GREECE: Greek authorities accused of yet another maritime pushback ― Investigation reveals that Greek authorities knew that ‘Pylos 9’ were not human traffickers ― UNHCR expresses concern about deaths in Aegean ― UN raises concerns about identification and protection of victims of human trafficking in migration centre in Samos ― Protests in refugee camps over lack of interpreters | European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE)

Authorities in Greece have been accused of yet another maritime pushback.
A journalistic investigation has revealed that the Greek authorities were aware that the nine people who they imprisoned for almost a year on charges relating to one of the Mediterranean’s deadliest shipwreck were not members of a human trafficking network.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has expressed its concerns about the number of people who have died in the Aegean Sea whilst attempting to reach Greece.
The UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children, has raised concerns about the failures in the identification and protection of victims and potential victims of trafficking in the closed control access centre on Samos.
There have been protests in a number of refugee camps in Greece due to a critical lack of interpreters, and a group of NGOs have written an open letter to the Greek authorities on the issue.

Authorities in Greece have been accused of yet another maritime pushback. The Turkish coastguard has claimed that the 22 adults and 5 children that it rescued from a boat off the coast of Urla (Izmir district) on 2 December had been “pushed back into Turkish territorial waters by Greek assets”. According to data published by the NGO Aegean Boat Report (ABR), 492 boats carrying 14,005 people have been pushed back from Greek waters into Turkish waters since the start of 2024. ABR has also reported that during the same period, 1,521 boats carrying 44,977 people arrived on the Greek islands and that the Turkish coastguard and police stopped an additional 2,219 boats carrying 59,142 people.

A journalistic investigation has revealed that the Greek authorities were aware that the nine people who they imprisoned for almost a year on charges relating to one of the Mediterranean’s deadliest shipwreck were not members of a human trafficking network. According to the investigation by the NGO Solomon in co-operation with Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, El País, Die Tageszeitung and the New Humanitarian, the Egyptian authorities informed their Greek counterparts within a month that the nine Egyptian men who were arrested and imprisoned for their supposed involvement in the deaths of more than 600 people in a shipwreck that took place off the coast close to the town of Pylos in June 2023, did not, in fact, belong to the network that had organised the voyage. The journalists revealed that the Greek authorities had initially been given a detailed list of the members of the network, which did not include the nine men, and then the results of Egyptian authorities’ investigations, which further confirmed it. They also revealed that Egypt’s top official for combating migrant smuggling had informed the Egyptian Public Prosecutor’s Office that the ‘Pylos9’ – as the men came were dubbed by campaigners – were “victims” of the real smugglers, just like the other survivors. Despite being in possession of this crucial information, the Greek authorities charged the men with people smuggling and kept them in pre-trial detention for almost a year until their case was dismissed a court in Kalamata in May 2024. Commenting on the outcomes of the journalistic investigation, the FreePylos9 campaign X posted: “As everyone knew from the beginning, the arrest and pre-trial detention of the ‘Pylos 9’ was an attempt to distract from the real culprits behind the state crime of Pylos”. “The crime of Pylos will not be forgotten,” it added.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has expressed its concerns about the number of people who have died in the Aegean Sea whilst attempting to reach Greece. In a statement issued on 29 November, the UNHCR noted that “the tragic loss of life in the Aegean must serve as a call to action to prevent further tragedies and uphold our shared commitment to protecting those fleeing conflict, persecution, violence and human rights violations”. It acknowledged the “immense risks, including injury, exploitation by smugglers and loss of life” that the people who tried to cross the Aegean Sea in “unseaworthy vessels” faced and expressed its concern that “some deterrence actions may involve risky practices and pursuits that may further endanger lives”. Commenting on the fact that at least 45 people have died whilst trying to travel from Türkiye to Greece so far in 2024, the UNHCR’s representative in Greece, Maria Clara Martin, said that the deaths highlighted the “urgent need for long-term responses and safer credible alternatives” for the people involved. “Counting lives lost at sea cannot become a norm; we should not get used to it,” she added. The UNHCR’s statement came in response to two tragedies that took place within days of each other. On 25 November, two women and six minors died off the coast of the island of Samos, while on 28 November, four people, including two children, died when their boat ran aground on a rocky shore on the island.

The UN Special Rapporteur (SR) on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children, has raised concerns about the failures in the identification and protection of victims and potential victims of trafficking in the closed control access centre (CCAC) on Samos. In a letter to the Greek government dated 2 September and made public on 2 December, UNSR Siobhán Mullally wrote that although 285 of 2,170 people seeking asylum who had arrived on Samos in 2022 were potential victims of trafficking, accounts by 14 victims/survivors had revealed that “no proper identification, or appropriate accommodation and medical, psychological and material assistance was made available to them”. “The allegation of lack of adequate identification, is supported by the low numbers of survivors of trafficking identified and referred to the National Referral Mechanism across Greece, which could indicate inadequate identification processes for potential victims of trafficking,” Mullally said. In addition to describing the CCAC as “not suitable for a survivor of trafficking and sexual violence”, she also expressed concern that the Samos Greek Asylum Service failed to “take into consideration incidents of trafficking and other forms of violence when assessing the eligibility of applicants for international protection unless the incidents took place in the applicants’ countries of origin. “The asylum claims of these women were inextricably linked to their experiences of trafficking, given the risk of re-trafficking they face upon return to their countries of origin,” she said, adding: “However, the Greek authorities reportedly did not recognise these women’s status as victims at any point of the process towards the asylum decision”.

There have been protests in a number of refugee camps in Greece due to a critical lack of interpreters. According to ECRE member organisation Refugee Support Aegean, “severe deficiencies in interpretation services over recent months have affected both refugee camps in Greece and the Greek Asylum Service”. In early November, people living in camps in Kavala and Koutsochero held sit-ins to demand interpretation for their basic communication, medical needs and, most importantly, for their asylum interviews”. “We arrived in Koutsochero camp on 4 October and we still do not have an interview date,” one protestor told the NGO Mobile Info Team (MIT), adding: “They told us that there are no appointments because there are no interpreters”. According to MIT, the protests took place “against a backdrop of longstanding under-resourcing of Greece’s asylum and reception services, including persistent disruptions to the provision of interpretation services and poor living conditions and limited access to services in refugee camps”.

The protest in the refugee camps has received the backing of a group of NGOs who have called on the Greek authorities to restore interpretation services. In an open letter to several government ministers, 37 NGOs, including six ECRE member organisations (Fenix – Humanitarian Legal Aid, Greek Council for Refugees, Greek Forum of Refugees, HIAS Greece, Safe Passage International A.M.K.E and Second Tree) have urged the Greek authorities to reinstate interpretation services, release a statement explaining when procedures will resume, reinstate all asylum processes, issue interim documents to people who have received an initial rejection, take action to reduce the backlog, ensure that all people who may be affected by any future disruptions to asylum procedures are adequately informed, and provide immediate interpretation support in healthcare settings.

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