On 19 January 2024, the interactive platform on refugee refoulement in the Aegean Sea, curated by the research centre Forensic Architecture, based at Goldsmiths, University of London, and its sister organisation Forensis, based in Berlin, was updated. According to the findings of the platform, which were presented in Greece by Solomon’s journalistic team, for the period from March 2020 to March 2023, a total of 2,010 refoulement incidents have been recorded in the Aegean Sea, with a total of 55,445 victims.
Of these incidents, 700 push-backs appear to have taken place on the island of Lesvos, 238 on Chios, 424 on Samos, 283 on Kos and 212 on Rhodes, Solomon said in its publication.
Furthermore, the data and evidence from the investigation shows that in at least 26 cases the refugees’ boats appear to be deep in Greek waters – off Kalamata, Kythera, or even the Ionian Sea – when they are detected by the Greek Coast Guard. Their occupants are identified when they are picked up by the Turkish Coast Guard, hundreds of kilometres away, in the following days. Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, are recorded as being directly involved in 122 refoulements and aware of 417 more.
These accusations should be investigated by the Greek authorities as they raise the issue of a violation of international law, as the refoulement of refugees is prohibited by Article 33 of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, also known as the Geneva Convention.
On 21 February 2022, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) made a public statement expressing deep concern about the “increasing number of incidents of violence and serious human rights violations against refugees and migrants at various European borders, several of which have resulted in tragic loss of life.”
The statement made specific reference to Greece as 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.”
The interactive platform was first published featuring data from the period March 2020 to March 2022, where the Greek authorities carried out 1,018 refoulements with at least 27,464 asylum seekers as victims.
Under the rule of law, the unlawful refoulement of refugees and migrants is not permitted. Therefore, in the context of international law, Greece must ensure effective international protection procedures that protect applicants from war, illiberal and undemocratic regimes and other risks in their countries of origin.
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 Convention, while “States must honour their commitments and respect fundamental human rights, such as the right to life and the right to asylum”.
However, in this case, the Forensic Architecture research centre and the Forensis research group present new data relating to 2,010 incidents of refoulement in the Aegean Sea, with a total of 55,445 victims, in the period from March 2020 to March 2023, which violate national and European legislation, as well as international law, on the protection of refugees.
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