Access to the territory and push backs

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Greek Council for Refugees Visit Website

Number of arrivals in Greece and statistics

A total of 48,721 refugees and migrants arrived in Greece during 2023, as reported by UNHCR,[1] marking a 159.43% increase compared to 2022 (18,780). Of this total, 41,561 persons arrived in Greece by sea in 2023 compared to 12,758 persons in 2022. The majority originated from Syria (31,3%) Afghanistan (20%), State of Palestine (16,3%) and Somalia (6,5%). Nearly half of this population were women (28%) and children (28 %), while 54% were adult men.[2] The number of sea arrivals in 2023 has increased by 226% compared to 2022, according to UNHCR.[3]

Moreover, according to UNHCR,[4] 7,160 persons arrived in Greece through the Greek-Turkish land border of Evros in 2023, compared to a total of 6,022 persons in 2022. According to police statistics provided to GCR on 18 January 2024,[5] 7,066 arrests for irregular entry at the Evros land borders were carried out throughout 2023, compared to 6,672 arrests in 2022.[6]

In parallel, the figures on the number of entries of each year, including 2023, may under-represent the number of people attempting to enter Greece or that found themselves on Greek territory, given that cases of alleged pushbacks have been reported as a systematic practice in recent years. The persisting practice of alleged pushbacks has been reported inter alia by UNHCR, IOM, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, the Council of Europe Commissioner and civil society organisations (see sources below).

Lastly, as reported by UNHCR,[7] 799 persons were reported as having gone dead or missing during the year. As per the same data, this is more than double than in 2022 (343). These numbers, proportionately to the number of arrivals, highlights an ongoing dark trend, observed since 2021, whereby more than 1 in a 100 persons trying to reach safety in Greece and the EU, end up going dead and missing.[8] The only other time in recent memory when such a shocking number of people were reported dead and missing during their effort to reach safety in the EU was in 2015 (799 dead and missing), during which UNHCR reported more than 860,000 arrivals. This macabre trend may also further indicate the increasingly dangerous journeys people seeking safety in Greece and the EU have to take, in the absence of safe and legal pathways and amidst systematically reported pushback practices.

The Pylos shipwreck

Most of the dead or missing persons of 2023, disappeared or died on the night of 13th to 14th of June 2023. That night, the overcrowded fishing vessel “Adriana”, carrying approximately 750 persons, capsized 47 nautical miles southwest of Pylos, Greece, in the Greek Search and Rescue (SAR) zone. The vessel left Libya and was en route to Italy. In one night only, approximately 650 persons went missing or died in one of the deadliest shipwrecks to ever occur in Greece and in the Mediterranean. Of those on board the “Adriana”, 104 survived, 9 of whom are currently in pre-trial detention with criminal charges of smuggling,[9] and 82 bodies were recovered.

On 13 September 2023, forty survivors of the deadly shipwreck in Pylos filed a criminal complaint against all responsible parties before the Naval Court of Piraeus.[10] The survivors submit that the Greek authorities failed to immediately intervene and to organise a timely and adequate rescue operation despite their duty to rescue the passengers on board under International Law of the Sea, Human Rights Law, EU and domestic Law.[11] This was especially due to the fact that they had been informed from the outset and subsequently ascertained at close distance the imminent threat to life facing passengers on board the manifestly unseaworthy and overcrowded trawler. The complainants allege that the Greek authorities not only refrained from taking the necessary rescue measures as soon as the vessel was sighted, but instead proceeded to an effort to tow the vessel that resulted in its capsizing and sinking. The Greek authorities’ delay in initiating a SAR operation, “until the moment of the shipwreck when it was no longer possible to rescue all the people on board”, as well as failure to deploy sufficient resources or make use of those available to them, was also noted in a leaked serious incident report drafted by the FRONTEX Fundamental Rights Officer.[12] The complainants demand an immediate, thorough and reliable investigation and the attribution of criminal responsibility for the acts and omissions of the Greek authorities.

A number of international organisations and institutions, including the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe[13] and the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament,[14] have urged Greece to carry out a full and effective investigation into the circumstances of the shipwreck. The deadliest shipwreck of the Mediterranean has sparked global interest,[15] a declared commitment of the Greek authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and the launch of a preliminary examination by the Naval Court of Piraeus.

On the 9 November 2023, the Greek Ombudsman announced with a press release[16] that he is opening an independent investigation into the Pylos shipwreck, a step that was welcomed by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.[17]

On 26 February 2024, the European Ombudsman released her conclusions on EU search and rescue as related to the Pylos shipwreck. In her report, the European Ombudsman inter alia underlines that there are growing concerns about persistent violations of fundamental rights in Greece’s border control operations, and that the investigation of the shipwreck and any assessment of the facts is severely compromised by the absence of video or other recording of the shipwreck and the following events, which raises again a pattern of inadequate handling and subsequent investigation of such incidents from the Greek authorities.[18] Concluding, the Ombudsman notes that “[t]he European Union projects its identity through the prism of its commitment to the rule of law and to fundamental rights. In the aftermath of the Adriana tragedy, it should take the opportunity to reinforce that identity through reflection and through actions that would, to the greatest extent possible, prevent such a tragedy from happening again”.[19]

Developments on investigating and reporting pushbacks

The Greek Government has remained opposed to the development of an independent border monitoring mechanism and has referred[20] to the National Transparency Authority (NTA) as the body responsible amongst others for the investigation of pushback allegations.[21] As of the date of this report, no effective investigation has been conducted on the repeated and consistent pushback allegations. The National Transparency Authority (NTA) has been criticised for lacking expertise to investigate pushbacks and for failing to act as an independent body, due to its failure to comply with the constitutional prerequisites for safeguarding the independence of such authorities.[22] In May 2022, NTA released its, one and only, investigation report[23] following the referral of a case by the Minister of Migration and Asylum in response to a publication by Lighthouse Report evidencing pushbacks of refugees and migrants by Greece.[24] The investigation was carried out from November 2021 to March 2022. This investigation did not involve any victim of pushbacks, representatives of UN agencies, or the Ombudsman or the Greek National Commission for Human Rights. In fact, only one lawyer and one NGO offering medical services were interviewed, out of a total of 65 persons interviewed, which included 29 Greek officials.[25] Both the content and process of publication of the report were marred by serious deficiencies, such as the investigation’s stated aims inter alia to ‘to reflect the view of local communities on how irregular migration is managed by the relevant national bodies’[26] and to record ‘the view of the local community on allegations of pushbacks’. Serious concerns were also voice about the NTA’s failure to correctly anonymise the data of the report.[27]

Moreover, on 31 July 2023, NTA published its annual report for 2022 which, as noted by the NTA, “provides objective and comprehensive information on all the activities of the Authority, which were carried out during 2022, as well as the actions included in its operational planning for the following year”. [28] In the Greek version of the same report, it is mentioned that NTA in 2022 received a total of 2,694 general complaints, 167 of which were forwarded to other audit services (mainly to the “AADE” and the Internal Affairs Service of the Security Services) due to lack of jurisdiction.[29] This annual report does not mention any activity related to investigation on a complaint concerning pushbacks nor of any public service/authority against which allegations of  being engaged in pushback operations has arisen in recent years.

Additionally, in July 2022 and following discussion between the EU Commission and the Greek Authorities on a ‘new proposal to mainstream fundamental rights’ within the Greek asylum system,[30]  a Fundamental Rights Officer (FRO)[31] and a Special Committee on Fundamental Rights Compliance (Task Force for Fundamental Rights Compliance) were appointed[32] within the Ministry of Migration and Asylum. The Ministry of Migration and Asylum publicly announced the first meeting of the Commission in August 2022, even though a Ministerial Decision, specifying the Committees responsibilities, pursuant to article 50 (3) L. 4960/2022? was only issued close to a year later, in June 2023.[33] No further information has been made available by the Ministry on the work of the Commission to date. Both the Ombudsman[34] and the National Commission for Human Rights (GNCHR)[35] have explicitly called upon the government to reconsider the above reform of a Commission underpinned by ‘majority participation of representatives of the Administration’,[36] as incompatible with their mandates and independence.

