Brussels, 29/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - In a report published on Tuesday 29 April, Amnesty International calls on the European Union to start legal proceedings against the Greek authorities, which it accuses of a routine and widespread practice of summarily pushing back refugees and migrants to Turkey.
These acts “amount to the unlawful deportation of a group of people without consideration of individual circumstances and denying the possibility to request asylum. Push-backs are explicitly prohibited under Greek, EU and international law”, the international organisation's report states.
Greece is one of the main gateways to the European Union for illegal immigration. The islands of the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey became the favoured route of the people traffickers in 2013, following the construction of a fence and the reinforcement of controls along the land border to the north-east of the country. Between September 2012 and April 2014, the NGO Amnesty International spoke to 148 migrants and refugees trying to reach Greek territory. “The treatment of refugees and migrants at Greece's borders is deplorable. Too often, instead of finding sanctuary, they are met with violence and intimidation. There are cases where they have been stripped naked, had their possessions stolen, and even been held at gunpoint”, John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director, states in the report.
Farmakonisi
In January of this year, 12 Afghans and Syrians, mainly women and children, died off the coast of the small island of Farmakonisi (south-east Aegean) when their boat sank with 28 people on board whilst Greek coastguards were towing it at high speed. Publication of a report on the case was prohibited by the judiciary in February, as it was an ongoing case. “In the Aegean Sea alone, at least 188 people, including children and babies, drowned or went missing between August 2012 and March 2014”, the NGO notes. The organisation laments the fact that the EU attaches greater importance to closing its borders than to welcoming migrants. According to the report, between 2011 and 2013, the European Commission granted Greece around €227 million to prevent refugees and migrants from entering its territory, and just €20 million to help the country host them. Entitled “Greece: Frontier of hope and fear”, the report by the international organisation speaks out against the treatment persistently meted out by the Greek authorities to “people risking their lives to find refuge in Europe”. (LC)