Report of Refugee Support Aegean and Pro Asyl on how seven years after signing the toxic EU-Turkey “agreement”, the East Aegean islands remain “black holes” for the fundamental rights of applicants for international protection. According to recent data, arrivals had increased significantly in late 2022 and early 2023. At the same time, allegations of deterrence practices and informal forced returns (pushbacks) at maritime borders continue. In the Closed Controlled Access Centres (CCAC) in Samos, Kos and Leros – the construction of which was 100% financed by the European Union – as well as in those in Lesvos and Chios, asylum seekers and their children live in remote areas with disproportionate security and surveillance measures, facing reported violent behaviour by security authorities and with significant shortcomings in legal assistance, medical care and interpretation. Shortcomings can be observed even in basic necessities due to delays in competitions, the withdrawal of NGOs, but also due to delays in the provision of the monthly financial assistance allowances provided for asylum seekers.
Author: borderviolencelesvos
How Lesvos learned to love the pushbacks
The text “How Lesvos learned to love the pushbacks” was published in Mytilene in May 2023. It was printed in both Greek and English and is available free of charge. Its use is free for non-commercial purposes.
Get the English PDF!
Get the Greek PDF!
30/03/2023 – Systemic deficiencies in the access of beneficiaries of international protection to documents and socio-economic rights
Structural problems persist in the access of recognised refugees to documents and their rights, according to the new annual report published by Refugee Support Aegean, and Pro Asyl. These problems are highlighted in the report also through many refugees’ personal stories, whose cases are taken over by RSA. While the European Commission decided in early 2023 to launch infringement proceedings against Greece for poor transposition of EU law, and countries such as Germany and the Netherlands have opposed the deportation of beneficiaries of international protection to Greece, except in exceptional cases, people are still returned in the country without any support, information or documents in force. Most difficulties are encountered vis-à-vis access to a residence permit (ADET), which is obstructed by an array of administrative barriers, and slow processing times at the different stages of the ADET issuance and/or renewal procedure, which may exceed one year. Without a valid ADET, refugees cannot access social benefits, health care, the labour market, or even authorise a legal representative.
Radio VC Mytilene – Children in the Camp
In this episode of „Voices of Mytilene“ they will talk about children in the camp on Lesvos. Almost 40% of people who live in the camp are children of different ages.
In this episode our guest , who is a teacher inside the camp talks about different perspectives on children’s life in the camp, the educational system, living conditions for children, their mental health and so on.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4rxJClf1j68bBaz1lztlq3?si=mOx31gasTqO61aR-fGKdPg
Update week 52
Numbers of Lesvos
Numbers of the Aegean
AGAINST PUSHBACKS: notes from Lesvos
The brochure “AGAINST PUSHBACKS: notes from Lesvos” was published in Mytilene. It was printed in both Greek and English in 200 copies and is available free of charge. Its use is free for non-commercial purposes.
Get the English PDF!
Get the Greek PDF!
Get the French PDF!
12/12/2022 – Submission of Legal Centre Lesvos to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
Based on its own documentation and reporting, the Legal Centre Lesvos demonstrates in a recent submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture that the illegal practice of systematic pushbacks in the Aegean region amount to torture, both under international and Greek law.
XX/09/2022 – The State of Border Procedure on the Greek Islands
Τhis report by Equal Rights Beyond Borders, HIAS, Refugee Support Aegean, Danish Refugee Council and Pro Asyl, examines the workings of border procedures implemented on the Greek islands from June 2021 to June 2022, revealing new concerns tied to poor quality of asylum procedures and to breaches of fundamental rights. These add to an abundant body of international criticism of the Greek asylum system and merit close scrutiny, not least in the context of ongoing EU-level negotiations on the reform of the Common European Asylum System.
XX/06/2022 – Relocation from Greece to Germany: Relief for the Hotspot System or Alibi Policy?
In this report, borderline-europe, Borderline Sicilia, Flüchtlingsrat Berlin, Sea-Watch and Equal Rights Beyond Borders. critically examine the ‘solidarity’ solution propagated by the EU for the arrival and redistribution of people detained in so-called hot-spot camps in Greece. They focus on the extent to which this procedure allows people seeking protection to preserve their autonomy as well as to escape situations of extreme insecurity. What does relocation offer people seeking protection within the EU to arrive and build a future? Does European asylum policy also relieve the burden on asylum seekers or is relocation exclusively about relieving the burden on EU member states that
are located at an external border of the Schengen area due to the Dublin Regulation?
About the July 2d Demonstration
On Saturday, July 2, a demonstration against border violence and more specifically, against the systematic and strategic deployment of pushbacks by the Greek State in coordination with the Greek Coast Guard, took place in the centre of Mytilene. The hostile attitude of the local authorities towards an organised demonstration against pushbacks was made clear from the beginning. By the time we started gathering at Sappho Square (the central square of Mitilini), the undercover police officers approached us and cautioned us against marching through the central market road, as we were planning to do.