In September 2023, the Fundamental Rights Officer of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum activated an online complaint platform.[37] According to the platform’s instructions, the complaints must be submitted by name and in writing by the victim-third country national, in Greek or English and only about incidents that were not brought before judicial or prosecuting authorities. No possibility for a representative of the victim-third country national to submit a complaint on their behalf is provided.

Furthermore, in January 2023, the National Commission for Human Rights published its Interim Report on its Recording Mechanism of Informal Forced Returns, which had been launched in early 2022.[38] In the framework of this Mechanism, ten civil society organisations,[39] including GCR, recorded at least 50 incidents and 58 testimonies of informal forced returns which, according to testimonies of the alleged victims, occurred between April 2020 and October 2022. The total number of alleged victims in the report was approximately 2,157 third country nationals, including asylum seekers and recognised refugees in Greece. In December 2023, the “Recording Mechanism” published a follow-up report[40] to the Interim Report of the Recording Mechanism of January 2023. In the period between February 2022 and December 2022, the Recording Mechanism has recorded testimonies through personal interviews with 43 alleged victims about 50 incidents of illegal forced returns. The countries of origin of the alleged victims are listed among the countries whose nationals are granted international protection status in Greece and the EU at a significant rate (Syria, Palestine, Türkiye, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Cameroon, Mali and Democratic Republic of Congo). The majority of the alleged victims are unregistered asylum seekers who reported that their personal data have never been recorded by the Greek Authorities and that they were informally and forcibly returned to Türkiye. The report also flags the cases of 6 Turkish nationals unregistered asylum seekers with a political persecution in Türkiye, who were directly pushed back to their country of origin without any assessment of their international protection needs. According to the “National Mechanism”, “[t]hese incidents constitute a direct violation of the principle of non-refoulement, which is the cornerstone of international protection of asylum seekers and refugees”.[41] In the same report, and among the 43 alleged victims, 5 were already asylum seekers in Greece and 5 recognised refugees in Greece. The latter five alleged victims were deprived of their international protection status, already granted to them by the Greek State.

In 2023, the practice of refoulements continued to be used as a “front-line” tool of Greece’s migration policy, which has been quoted as a “de facto general policy” of “pushbacks at land and sea border” by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants in a 2022 report[42], to halt the flow of refugees and to deter others from attempting to irregularly cross the borders into the country. The practice is a permanent eventuality for people attempting to cross the borders according to testimonies, media coverage and reports. Serious incidents of alleged refoulements have been reported in which arbitrary removal of people residing on the mainland (mainly Thessaloniki) or on the islands were carried out.

In addition, the European Parliament delayed the approval of Frontex’s budget in 2021,[43] and rebuked the agency for failing to respond to its previous recommendations[44]. In a 2022 report, the European Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee found that Frontex ‘did not evaluate its activities in Greece, even though reports by institutions of Member States, the Council of Europe, and the United Nations show that the Agency was carrying out operations in sections where simultaneously, fundamental rights violations were taking place’.[45]

At the 20-21 June 2023 Warsaw-based Frontex’s Board Meeting, which took place soon after the tragic Shipwreck of Pylos,[46] Jonas Grimheden, the head of the Fundamental Rights Office, recommended the suspension of Frontex’s activities in Greece, based on Article 46 of the agency’s regulations, which applies to “violations of fundamental rights or international protection obligations that are of a serious nature or are likely to persist.” [47]

In a 23 August 2023 Press release, a group of experts of the U.N. Human Rights Council stated that: “We urge Greece to take steps to ensure a transparent and impartial investigation into allegations of violations of the principles of non-refoulement and non-discrimination and of the right to life involving Greek law enforcement personnel, including the Hellenic Coast Guard, and border violence.”[48]

Later on 1st December 2023, the Fundamental Rights Office of Frontex published a serious incident report about the Pylos shipwreck which, which concluded that “there was reasonable certainty that persons aboard Adriana were threatened by grave and imminent danger and required immediate assistance. …The Greek authorities appeared to have delayed the declaration of SAR operation until the moment of the shipwreck when it was no longer possible to rescue all the people on board, deployed insufficient and inappropriate resources considering the number of persons aboard Adriana, and failed to make use of the resources offered by Frontex.  Fundamental Rights Office regrets that it was not given relevant information by the Greek authorities in response to its enquiry but expects to receive the results of two ongoing national judicial proceedings, as well as the Greek Ombudsman enquiry”. [49]

Pushbacks at land borders

In relation to pushbacks at land borders,[50] the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants has noted that, in addition to ‘increased militarisation of the Evros land border … which has effectively resulted in preventing entry and in the summary and collective expulsion of tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers’, there have been allegations that ‘pushbacks are also reportedly carried out from urban areas, including reception and detention centres’.[51] In a report issued in April 2022, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants stated that ‘[i]n Greece, pushbacks at land and sea borders have become de facto general policy’.[52]

On 21 February 2022, UNHCR expressed its concerns regarding recurrent and consistent reports from Greece’s land and sea borders with Türkiye. At least three people are reported to have died since September 2021 in the Aegean Sea, including one in January 2022, while almost 540 reported incidents of informal returns by Greece have been recorded since the beginning of 2020.[53] The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has also been alarmed by increasing migrant deaths and continuous reports of pushbacks at the border between Greece and Türkiye.[54] Regarding pushbacks on land, in June 2022 a journalistic investigation[55] reported that the Greek police were using foreigners as “slaves” to forcibly return asylum seekers to Türkiye, and who were alleged to have been operating mostly, in the region of Evros.

In Greece, many legal practitioners, included GCR, have resorted to litigating cases directly before the ECtHR or UN Committees, due to the ineffective procedure in domestic courts. As per a BVMN report, the policy of pushbacks seems ‘to have contaminated the judiciary’.[56] The majority of investigations connected to pushbacks have been closed by public prosecutors invoking lack of evidence. Many of these cases have been referred to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) as domestic remedies were ineffective.[57]

Since March 2022, the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) has represented  588 Syrian, 67 Turkish, 37 Iraqi, 24 Palestinian and 15 Afghan refugees, including many children, before the European Court of Human Rights, in 43 applications for interim measures (Rule 39), requesting to be granted humanitarian assistance and access to the asylum procedure.[58] The Court granted the requested interim measures for all cases and ordered the Greek government not to remove the refugees from the country’s territory and, in the majority of the cases, to provide them with food, water and proper medical care. The ECtHR also requested to be informed by the Greek government, amongst others, on whether the refugees have submitted an asylum application and whether they have access to the asylum procedure and to legal assistance. Some of the refugees of these 43 groups/cases have been formally arrested by the Greek authorities but most of them complain they have been pushed back to Türkiye. It should be noted that the refugees, even some from the groups that were formally arrested, complain that in the past they had been subjected to violent and informal return (pushback) to Türkiye from Greece. Furthermore, both with respect to those stranded on the islets and those on the Greek mainland, the refugees who complain that they have been pushed back to Türkiye, also complain that, in the majority of cases, they were informally arrested by the Greek authorities and informally detained in an unspecified detention facility in the Evros region. In all these cases, they complain that they were treated with violence, they were transferred to the Evros river bank from where they were forcibly boarded onto boats and pushed back to Türkiye.

