In Greece, Pushbacks and Violence Against Refugees and Migrants Are Defacto Border Policy: Amnesty International

According to recent data from Amnesty International, Greek border guards are holding groups of refugees and migrants in a harsh and illegal manner before summarily returning them to Turkey, in violation of EU and international law.

The report, Greece: Violence, lies and pushbacks illustrates how the Greek government engages in illegal land and sea pushbacks. Its main focus is on illegal operations in the Evros region, which is located on the Greek-Turkish land border. In response to Turkey’s unilateral land border opening in February and March 2020, Greece forcibly forced refugees and migrants back.This new research indicates that human rights violations at Greece’s borders continue and have become an ingrained practise by tracking instances that occurred in the aftermath of those events from June to December 2020.

The vast majority of those interviewed by Amnesty International said they had been abused or witnessed violence by people they identified as uniformed Greek authorities as well as men dressed in civilian clothes. Blows with sticks or truncheons, kicks, punches, slaps, and pushes were common, resulting in serious injuries in some cases. In the presence of women and children, men were frequently subjected to humiliating and forceful naked searches.

According to Amnesty,the acts of violence documented in most cases were in violation of the international prohibition on cruel or degrading treatment. Due to their intensity and humiliating or punishing aim, some occurrences also constituted to torture.

Pushbacks aren’t limited to border areas. People are also being caught and detained on the Greek mainland before being unlawfully returned to the Evros region. Amnesty International met with four persons who were seized and detained unlawfully in northern Greece before being driven back to Turkey in bigger groups.

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