Refugee Support Aegean, and Pro Asyl report on the violations identified by the Court in the Farmakonisi case not being isolated, contrary to the view expressed by the Greek government before the Council of Europe. They point to systemic deficiencies accounting for broader breaches of the right to life and the prohibition of torture in the general course of Coast Guard operations on border protection and rescue, as well as in the context of criminal investigation of complaints. These issues have re-emerged in the aftermath of the Pylos shipwreck of 14 June 2023 that left 82 people dead and several hundred missing. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has stressed that “the shipwreck of 14 June is unfortunately not an isolated incident” and urged for an effective investigation thereof.
Author: borderviolencelesvos
Update Week 38
Numbers of Lesvos
Numbers of the Aegean
Update Week 37
Numbers of Lesvos
Numbers of the Aegean
Update Week 36
Numbers of Lesvos
Numbers of the Aegean
Headhunters in Evros: the civilian face of Pushbacks
The wildfires are raging again in Europe’s south. In Greece, 1.2 million acres of forest and several villages have already been destroyed. Countless people and animals have been displaced and lost their homes.
Continue reading Headhunters in Evros: the civilian face of Pushbacks
Update Week 35
Numbers of Lesvos
Numbers of the Aegean
The Summer of State Murder
Over the last two months we have witnessed a series of murders in which the Greek State is the main actor. On 14 June, the fishing boat Adriana sank at the deepest point of the Mediterranean while the Greek Coast Guard dangerously tried to pull it towards Italy and killed more than 500 migrants who will probably never be found. On 8 July, a cop shot and killed a Syrian migrant in Larisa. On 10 July, Anna, a trans migrant woman, was murdered in her own home. On 26 July a migrant died in Amygdaleza detention center due to a lack of medical support. The detainee was sick and, according to other prisoners, prison personnel refused to provide him with medical treatment. When the ambulance arrived after many hours of waiting the man was already dead.
23/08/2023 – A Pandemic of Abuses
Report by the Legal Centre Lesvos and the Feminist Autonomous Centre for research documents how Greece dismantled the right to asylum and normalised the violation of migrants’ rights throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in Lesvos.
Radio VC Mytilene – Locked up for crossing the sea: Arbitrary Criminalization of Migrants
This episode of Voices Of Mytilene is about the arbitrary criminalization of migrants in Greece. Currently there are over a thousand migrants spending time in jail in Greece as they are accused of smuggling or other highly dubious charges. It is a not too well-known but nevertheless highly efficient method used by Greece – but also in other parts of Europe – to oppress and intimidate migrants.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4sIOzYLlTWXJG9QL23bR1S?si=8S8GxnkxTAGgngulXMGe4g
The Pylos massacre
The text “The Pylos Massacre” was published in Mytilene in August 2023. It was printed in both Greek and English, is available in different languages online and is free of charge. Its use is free for non-commercial purposes. Be sure to look into related published reports for more information.
- Read our public statement
- Read our statement to the Hellenic Coastguard
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- Get the German PDF!
- Get the French PDF!
- Get the Farsi PDF!
(more languages following soon!)