Out of the total of 43 applications for Interim measures before the Court in the last two years, 22 have been granted since January 2023, with the majority of the victims alleging that they have still subsequently been pushed back to Türkiye. This highlights the frequency and periodicity of pushback cases and no change to the “de facto general policy”[59] of pushbacks at land borders. Illustratively, those 22 cases included the cases of

• an applicant who was already a recognised refugee in Greece and allegedly has been pushed back more than 20 times, one of them while holding a decision of interim measures by the Court
• a Turkish applicant who has been allegedly pushed back twice, once from Evros and once from Lesbos
• 10 applicants who have been granted two decisions of interim measures but, allegedly, both times were pushed back to Türkiye
• an asylum applicant who has been kidnapped from a central bus station in the city centre, detained in Greece, pushed back to Türkiye and then imprisoned in Türkiye because of political persecution
• Wand at least 6 cases, in which Turkish applicants have been pushed back and the majority of them imprisoned in Türkiye, because of political persecution.

In parallel, since January 2022, GCR has sent at least 390 written interventions to the Greek authorities for the cases of more than 3,227 refugees including many children, from Syria, Türkiye, Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine who entered Greece from the Evros region seeking international protection.[60] In approximately half of these interventions, the Greek authorities responded positively, locating them and providing them access to the procedures provided by law. Regarding the rest of the interventions, the Greek authorities either did not reply or replied that they had not been able to locate them. In some of these interventions, which concerned refugees mostly from Syria and Türkiye but also from Iraq and Afghanistan, GCR was later informed that the refugees were informally and forcibly returned to Türkiye, without being given the opportunity to submit an asylum application. For the rest of these interventions our organization had no information on the whereabouts of the refugees.

Greece is second in Europe in terms of the number of cases in which the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) granted interim measures for the period 2021-2023, according to statistics published by the Court. [61]  According to these statistics, the Court has granted 177 interim measures related to Greece. Among them, and for the period 2022-2023, the ECtHR granted interim measures in 39 cases, represented by GCR, in which the applicants were facing a risk refoulement from Greece.

Since 2019, GCR has filed more than 20 full applications before the ECtHR related to pushback cases, the majority of them connected to land pushbacks in Evros, which are all pending before the Court. A number of these cases are included, inter alia, in GCR’s report ‘At Europe’s borders: between impunity and criminalization’, recently published and presented before the European Parliament.[62] In 2023, 39 individual pushbacks, whose victims were represented by GCR, have been also recorded in the Mechanism for Recording Incidents of Informal Forced Returns of the National Human Rights Commission, of which GCR is a member.

Since 17 July 2023, the wildfires of Evros[63] that were burning in different areas for more than two weeks created a dangerous environment also for asylum seekers that arrived in Greece in the same period. According to the Human Right Watch Report on Greece of 2024, “[a]t least 20 asylum seekers reportedly died, including two children, during major forest fires in the Evros region in August, highlighting an additional risk to people on the move who are already facing violent pushbacks by authorities and attacks by vigilantes”.[64]  In Application no. 32629/23 – A.H. v. Greece and 8 other applications,[65] in which GCR submitted an application for interim measures that were granted on 28/8/2023, 9 Afghan applicants (including 5 unaccompanied minors, one only 9 years old) remained in a forest area near the wildfires in Evros region for five days.[66] The applicants went missing while the decision of the Court was pending and up to now GCR has no news or indications about the circumstances under which they disappeared. Greek Authorities replied that the applicants have not been located.

In its annual review of Greece for of the events of 2023, Human Rights Watch stated that “during 2023, abuses against asylum seekers and migrants continued, including violent pushbacks, abuses in detention, and vigilante violence. The government also smeared and judicially harassed civil society groups working with asylum seekers and migrants”.[67]

In a report published on 14 July 2023, a Working Group of the United Nations General Assembly flagged that it “…received information concerning allegations that migrants in camps located in the Evros region had been hired as a form of private security and deployed in violent pushback operations. The Working Group is concerned about those allegations and urges the relevant authorities to investigate them. The authorities should put measures in place to prevent any instances in which migrants could be hired or involved in that type of activity or other activities that involve labour or economic exploitation”.[68]  

Among the pending cases before the ECtHR, in Application no. 35090/22 K.A. and Others v. Greece (interim measures granted on 20 July 2022), 50 Syrian refugees who were allegedly stranded on an islet in the Evros river, complained that they were pushed back from Greece to Türkiye after the Court’s decision. Most of them entered Greece again and found themselves stranded on the same islet once again.[69] These refugees also complained that a young girl had died on the islet from insect bites. After succeeding to reach the mainland on their own, they were formally arrested and registered on 15 August 2022. On 13 August, UNHCR stated that: ‘We continue to be gravely concerned for the safety and wellbeing of some 40 people allegedly stranded on an islet at the Greece-Türkiye border. According to reports received a child has tragically already died. Unless urgent action is taken, we fear further lives remain at stake’.[70] The full application before the Court has been submitted by GCR. This specific case attracted the media’s attention, public interest and provoked a “public debate” around the facts of the case with many press releases, interviews and statements before the Greek Parliament. However, the “case of 38” remains a pushback case[71] that the Greek State tries ‘to conceal in the public debate, by shifting the focus from the main issue which is the Greek State’s responsibility for the violent pushback operations. The Government continues to question the role of the Organisations that filed the interim measures before the ECtHR’[72]. The case was communicated[73] to the Greek and Turkish Government by the ECtHR on 17 April 2023. FRO of FRONTEX published a serious incident report[74] about the case, which concludes, inter alia, that “regarding the allegations of pushbacks on ….the Fundamental Rights Office considers the reports of pushbacks by migrants as relatively credible…”[75]. In May 2024 GCR submitted its written Observations for this case before the ECtHR.

On 26 January 2023, the ECtHR delivered its judgment in the case of B.Y. v. Greece, application no. 60990/14,[76] which was represented before the Court by GCR, the Network of Social Support of Refugees and Immigrants and the Lawyers’ Group for the rights of Refugees and Immigrants. The Court ruled that there was a violation of Article 3 (the procedural limb of Article 3 in conjunction with Article 13) of the Convention. The case concerned[77] a Turkish national who alleged that he was forcibly removed from Athens, Greece, to Türkiye, despite his attempts to claim asylum on the grounds of his political opinion. The ECtHR, by a majority of 4 votes against 3, did not uphold the plea of violation of Article 3 in its substantive part because, despite the abundance of evidence submitted, the majority of the Court maintained reservations and ultimately concluded that it was impossible to admit the applicant’s presence in Greece during the period in question. The Court notes, however, that that failure stems to a large extent from the failure of the national authorities to carry out the thorough and effective investigation which they were required to carry out and to provide the necessary evidence. On the contrary, the three Members of the Court, in a strong joint minority opinion, held that Greece should be condemned also on the substantive part of the violation of Article 3 ECHR.

In November 2023, via Circular 18/2023, the Deputy Prosecutor (Αντιεισαγγελέας) of the Supreme Court of Greece asked from public prosecutors to study the aforementioned decision, inter alia noting that “the prompt, thorough/detailed, impartial and real/effective criminal investigation of any such case […] greatly reduces the risk of adverse ECtHR rulings for our country”.[78]

Pushbacks at sea

In April 2022, a research was published on the involvement of Frontex in the pushbacks of at least 957 refugees between March 2020 and September 2021.[79] The report notes that ‘the term “prevention of departure” is commonly used to report practices better known as pushbacks, illegal under Greek, EU and international law. This was confirmed in interviews with several sources within Frontex as well as the Greek authorities.’

