BBC, migrants said they were thrown overboard by the Greek authorities. In four incidents, migrants described how they managed to reach Greek islands, but were then chased by the Greek authorities. In some of the cases examined, migrants reported that they were forced to board boats without engines, which later either deflated or appeared to have been punctured.
In one such incident the BBC documented the case of a Cameroonian who was hunted by the Greek authorities upon his arrival in Samos, despite the fact that he had arrived to seek international protection by filing an asylum application.
The Cameroonian in question was on the East Aegean island with two other people, another Cameroonian and a man from Ivory Coast, when police officers wearing black, civilian clothes and masks spotted them and transferred them to a Greek Coast Guard boat. He then reported that, “They started with the [other] Cameroonian. They threw him in the water. The Ivorian man said: ‘Save me, I don’t want to die’… and then eventually only his hand was above water, and his body was below. Slowly his hand slipped under, and the water engulfed him.”
The man from Cameroon says his abductors beat him, “Punches were raining down on my head. It was like they were punching an animal.” And then he says they pushed him, too, into the water – without a life jacket. He was able to swim to shore, but the bodies of the other two – Sidy Keita and Didier Martial Kouamou Nana – were recovered on the Turkish coastline.
The survivor’s lawyers are demanding the Greek authorities open a double murder case.
Another man, from Somalia, told the BBC how in March 2021 he had been caught by the Greek army on arrival on the island of Chios, who then handed him to the Greek coastguard.
He said the coastguard had tied his hands behind his back, before dropping him into the water. “They threw me zip-tied in the middle of the sea. They wanted me to die,” he said.
He said he managed to survive by floating on his back, before one of his hands broke free from the ligature. But the sea was choppy, and three in his group died. Our interviewee made it to land where he was eventually spotted by the Turkish coastguard.
In the incident with the highest death toll in September 2022, the engine of a dinghy carrying 85 migrants stopped working while off the coast of Rhodes.
Mohamed, from Syria, told the BBC they called the Greek coastguard for help. They returned them to Turkish territorial waters and put them in lifeboats. “We immediately began to sink, they saw that… They heard us all screaming, and yet they still left us,” he told the BBC. “The first child who died was my cousin’s son… After that it was one by one. Another child, another child, then my cousin himself disappeared. By the morning seven or eight children had died. “My kids didn’t die until the morning… right before the Turkish coastguard arrived.”
Greece’s Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy told the BBC the footage is currently being investigated by the country’s independent National Transparency Authority.
An investigative journalist based on the island of Samos told the BBC that she began chatting with a member of the Greek special forces via the dating app Tinder.
When he rang her from what he described as a “warship”, Romy van Baarsen asked him more about his work – and what happened when his forces spotted a refugee boat.
He replied that they “drive them back”, and said such orders were “from the minister”, adding they would be punished if they failed to stop a boat.
Greece has always denied so-called “pushbacks” are taking place, but these allegations raise the issue of a violation by the Greek authorities of the national, EU and international framework for the protection of the right to asylum as a fundamental right of refugees in the territory of EU Member States, including Greece.
According to the European Commission, “The European Union is an area of protection for people fleeing persecution or serious harm in their country of origin. Asylum is a fundamental right and an international obligation for countries, as recognised in the 1951 Geneva Convention on the protection of refugees.”
The core principle of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees is non-refoulement, which asserts that a refugee should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom. The document also outlines the basic minimum standards for the treatment of refugees, including the right to housing, work and education while displaced so they can lead a dignified and independent life. It also defines a refugee’s obligations to host countries and specifies certain categories of people, such as war criminals, who do not qualify for refugee status.
The Greek Authorities also have specific search and rescue obligations under international and national law, as provided for by international conventions, on the one hand for communication and coordination measures to be adopted in cases of danger to life in the maritime area under their jurisdiction, and on the other hand for rescue measures for those in danger in their coastal areas. In particular, as noted in the Guide of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the UNHCR and the International Chamber of Shipping, the following conventions impose specific obligations on Greece for the search and rescue of persons in distress, including refugees and migrants:
1. The 1982 UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA (UNCLOS) provides that states, ‘… promote the establishment, operation and maintenance of an adequate and effective search and rescue service regarding safety on and over the sea and, where circumstances so require, by way of mutual regional arrangements co-operate with neighbouring States for this purpose’ (Article 98(2)).
2. 1974 INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE SAFETY OF LIFE AT SEA (SOLAS CONVENTION) obliges states to: ‘…ensure that necessary arrangements are made for distress communication and co-ordination in their area of responsibility and for the rescue of persons in distress at sea around its coasts. These arrangements shall include the establishment, operation and maintenance of such search and rescue facilities as are deemed practicable and necessary …’ (SOLAS regulation V/7)
3. 1979 INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON MARITIME SEARCH AND RESCUE (SAR CONVENTION) obliges states to:‘… ensure that assistance [is] provided to any person in distress at sea … regardless of the nationality or status of such a person or the circumstances in which that person is found’ (Chapter 2.1.10) and to ‘… provide for their initial medical or other needs, and deliver them to a place of safety’ (Chapter 1.3.2).
We also recall that on 21 February 2022, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) made a public statement expressing its deep concern about the increasing number of incidents of violence and serious human rights violations against refugees and migrants taking place at the borders of several European countries, several of which have led to tragic loss of life.
Referring specifically to Greece the UNHCR expressed its alarm at “recurrent and consistent reports coming from Greece’s land and sea borders with Turkey, where UNHCR has recorded almost 540 reported incidents of informal returns by Greece since the beginning of 2020. At sea, people report being left adrift in life rafts or sometimes even forced directly into the water, showing a callous lack of regard for human life. At least three people are reported to have died in such incidents since September 2021 in the Aegean Sea, including one in January. Equally horrific practices are frequently reported at land borders, with consistent testimonies of people being stripped and brutally pushed back in harsh weather conditions.”
Under the rule of law, the authorities must apply international law for the search and rescue of persons in distress at sea, as well as for the international protection of refugees from war, illiberal and anti-democratic regimes and other dangers in their countries of origin, by refraining from illegal acts of expulsion or the refoulement of asylum seekers.
As the UNHCR has noted, European law requires that border surveillance measures must be implemented in full compliance with human rights and refugee law, including the 1951 Geneva Convention, whereby states must honour their commitments and respect fundamental human rights, such as the right to life and the right to asylum.
However, the case at hand levels significant allegations and raises serious questions as to whether the Greek authorities have applied the international, EU and national framework of obligations for the international protection of refugees and asylum seekers who have arrived in Greece to seek asylum.
Bank Account number: 1100 0232 0016 560
IBAN: GR56 0140 1100 1100 0232 0016 560
BIC: CRBAGRAA
In a time where the very foundations of democracy are gradually being eroded by the rise of extreme nationalism, alt-right movements, the spread of disinformation and corporate capture, the efforts of organisations such as Vouliwatch are more relevant than ever.
We rely on the generosity of each and every one of you to continue with our efforts for more transparency and accounta
By financially supporting Vouliwatch you support our litigation strategy, our campaigns for transparency and accountability in the political system, the development of new civic tech tools, our research projects and last but not least our impartial and accurate
