On 26 November 2024, the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) published a report entitled “At Europe’s Borders: Pushbacks Continue as Impunity Persists”. Within, the GCR provides detailed information regarding 12 new cases of refoulement committed in the Evros region during 2023. More specifically, these pushbacks concerned the cases of:
The GCR notes that, “New testimonies from pushback victims offer a disturbing insight into the organized and systematic nature of these illegal practices of the Greek authorities – in consistency with the latest numerous credible reports from UN, European and national human rights bodies, institutions and organizations, documenting the same modus operandi. The above contradicts the ‘lack of evidence’ narrative that is still perpetuated by EU and Greek authorities.” They add that numerous Greek authorities are involved in carrying out the pushbacks, usually uniformed and armed personnel whom informally arrest asylum seekers. Individuals – with or without covered faces – dressed in military uniforms or civilian/black clothing and carrying weapons, are usually involved in the various violent stages of the return operation: “Pushbacks involve degradation, inhumane and humiliating treatment, physical and mental abuse, as well as gender-based violence against victims – from strip searching to invasive genital search and forced nudity. Moreover, pushbacks involve violent acts against children.”
Since these findings raise the issue of a systematic violation of international law, they should be investigated by the Greek authorities. The refoulement of refugees is prohibited by Article 33 of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, known as the Geneva Convention.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2022 issued a public statement expressing its deep concern at 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.”
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.”
Other reports by recognised organisations and agencies also refer to systematic refoulement and violations of international law by the Greek authorities. Indicatively, in January 2024 the PRAB network published a report referring to 50 cases of refoulement and informal returns of at least 2,157 refugees and returnees from Greece, while a report by the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) has also referred to three cases of mass refoulement in violation of international law.
Under the rule of law, the authorities must refrain from the unlawful refoulement of refugees and migrants from their territory. Under 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.
In this case, however, the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) provides detailed information regarding 12 new incidents of refoulement committed in the Evros region during 2023, which should be investigated by the national authorities, as they raise the issue of systematic violations of international law, in particular Article 33 of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, which prohibits refoulement.
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