In July 2022, the ECtHR issued its long-awaited landmark judgment in the case of Safi and others v. Greece (also known as the “Farmakonisi case”),[80] which was supported by GCR, Refugee Support Aegean with the support of Pro Asyl, the Network of Social Support of Refugees and Immigrants, the Lawyers’ Group for the rights of Refugees and Immigrants and the Hellenic League for Human Rights. The case concerned the sinking of a fishing boat transporting 27 foreign nationals in the Aegean Sea in January 2014, off the island of Farmakonisi, resulting in the death of 11 people. According to the allegations of the applicants, the coastguard vessel was towing the fishing boat at very high speed in order to push the refugees back towards Turkish waters and this caused the fishing boat to capsize, which the Greek Authorities denies. The Strasbourg Court found a violation of the right to life, both due to the authorities’ failure to investigate such a significant case responsibly and effectively, and on account of actions that they should and could have taken to protect human lives and prevent the tragic incident. The Court also held that Coast Guard officers had inflicted degrading and inhuman treatment against shipwreck survivors that night. The judgment of ECtHR ‘vindicates the victims by awarding compensation from the Greek State and brings to light an issue systematically concealed in public discourse: push backs and systematic deterrence practices which put lives at risk on a daily basis in Evros and the Aegean’.[81]

In 2023, RSA,[82] Pro Asyl, GCR and ECRE filed Submissions to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe regarding the execution of the Safi judgment (Farmakonisi Case). GCR and ECRE submit, inter alia, that the Safi case reveals a structural and complex problem, which cannot be considered an isolated incident and request the Committee of Ministers to place the Safi case under the enhanced supervision.[83]

Forensic Architecture have reported more than 2,000 pushback incidents[84] within the last three years on their dedicated platform,[85] which allegedly occurred from 2020 to 2023 on the Greek islands,[86] connected to 55,445 victims of pushbacks. Among them, 24 persons were reported as dead and 17 as missing.

Illustratively, the following pushback incidents at sea were reported in 2023, documented and verified by Forensic Architecture:

• An incident that allegedly happened on 21 January 2023 on Samos, verified by FA, when “9 asylum seekers landed on the North-eastern shores of Samos island, where they hid. The next day, a group of masked men arrived, robbed the asylum seekers of their belongings, tied their hands with cable ties and transported them to a cove 30 minutes’ drive away. There, the masked men forced some of the asylum seekers to strip naked and beat them with batons. One of the persons beat was a pregnant woman. The masked commando then forced everyone on a Hellenic Coast Guard vessel and subsequently cast them adrift on a life raft with no engine. The HCG vessel created waves to move the life raft into Turkish waters. Later the same day, the group was found drifting on a life raft by the Turkish Coast Guard off the coast of Kuşadasi, Aydın.
• An incident that allegedly happened on 13 January 2023 on Kos, verified by FA, when 23 asylum seekers on an inflatable boat were found drifting by the Turkish Coast Guard off the coast of Datça, Muğla.
• An incident that allegedly happened on 23 January 2023 on Lesvos, verified by FA, when 32 asylum seekers on an inflatable boat were found drifting by the Turkish Coast Guard off the coast of Dikili, Izmir.
• An incident that allegedly happened on 28 January 2023 on Lesvos, verified by FA, when 31 asylum seekers on two life rafts were found drifting by the Turkish Coast Guard off the coast of Dikili, Izmir.
• An incident that allegedly happened on 9 February 2023 on Rhodes, verified by FA, when 41 asylum seekers on an inflatable boat were found drifting by the Turkish Coast Guard off the coast of Fethiye, Muğla.
• An incident that allegedly happened on 15 February 2023 on Chios, verified by FA, when 10 asylum seekers on a life raft were found drifting by the Turkish Coast Guard off the coast of Karaburun, İzmir.

In relation to pushbacks at sea, Aegean Boat Report’s Annual Report for 2023 outlined that 1,451 boats carrying 38,993 people were apprehended by the Turkish Coast Guard and Police in 2023.[87] According to this report,[88] “[i]n 2023, people arriving has increased 240%, compared to 2022. 1.451 boats made it to the Greek islands, carrying 38.993 people. Boats arriving has increased 205% compared to 2022, when 476 boats arrived, carrying 11.496 people. 25.855 people has been illegally pushed back by Greek authorities. Total arrivals have increased 240% compared to 2022, and 800% compared to 2021. 3.506 boats started their trip towards the Greek islands in 2023, carrying a total of 100.406 people. 1.451 boats made the trip, carrying a total of 38.993 people, the rest, 2.055 boats, 61.413 people, were picked up and arrested by the Turkish Coast guard and Police”. In January 2024, in the annual report with incidents in 2023, Aegean Boat Report is mentioning[89] that in 2023 “in 2023 Aegean Boat Report have registered 904 pushback cases in the Aegean Sea, involving 25.855 children, women and men who tried to reach safety in Europe. 20%, 5.137 people, had already arrived on Greek territory, arrested, forced back to sea and left drifting in life rafts, illegally deported by the Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG), on orders from the Greek government, so far there has been no reaction from the EU on these illegal actions. Almost 45% of all boats picked up by Turkish coast guard in 2023 had been pushed back by Greek authorities”.

On 19 May 2023, the New York Times (NYT) published video footages of an alleged pushback from the island of Lesvos, which allegedly took place in the midday hours of 11 April 2023. Amongst others, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson in an interview[90] said that “What seems to be in these videos is a deportation”, adding that she had no reason to doubt the footage obtained by the New York Times and called on the Greek authorities to conduct a full and independent investigation into the reported incident. The Greek Prime Minister, in an interview to CNN,[91] had committed to investigating the incident, describing it as an “completely unacceptable practice”. NTA appears[92] to have been requested by the European Commissioner to activate an investigation on the incident, even if this authority has been repeatedly criticised for its ineffectiveness in investigating similar incidents. In a Joint NGO Statement dated on 21 June 2023, 21 organizations are stating that there is “No monitoring of fundamental rights violations in Greece without independent and effective mechanisms”,[93] a statement that was done following the European Commission request[94] to the Greek authorities for an investigation of a push back of refugees[95] by the Hellenic Coast Guard on Lesvos island, documented by the New York Times.[96] On 27 July 2023, in a joint submission to the Prosecutors of the Piraeus Naval Court, the First Instance Court of Mytilene and the Supreme Court Prosecutor, 28 civil society organisations called[97] for an effective investigation into potential criminal acts committed in relation to what was published on 19 May 2023 by the New York Times (NYT).

In November 2023, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) published a report,[98] which “calls on the Greek authorities to investigate reports of hundreds of missing migrants and allegations of people being threatened, abducted, and ill-treated”. MSF based its report on the testimonies of 56 patients and information gathered between August 2021 and July 2023 on Lesbos[99] and Samos. MSF are also reporting that “Since we started providing emergency medical assistance to people arriving by boat to Lesbos in June 2022, we have been unable to find approximately 940 people who were never found at the reported location”.[100] MSF calls for a permanent end to pushbacks at borders, for an independent monitoring system to be set up on the Aegean islands, and for search and rescue operations to be stepped up at sea.[101]

On 16 January 2024, the ECtHR issued a decision and a press release with the title “When firing several times at a motorboat transporting individuals illegally towards Greece, coastguards used force that was not “absolutely necessary” within the meaning of Article 2 of the Convention”.[102] The case concerned a serious gunshot wound sustained by a member of the applicants’ family on 22 September 2014 near the island of Pserimos, when a vessel was intercepted transporting people illegally to Greece. Under the procedural aspect of Article 2, the Court noted that there had been numerous shortcomings in the investigation conducted by the national authorities; this had led, in particular, to the loss of evidence, and had affected the adequacy of the investigation.[103] Among other things, it had been impossible to determine whether or not the use of potentially fatal force was justified in the particular circumstances of the case. Under the substantive aspect of Article 2, the Court noted, firstly, that the respondent State had not complied with its obligation to introduce an adequate legislative framework governing the use of potentially lethal force in the area of maritime surveillance operations. It then considered that the coastguards, who could have presumed that the boat being monitored was transporting passengers, had not exercised the necessary vigilance in minimising any risk to life. The coastguards had thus used excessive force in the context of unclear regulations on the use of firearms. The Court considered that the Government had not demonstrated that the use of force had been “absolutely necessary” within the meaning of paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Convention.

