Category: Statements

On Monday 4th March, four of the Moria 6, young men from Afghanistan convicted of burning down Moria camp will have their appeal trial against their ten year sentences. This appeal has already been postponed from 6th March last year, leaving the defendants to lose yet another year of their lives trapped in detention. We stand in solidarity with them, letting them know that they are not alone!

To be clear, it is not our business to determine how Moria burned: all we want to say is that without a doubt it had to. For years the situation in the camp had been deteriorating. Originally intended for 2,800 people, the population grew until it peaked in 2019 at around 20,000. It was notorious for a lack of hygiene, lack of basic needs, rapes and stabbings. In the end, those living there had enough, and in the beginning of 2020 they came to the streets to demand better living conditions. The response was a far-right takeover of Moria village and a general acceleration of far-right violence in Lesvos. What followed was a never-ending Covid lock-down on Moria camp, giving the far-right, and the government, what they wanted – no more migrants in public space.

Continue reading Call for Solidarity: Gathering with the Moria 6 outside Mytilene court, 4th of March 8:30

On the 6th of January, an invitation to contractors for emergency needs to strengthen the system of reception of immigrants and refugees in Lesvos was issued by the Greek government totaling a whopping 15 million Euros. The budget provided is allegedly for heating, motor oil, transport of non food items, restoring housing areas, strengthening the health system, and the expansion of the capacity of the Mavrovouni camp. While 15 million euros is already an unfathomable amount of capital to comprehend, the vague description of where this money is supposed to go leaves a lot of questions, which deserve a closer look:

Continue reading A never ending list of Questions

What would have been a moment of joy for many people turned yet into another slap in the face.

After waiting for over a year for an outcome on their asylum procedure, during the last months over 2000 people have received their positive decision. However, being recognized as a refugee doesn’t mean that you can leave the camp or the island immediately, since it can take several months for travel documents to be issued. However, the special task force is currently on Lesvos and is issuing documents in the hope of speeding up the process. Regardless, people still have to wait over a month in order to get their papers. On Tuesday 14 December, the camp’s policy suddenly changed once again.

Continue reading A Fitting End To Yet Another Miserable Year

The EU has just introduced a new Migration and Asylum Pact, and it’s significant for all the wrong reasons.. Brace yourselves for a useless migration policy that’s full of lies about why people move, and is even more vicious against them, further boosting the extreme right framework. The Migration Pact comprises five regulations: data control, border supervision, legal safeguards, crisis management, and the treatment of asylum seekers. The latter is pivotal because under the current arrangement, countries such as Spain, Italy, or Greece bear the brunt as the initial destination.

The pact tightens the criteria for granting asylum, resulting in prolonged detention periods at the borders. Remarkably, the pact sanctions the indefinite detention of children. Families, kids included, might find themselves caged at the borders or booted off to some so-called “safe third countries.”

Border officials are now authorized to conduct thorough pre-entry control, including fingerprint identification and the collection of facial data from children as young as six. They are also empowered to conduct searches if an individual is perceived as a “security threat, violent, or unlawfully armed,” as stated by the European Parliament.

The pact oversees every aspect, from the arrival of asylum seekers on EU soil to the decision of acceptance or rejection. It is designed to replace and fortify existing regulations, a deadlock that persisted for years until the EU Council reached an agreement in June. The newly implemented rules outline “flexible compulsory solidarity,” mandating each EU country to either accommodate a specified number of asylum seekers or contribute monetarily to a collective fund to finance the borders.

The “mandatory but flexible solidarity” sets quotas for the redistribution of asylum seekers. If a state rejects its share, a contribution of 20,000 euros per person to the common fund is mandated. Partners can also contribute tangible resources or assume management of individuals on their territory, even if they entered through another route.

But here’s the real talk: No pact can stop us.

We will not cease until the borders are destroyed.

No one is illegal.

No to the European border regime.

Get the PDF including background information here

“What am I to do without exile, without a long night staring at the water?”
– Mahmoud Darwish

For Gazans, the Eastern shore of the Mediterranean is a horizon. On all other frontiers, they have been subject to blockade since 2006, enclosed in what has been called “the world’s largest open-air prison”. The sea at least carries the possibility of hope. When, however, they try to cross this sea through the Aegean into Europe, it becomes a prison wall: from 2022-2023, more than 10,000 Palestinians were pushed back from the Greek islands while attempting to cross the Aegean Sea, the second largest nationality group (after Afghans) to be subject to this practice. Not only does Europe, through its blind-eye to the current Israeli onslaught, fail to protect the right of Palestinians to live in their own land, it even denies them the right to live in exile.

Continue reading From Gaza to Lesvos

During the last months we have seen the Greek State mentioning how efficiently they are rescuing people from the sea, and after the Pylos shipwreck it seemed like the authorities had changed their methods when it comes to pushbacks. It was noticed that there were hardly any life rafts found by the Turkish Coast Guard during summer, this could indicate that most probably there were not many pushbacks from land. But in fact, the border violence in Greece, and especially in the Aegean Sea, is still ongoing. In the last week alone, at least five incidents (where 6 people died and 1 is missing) of border violence made the news in the Aegean islands.

Continue reading Another deadly week of border violence in the Aegean Sea

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

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.

Continue reading The Summer of State Murder

On 13 June 2023 around 2pm, 750 migrants called for help off the coast of Pylos. According to Alarm Phone by 5pm the Greek authorities, including Hellenic Coast Guard, FRONTEX and UNHCR, were alerted. A nearby merchant vessel was informed of the distressed ship, but stated it could only intervene under the authority of the Hellenic Coast Guard.  Despite this, the merchant vessel provided water to the people in distress. Some time after midnight, the group called Alarm Phone for the last time.

Continue reading These are not accidents, they’re murders

Yesterday through the active neglect of Greek and European authorities at least 79 people died and hundreds more are missing, very likely dead. Later that day the Hellenic Coastguard tried to wash their hands by making a statement that assistance was refused by the people on the boat.

We could imagine why people would refuse your help, but that simply does not matter at all. A boat in distress, highly overcrowded, without a driver was in the middle of the sea. You knew it for hours and did nothing. You are the Coast Guard. This is supposed to be your job.

Continue reading Statement on Pylos to the Hellenic Coastguard