GCR represents survivors in two other pushback cases, which occurred after the individuals had already landed on the islands Lesvos and Kos. The first one concerns the case of a group of asylum seekers, who were pushed back to Türkiye upon their landing on Lesvos island and after entering a government-run quarantine facility for refugees in Megala Therma in February 2021; In both cases, the victims of the violent pushback operations – some of them in the first case – managed to re-enter Greece in 2022 and subsequently, filed an official complaint before the Public Prosecutor.[104] The criminal investigation about the alleged incident in Megala Therma reached an end and GCR submitted a full Application before the ECtHR in December 2023. The second case is pending before the competent public prosecutors and the second one concerns the kidnapping and illegal forced return of two recognized refugees who were legally residing in the Eastern Aegean Island of Kos.

Criminalisation of Human Rights Defenders (HRD) and organisations connected with pushbacks

In May 2022, it was reported that four organisations were  under criminal investigation for potential involvement with smuggling networks, because they notified the authorities about the location of newly arrived migrants and requested that they be provided with assistance and access to asylum procedures in Greece.[105] In the following year, no investigations took place but it created an increasingly hostile environment in the field of HRDs’ work in Greece and a widespread fear of criminalisation.[106]

After the above, on 29 July 2023, two more NGOs operating in Lesvos were targeted in a Greek Police Press Release.[107] From the title of the Press release “Finding the action of an organized criminal network, consisting of two (2) criminal organizations, whose members were systematically active in facilitating the illegal entry of foreigners into the Greek territory through the island of Lesvos” and the content of the announcement[108] that was targeting NGOs which were going to arrival locations of third country nationals with the “pretext of providing them with humanitarian-medical assistance”.[109] After this development, new discussions on smear campaigns against HRD started,[110] as up to date no individual and member of an NGO acting on Lesvos has been prosecuted.

Soon after, in June 2022, the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, carried out an official country visit to Greece from 13 to 22 June 2022 following an invitation from the Greek government. In her statement on preliminary observations, it was noted that:

‘the nature of cooperation between the Government and civil society, and the overall perception about the role of civil society and human rights defenders in Greece, has undergone a significant shift since 2019. Since then, human rights defenders have found it increasingly difficult to carry out their work, especially in fields that might be considered controversial or geopolitically complicated or sensitive. This is particularly tangible in relation to those who defend the rights of asylum seekers, migrants and refugees, including those providing humanitarian assistance, legal aid, participating in search and rescue operations and documenting pushbacks. While previously human rights defenders in these areas had enjoyed an overall conducive environment for carrying out their activities, the current policy framework, that emphasises ‘security’ over humanitarian assistance, has led to a number of constraints’; ‘[A] sense of pervasive fear […] is felt by a significant segment of human rights defenders, which seems to be a direct result of the criminalisation of migration and their legitimate, peaceful work for the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants’.

As highlighted by the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, ‘human rights defenders promoting and protecting the rights of migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees, including human rights lawyers, humanitarian workers, volunteers and journalists, have been subjected to smear campaigns, a changing regulatory environment, threats and attacks and the misuse of criminal law against them to a shocking degree’’.[111]

The Campaign for Access to Asylum,[112] in an announcement on 5 October 2022, underlined that:

‘The authorities’ systematic use of misinformation regarding “false reports on pushbacks” aims to cover up illegal practices and to target and put pressure on people and organisations that report these incidents’ and added that ‘…The incident in Evros highlighted the problem of pushbacks in a multitude of ways. Systematic propaganda and misinformation about these practices, which often result in the loss of human lives, is aimed at concealing the truth, obscuring the consequences (deaths, drownings, violence, etc.) and, of course, at targeting lawyers, organisations, as well as media and journalists who report these incidents’.

Later, in January 2023, regarding charges against 24 human rights defenders who were helping to rescue migrants in distress at sea off Lesvos island, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants stated that: ‘[t]rials like this are deeply concerning because they criminalise life-saving work and set a dangerous precedent. Indeed, there has already been a chilling effect, with human rights defenders and humanitarian organisations forced to halt their human rights work in Greece and other EU countries’.[113]  On 13 January 2023, the espionage charges were dropped by the Court.[114] On 30 January 2024,[115] in a new trial, the accused were found not guilty on the misdemeanours and the criminal proceedings for the felonies remain pending.

Prosecutions of activists working with migrants continued in 2022 and 2023, against the founders of the Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM)[116] and of the Aegean Boat Report (ABR), who were both subject to investigations and charged by Greek judicial authorities on the island of Kos for ‘forming or joining for profit and by profession, a criminal organisation with the purpose of facilitating the entry and stay of third country nationals into Greek territory.”[117]  On 2nd June 2023, the Asylum Campaign requested in a press release requested to stop a) the prosecution of those persons and organizations operating in the context of their role as human rights defenders, against violations even by state authorities and institutions, b) the systematic propaganda and disinformation against persons and organizations that provide protection to asylum seekers, refugees and vulnerable persons in general, c) To promote the investigation of all complaints that have been brought to the attention of the competent authorities and concern incidents of illegal redeployments and c) to stop the phenomenon of violations of fundamental human rights that are systematically carried out at the borders of Greece, as well as Europe. [118]

On 11 September 2023, the Athens Bar Association published its interpretation of the Greek Code of lawyers on legal aid provision to newly arrived third-country nationals (TCN) who seek asylum in Greece. The Association states that: [119]

• “According to the Code, lawyers are public officials and collaborators of the judiciary who defend fundamental rights, comply with the rules of ethics and maintain confidentiality for the benefit of their clients”.
• “The lawyers may provide legal assistance to irregularly arriving TCNs to initiate asylum applications. The possibility to apply for asylum cannot be exercised if TCNs do not have the necessary legal assistance during which they can communicate freely and appoint the lawyer as their representative”.
• “Migrants often request lawyers not to disclose their location to the authorities as they fear being returned to their countries. In such cases, insofar as they have assumed the responsibility to provide legal assistance, lawyers are bound by their duty of confidentiality even if they have not yet met the TCN in person. In such cases, they cannot be considered as assisting in the unlawful entry of TCNs as lawyers retain the freedom to handle cases without being identified with their clients and their files and may not be subjected to instructions incompatible with the nature of their work”.

The Athens Bar Association concludes that it is not allowed to search on physical or digital files of the lawyers or of the phone communications between lawyers and the illegally-entering third country nationals, if those are necessary to fulfil their order under the scope of practising their profession as lawyers.

Legal access to the territory (beyond family reunification)

Legal gateways to enter Greece are not provided to persons in need of international protection, nor does Greece issue visas on humanitarian grounds. The only exception was in 2021, when Greece accepted 819 Afghan nationals due to ‘the country’s commitment to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghan nationals in danger’ following the Taliban’s arrival to power.[120]

[1] UNCHR, Operational Portal, Mediterranean Situation: Greece, available at: https://bit.ly/3WubNsb.

[2] Ibid.

[3] UNHCR, Greece Sea arrivals Dashboard – December 2023, available at: https://bitly.ws/3dt8D.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Directorate of the Hellenic Police, 18 January 2024.

[6] UNCHR, Operational Portal, Mediterranean Situation: Greece, available at: https://bit.ly/3WubNsb.

[7] Ibid

[8] As per the same data published by UNHCR, the number of arrivals in 2021 stood at 9,157, in 2022 at 18,780 and in 2023 at 48,721. During the same interval, 115 persons were reported dead and missing in 2021, 343 in 2022 and 799 in 2023. Proportionally to the number of arrivals, this means that the rate of dead and missing in 2021 stood at roughly 1.3%, in 2022 at 1.8% and in 2023 at 1.6%.

[9] AlJazeera, Egyptians accused in Pylos shipwreck case deny smuggling, blame Greece, Months after the tragic disaster that killed hundreds at sea, nine accused men languishing in prison insist they are innocent, 12 February 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/3xpN4wQ.

[10] GCR, 40 survivors of the Pylos shipwreck file a criminal complaint before the Naval Court of Piraeus,   Press Release of 14 September 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/49FIHeF.

[11] Ibid., “The survivors, represented by the Network for Refugee and Migrant Rights, the Hellenic League for Human Rights (HLHR), the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), the Initiative of Lawyers and Jurists for the shipwreck of Pylos, and Refugee Support Aegean (RSA), denounce a series of violations of the Greek authorities’ obligations to protect the lives of those on board and demand an effective investigation into the circumstances of the deadliest shipwreck to occur in the Mediterranean in recent years”.

[12] FRONTEX, Final Serious Incident (Si) Report, Sir 12595/2023, 1 December 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/4aCLhTk, p.16. The document is inter alia refered to in EfSyn, Hot document by FRONTEX burns the Greek authorities on the Pylos shipwreck, 1 February 2024, available in Greek at:  https://bit.ly/4aF6vjw.

[13] Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Pylos shipwreck: the Greek authorities must ensure that effective investigations are conducted, 28 July 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/43QaAPQ.

[14] LIBE Committee of the European Parliament, Exchange of views on the migrant boat shipwreck off the coast of Greece: extracts, 6 July 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3xozQQZ. 

[15] Indicatively: Reuters, Greece scours shipwreck site; hundreds feared drowned in boat’s hold,  16 June 2023 available at: https://bit.ly/3VPiNSa, AP, Independent inquiry launched into shipwreck off Greece that left hundreds of migrants feared dead, 9 November 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/4cMkKFe.

[16] “An independent investigation is initiated by the Greek Ombudsman on the Pylos shipwreck incident. The Ombudsman Mr. Andreas Pottakis addressed two letters to the Commandant of the Hellenic Coastguard requesting a thorough internal investigation on any acts or omissions by Coastguard officers in connection to the tragic incident of 14.06.2023. Following the expressed denial of the Coastguard to initiate a disciplinary investigation, the Independent Authority decided to initiate its own investigation, in its special mandate as National Mechanism for the Investigation of Arbitrary Incidents in relation to acts or omissions of Coastguard officers upon the Pylos shipwreck. The Ombudsman considers that absolute transparency on administrative actions taken by competent officials concerning this tragic incident where many lives were lost is an elementary Rule of Law command”, available at: https://bit.ly/4aIVlKI.

[17] Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Greece: the Ombudsman institution opening an independent investigation into the Pylos shipwreck is a welcome step, 09 November 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/4cGVDmZ. 

[18] For more, see RSA, The European Ombudsman on the Pylos shipwreck, 1 March 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/3jrxnpwu.

[19] European Ombudsman, Conclusions of the European Ombudsman on EU search and rescue following her inquiry into how the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) complies with its fundamental rights obligations in the context of its maritime surveillance activities, in particular the Adriana shipwreck, 26 February 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/38mukedp.

[20] European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, ECRI report on Greece (sixth monitoring cycle), 28 June 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3Muu4Bd, p. 36: comment by the Greek authorities ‘In particular, the National Transparency Authority -that enjoys institutional autonomy- has been designated as the competent authority to investigate allegations of incidents involving the breach of fundamental rights at the borders and so far, its investigation has not resulted in the substantiation of any alleged violations. The National Transparency Authority operates in parallel to the Ombudsman and the Judiciary system that have also, within their respective mandates, reviewed cases related to border protection and fundamental rights. Moreover, an internal disciplinary mechanism is well in place within the Security Forces to ensure that complaints for violations of fundamental rights allegedly committed by its personnel are adequately investigated’.

[21] GCR, Greek Council for Refugees input for the forthcoming report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants with respect to human rights violations at international borders: trends, prevention and accountability, 28 February 2022, p. 5 and footnotes 29 and 30, available at: https://bit.ly/3oleekc.

[22] UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Statement on preliminary observations and recommendations following official visit to Greece, 22 June 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3q1bwAZ. See also UNHCR, OHCHR, ENNHRI, Ten points to guide the establishment of an independent and effective national border monitoring mechanism in Greece, 9 September 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3MjauaM: ‘Ensure that those entrusted with monitoring fundamental rights at borders have thorough institutional experience in international human rights law, EU fundamental rights law and in fundamental rights as guaranteed by the Greek Constitution and national legislation as well as on evolving international, European and national case law interpreting such law. Institutional experience in asylum, border management and return as well as practical experience in human rights monitoring and in working with law enforcement actors are additional assets which facilitate a successful functioning of the monitoring mechanism.’

[23] See the full report, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3Izbqqu.

[24] Lighthouse reports, Frontex, the EU Pushback Agency: Frontex’s internal database suggests the EU border agency is involved in illegal pushbacks on a massive scale, 6 May 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3WpRXyg.

[25] NTA, Investigation Report OM3/4, available at: https://bit.ly/3OvFiI8, pp. 39-44.

[26] RSA et al., Systemic breaches of the rule of law and of the EU asylum acquis at Greece’s land and sea borders, June 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3BPeWJQ.

[27] Rule of Law Backsliding Continues in Greece, Joint Civil Society Submission to the European Commission on the 2023 Rule of Law Report, January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/45qfPpQ, p. 27: ‘Due to NTA’s own failure to correctly anonymise data in the report, the personal details of persons interviewed as part of the investigation were made public. Out of 65 persons interviewed for the purposes of the investigation, the Authority spoke to 21 locals working mostly in shipping and fisheries or members of local business associations, ten religious leaders, only one lawyer and one NGO offering medical services, zero victims and zero representatives of UN agencies, the Ombudsman or the National Commission for Human Rights. 29 interviewees were Greek officials’.

[28] NTA, 2022 Annual Report, 31 July 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3TNGjMN, and English at: https://bit.ly/4amDMAl.

[29] Ibid., pages 43-44

[30] DRC, Protecting Rights at Borders: Beaten, punished and pushed back, 27 January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3opeoXU.

[31] Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum, The Fundamental Rights Officer at the MoMA was appointed, 6 December 2022, MoMA, available at: https://bit.ly/3IwlEYK.

[32] Articles 49 and 50 of law 4960/2022 (GG A’145); See also DRC, Protecting Rights at Borders: Beaten, punished and pushed back, 27 January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3opeoXU.

[33] MD 329937/2023 on the Responsibilities and operation of the Special Committee for Compliance with Fundamental Rights of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum.

[34] Greek Ombudsman, The Ombudsman’s reservations regarding his participation in committees of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum – Letter to the Ministry of Migration, 29 July 2022: ‘The Ombudsman’s work in this field is accompanied by the maximum guarantees of personal and functional independence according to the Constitution, thus constituting the ‘strong and timeless institution with increased guarantees of reliability and transparency in the examination of complaints,’ elements that I understand are sought after by the Ministry. Therefore, his parallel participation in a collective body of the administration with the same object raises concerns regarding the possibility of limiting his autonomous, independent role, his competences, or at least a blurring/overlap of competences’. See, Greek Ombudsman, The Ombudsman’s reservations regarding his participation in committees of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, available at: https://bit.ly/47BW3by.

[35] GNCHR, letter on 21 October 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/43kpmMW.

[36] Rule of Law Backsliding Continues in Greece, Joint Civil Society Submission to the European Commission on the 2023 Rule of Law Report, January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/45qfPpQ, p. 37.

[37] Available at: https://bit.ly/3VLxbL8.

[38] GNCHR, Recording Mechanism of Informal Forced Returns, Interim Report, January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3IUTyH5.

[39] Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), Hellenic League for Human Rights (HLHR), Network for Children’s Rights, Medical Intervention, METAdrasi – ACTION FOR MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Transgender Support Association, RSA, HIAS Greece, Legal Centre Lesvos, Danish Refugee Council Greece (DRC): see https://bit.ly/3Ix1jTl.

[40] GNCHR, Full Annual Report of 2022, published in December 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3PSoOtv. 

[41] Ibid. page 5 of the report

[42] Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Felipe González Morales, Human rights violations at international borders: trends, prevention and accountability, 26 April 2022, para.32, available at: https://bit.ly/3VNoYpV.

[43] ECRE, Frontex: MEPs Vote to Refuse Approval of Budget, Commission “Shocked” by OLAF Report but Confident in Management Board as Agency Calls Misconduct “Practices of the Past” NGOs Finds No Difference, 21 October 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3grKgH2.

[44] “There are unresolved issues in recruitment and financial management, as well as in its operations in fighting illegal immigration and cross-border crime, and MEPs ask for further improvements. For this reason, MEPs in the report, finally adopted by 27 votes to 2 against and 1 abstention, ask for part of the Frontex 2022 budget to be frozen, to make it available only once the agency has fulfilled a number of specific conditions. These include recruiting 20 missing fundamental rights monitors and three deputy executive directors who are sufficiently qualified to fill these positions, setting up a mechanism for reporting serious incidents on the EU’s external borders and a functioning fundamental rights monitoring system”. See European Parliament, Press Release: EP committee asks for part of Frontex budget to be frozen, 27 September 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3vJtviz.

[45] Committee on Budgetary Control, Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency for the financial year 2020 (2021/2146(DEC)), A9-0110/2022, 6 April 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/43AQ5Fx, p. 11.

[46] “As a Frontex drone was to patrol the Aegean on the same day, the agency offered to provide additional assistance ahead of the planned and scheduled flight. The Greek authorities asked the agency to send the drone to another search and rescue incident south off Crete with 80 people in danger. The drone, after attending to the incident south off Crete, flew to the last known position of the fishing vessel. The drone arrived at the scene four hours later at 04:05 (UTC) in the morning, when a large-scale search and rescue operation by Greek authorities was ongoing and there was no sign of the fishing boat. No Frontex plane or boat was present at the time of the tragedy”. See Frontex, Frontex statement following tragic shipwreck off Pylos, 16 June 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3VSdvpf. See also, BBC, Greece ignored offer to monitor migrant boat, says EU border agency, 23 June 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3TUkdZg.

[47] Le Monde, Frontex threatens to suspend its activities in Greece, 26 June 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/49oCN1k.

[48] UN Human Rights Council, Press release: Greece: UN experts call for safe, impartial border policies and practices, 23 August 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/4aIAtTW.

[49] The FRO Frontex Report dated on 1 December 2023, page 16,  available at: https://bit.ly/3xjxX7Y.

[50] ECRE, Greece: MEPs Confront Commission Officials over Pushbacks, People on the Move Again Caught in the Stand-off with Turkiye in the Evros Region, 9 June 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3qqFSgk.

[51] Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Report on means to address the human rights impact of pushbacks of migrants on land and sea, 12 May 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3WvA94I, para. 55.

[52] United Nations, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Felipe González Morales, Human rights violations at international borders: trends, prevention and accountability, A/HRC/50/31, available at: https://bit.ly/4eHO68L, para 32.

[53] UNHCR, News Comment: UNHCR warns of increasing violence and human rights violations at European borders, 21 February 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/43jYnkL.

[54] IOM, IOM Concerned about Increasing Deaths on Greece-Türkiye Border, 18 February 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3MlQtjS.

[55] ‘…The Greek police are using foreigners as ‘slaves’ to forcibly return asylum seekers to Türkiye, In recent years there have been numerous accounts from the victims, as well as reports by human rights organisations and the media, stating that the men driving these boats speak Arabic or Farsi, indicating they are not from Greece. A months-long joint investigation with The Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and ARD Report München has for the first time identified six of these men – who call themselves slaves– interviewed them and located the police stations where they were held. Some of the slaves, who are kept locked up between operations, were forcibly recruited themselves after crossing the border but others were lured there by smugglers working with a gangmaster who is hosted in a container located in the carpark of a Greek police station. In return for their ‘work’ they received papers allowing them to stay in Greece for 25 days’. See Der Spiegel, ‘Greek Police Coerce Refugees to Commit Illegal Pushbacks’, 30 June 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3IvTGfB and Lighthouse reports, We were slaves, 28 June 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3MTla1G.

[56] BVMN, BlackBook of Pushbacks, December 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3ou1EPJ, 14.

[57] Ibid.

[58] GCR, Information Note on interventions and on interim measures granted by the ECtHR in cases regarding pushbacks, Updated on 19 April 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3MxIErw.

[59] Ibid. See also, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Report on means to address the human rights impact of pushbacks of migrants on land and sea, 12 May 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3WvA94I, para. 55.

[60] Note: The term “written intervention” refers to a document that the lawyers of the asylum seeker(s) are preparing, undersigning and then sending to the competent authorities, after communication with the represented persons in need of humanitarian assistance and international protection. It usually contains personal information of the asylum seekers and information that could facilitate locating of the person.

[61] Rule 39 requests listed by respondent State processed by the Court in 2021, 2022 and 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/4anePEU.

[62] GCR, At Europe’s Borders: Between Impunity and Criminalization, 2 March 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/42pxqLJ.

[63] BVMN, Fires, Pushbacks and the Far Right: Misplaced Blame and the Mobilisation of Violence Against People on the Move in Evros, Joint Statement of 24 August, 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3xmeKmm.

[64] Human Rights Watch, Greece: Events of 2023, 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/3U4Qf5P.

[65] GCR Information note, case number 30.

[66] PRAB Report, September 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3J8QmqK.

[67] Human Rights Watch, Greece: Events of 2023, 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/3U4Qf5P.

[68] UN, Report of the Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination, 14 July 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/49vOYsV.

[69] About the islet’s territorial status, the Ministry of Defence stated in written that the islet is divided by a Greek- Turkish border line, thus creating a Greek and a Turkish part. See Official Letter-Response of the Greek Minister of Defense to the Hellenic Parliament, Answer on the issue of ‘sovereignty on an islet in Evros’, 7 October 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3BM8F1v and GCR Press Release, Δελτίο τύπου σε συνέχεια και της διευκρίνισης του συνοριακού καθεστώτος της νησίδας στον Έβρο, 12 October 2022, available in Greek: https://bit.ly/3IAnwjs.

[70] UNHCR News on X (Twitter), 13 August 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3ooj5kD.

[71] Article of the Director of GCR publishes in ‘Εποχή’ on 08 January 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3BSbiP6 and https://bit.ly/3WqB1YD.

[72] See GCR report, At Europe’s Borders: Between Impunity and Criminalization, March 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3opKToW.

[73] ECtHR, Application No. 35090/22 and 38444/22, K.A and others v. Greece and Turkey, 17 April 2023, available in French at: https://bit.ly/3VKLL5M.

[74] Final SIR Report dated on 20/12/2022, available at: https://bitly.ws/3e4P8

[75] Ibid.

[76] Decision available (in French) at: https://bit.ly/45nE0oF. See also ELENA, ECtHR: Greece’s ineffective investigation into an asylum seeker’s removal to Türkiye violated Article 3, 26 January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/45rVS1O and GCR Press release available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/43pnzqh.

[77] ELENA, ECtHR: Greece’s ineffective investigation into an asylum seeker’s removal to Türkiye violated Article 3, 26 January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/45rVS1O.

[78] Lawspot, “Καταδίκη της Ελλάδας στο ΕΔΔΑ για ποινική έρευνα μη ταχεία, διεξοδική/εμπεριστατωμένη, αμερόληπτη και πραγματική/αποτελεσματική (Εγκύκλιος ΕισΑΠ 18/2023)”, 6 November 2023, available in Greek at: https://tinyurl.com/4vfhdru2.

[79] DER SPIEGEL, together with Lighthouse Reports, the Swiss media outlets SRF and Republik and the French newspaper Le Monde spent months researching Frontex’s involvement in the Greek pushbacks. Following a request under the European Freedom of Information Act, the researchers succeeded in gaining access to the internal Frontex database and matching entries with photos and videos of pushback operations. The research reveals the full extent of Frontex support for Greek pushbacks in the Aegean Sea for the first time. See, SPIEGEL International, Frontex Involved in Illegal Pushbacks of Hundreds of Refugees, 28 April 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/433JkvS. See also, Lighthouse reports, Frontex, the EU Pushback Agency, Frontex’s internal database suggests the EU border agency involved in mass pushbacks, 6 May 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3WpRXyg.

[80] ECtHR, Safi and others v. Greece, application no 5418/15, 7 July 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/45oTicG

[81] Press Conference: Judgement from the European Court of Human Rights in Safi and Others v Greece (Farmakonisi), Written on 07/07/2022 with a short summary of the case, available at: https://bit.ly/3OzXBfA and GCR, Vindication by the ECHR for Farmakonisi: Press conference on Monday, 11 July 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3q61nmD.

[82] RSA, Beyond Farmakonisi: The responsibility of the Greek Coast Guard for human rights violations at sea, 26 September 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3VYnl8K.

[83] GCR, GCR and ECRE Submission to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe regarding the execution of the Safi judgment (Farmakonisi Case), available at: https://bit.ly/4aMaJWv.

[84] Efyn, Forensic Architecture/Forensis, Μεγάλη αύξηση των επαναπροωθήσεων μέσα σε έναν χρόνο, 19 January 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/3xodhvA.

[85] Forensic Architecture, platform available at: https://bit.ly/41W0slW and https://bit.ly/4d3kSAn.

[86] Article (in Greek) published on 15.7.2022 in ‘Ethnos’, Πασχάλης Γαγάνης, Έρευνα Forensic Architecture: Πάνω από 1.000 επαναπροωθήσεις στο Αιγαίο σε 2 χρόνια – «Ξυλοδαρμοί, κλοπές ακόμα και ρίψη στη θάλασσα με χειροπέδες», available (in Greek) at: https://bit.ly/3MRg9Xm.

[87] Aegean Boat Report, Annual Report 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/437xzEU.

[88] Ibid.

[89] Aegean Boat Report, Annual Report for 2023, January 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/437xzEU. 

[90] POLITICO, EU’s Johansson slams Greece over “deportation” of migrants”, 24 May 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3TSJ1k1.

[91] Greek Government, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ interview on CNN, with journalist Christiane Amanpour, 23 May 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/43PTTDQ.

[92] Kathimerini, Μεταναστευτικό: Ερευνα από την Εθνική Αρχή Διαφάνειας για το βίντεο από τη Λέσβο, 25 May 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3xExAF6. 

[93] Amnesty Internaitonal, Joint NGO Statement: No monitoring of fundamental rights violations in Greece without independent and effective mechanisms 21 June 2023, available at:  https://bit.ly/3vJolmI.

[94] Public announcement on “X” available at: https://bit.ly/3Jc7ps3. 

[95] The Times verified the footage, taken on the Greek island of Lesbos on April 11, using a range of tools including metadata analysis and geolocation. Times reporters also tracked down the migrants involved in the incident and interviewed them at a detention facility in coastal Türkiye last month. Available at: https://bit.ly/3xqyJQJ.

[96] The Report of New York Times is available at: https://bit.ly/49oQwFe.

[97] GCR, Intervention of 28 organisations to competent Prosecutors on the pushback incident published by the New York Times, 27 july 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3xqRLq1. 

[98] MSF, Pushbacks, detention and violence towards migrants on Lesbos, 9 November 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/4aNY9WY.

[99] See also, Reuters, Asylum-seekers in Greece face violence, pushbacks -aid group MSF, 2 November 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3xrHkme.

[100] Ibid.

[101] Ibid.

[102] ECtHR, Application No. 3566/16, Alkatib and others v. Greece, 16 January 2024, available in French at: https://bit.ly/3PV48RU. See also the ECtHR Press Release of 16 January 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/43OWz4T.

[103] Ibid.

[104] For more details on the cases, See GCR, at Europe’s Borders: Between Impunity and Criminalization, March 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3opKToW.

[105] Among others, News.IT, Evros: Investigation into the activities of NGOs and their connection with illegal immigrant networks, 29 May 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/4208ryu.

[106] ‘I also note the sense of pervasive fear that is felt by a significant segment of human rights defenders, which seems to be a direct result of the criminalization of migration and their legitimate, peaceful work for the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants’: UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Statement on preliminary observations and recommendations following official visit to Greece, 22 June 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3q1bwAZ.

[107] Greek Police, The activity of an organized criminal network, consisting of two (2) criminal organizations, whose members were systematically active in facilitating the illegal entry of foreigners into Greek territory, through the island of Lesbos, was identified, 29 July 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3VR4Bbd. 

[108] Ibid. “(d) The members of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), at the same time as they were informed about the migratory arrival, went to the areas where the newly arrived third country nationals were located, on the pretext of providing them with humanitarian-medical assistance”.

[109] Kathimerini, Λέσβος: Ερευνα για κύκλωμα διακίνησης παράτυπων μεταναστών με εμπλοκή μελών ΜΚΟ, 29 July 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/49ppbmt.

[110] Racist Crimes Watch, Greece: New smear campaign against NGOs working with asylum seekers, P. Dimitras, 20 July 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/4aosag4.

[111] Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor – Visit to Greece (A/HRC/52/29/Add.1), available at: https://bit.ly/43n0hS1, para. 114.

[112] Joint Press Release of 16 civil society organisations, Asylum Campaign (Καμπάνια για το Άσυλο) – It is the Greek Government’s responsibility to immediately put a stop to informal forced returns (pushbacks): They endanger human lives and breach the state’s international obligations, 5 October 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3MTm7qM.

[113] ‘My concerns were compounded by accounts I received during my country visit to Greece in June 2022 detailing how fear of criminalisation has spread among human rights defenders working in the field of migration in the country. As I underlined in my preliminary observations following the visit, solidarity should never be punished and compassion should never be put on trial’: UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Human rights defenders on trial in Greece, 9 January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3MVFVtp

[114] France24, Greek court drops spying charges against migrant rescuers, 13 January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3BQKu1R.

[115] The Press Project, «Μεγάλη νίκη στη Μυτιλήνη: Αθώοι για τα πλημμελήματα οι 16 ανθρωπιστές – «Μετά από 6 χρόνια, επιτέλους αποδόθηκε δικαιοσύνη», 30 January 2024, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3xDvzsP.

[116] “Some medias have publicized “what appears to be leaked information on the alleged investigation, in some cases alongside a picture of Dimitras. The money laundering case reportedly concerns “funding Dimitras received, mainly from the EU, to support human rights causes, that was used for other purposes than those claimed,” according to a Kathimerini [BP1] article. Dimitras said the only EU funds his organization receives, as published on the European Commission’s website, are for the fight against hate speech and called these claims unfounded “slander.” See, Human Rights Watch, Greece: Smear campaign against rights activists, 19 June 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/43OSihL. See, also, Asylum Campaign (Καμπάνια για το Άσυλο) Press Release, The attempt to silence human rights defenders continues. What remains to be decided are its accompanying measures, 22 December 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/45BXpT4.

[117] Human Rights Watch, Greece: Migrant Rights Defenders Face Charges, End Judicial Harassment of Migrant Rights Activists; Respect Asylum Obligations, 26 January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/43ifSlx.

[118] Asylum Campaign (Καμπάνια για το Άσυλο), Press Release, 2 June 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3U9yxhz.

[119] Greece: Athens Bar Association’s interpretation of the Greek Bar Code on guaranteeing the lawyer-asylum applicant relationship without criminalisation, 12 September 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3Ja4TCL.

[120] MoMA, Press release, 23 November 2021, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3yzVCzV.