Thread by @LHreports

1/ Europe’s border agency Frontex denies involvement in pushbacks but their own database shows the exact opposite. By analysing @Frontex data @LHreports can reveal how illegal push backs are registered and concealed

2/ @LHreports w/partners @derpsiegel @lemondefr @RepublikMagazin #Rundschau analysed incidents registered in Frontex’s own database & found the agency involved in pushing back at least 957 people from Greece to Turkey

3/ We used freedom of information laws to request Frontex data. They sent us partial data from their database, JORA, with crucial fields redacted. We got the incident type, dates & number of people involved but no descriptions

4/ Except for a sliver of unredacted data from 2020 which we used to help fill in the blanks elsewhere. With more of the picture now visible, we focused on what Frontex calls "preventions of departure."

5/ In Frontex speak this is when: third-country nationals are prevented at sea by third-country authorities in their territorial waters from attempting to enter EU territory

6/ In other words: when asylum seekers on boats crossing the Aegean are spotted by Greece or Frontex, Turkey is informed & moves to prevent the crossing & return them to shore in Turkey before they enter EU waters.

7/ There are hundreds of preventions in the JORA data we saw. And in 222 of these cases it was Frontex who detected (or even intercepted) the boats & were therefore involved. So were they really prevented from crossing into EU waters or were they pushed back after doing so?

8/ Well, in 22 of these cases we had OSINT evidence from the same dates/incidents. In every one of these cases preventions equalled pushbacks. The people, spotted by Frontex (logged in JORA), were removed from their boats & cast adrift on Greek life rafts
republik.ch/2022/04/27/ins…

9/ This means Frontex was involved in at least 957 people being pushed back between Mar '20-Sept '21. But the number of people recorded in JORA as being prevented >8,000. So the real number of pushback victims is far higher

10/ So does JORA's prevention of departure equate to pushback? With @derspiegel we asked sources at Frontex, they said yes. A Greek coastguard said: “Why don’t they call it pushbacks in their database & get over with it”?
spiegel.de/ausland/fronte…

11/ We also reconstructed one incident where people, spotted by Frontex, had gone ashore on a Greek island before being pushed back on life rafts. Again, JORA shows Frontex’s direct involvement. lemonde.fr/international/…

12/ Whenever Frontex ticked the box that they detected & were involved in an incident, little clarification of their role is given, nor mention of life rafts. This can mean misleading data is used for risk analyses & by scrutiny groups investigating #Aegean Frontex actions

13/ The findings by @LHreports & media partners are potentially critical to the referendum in Switzerland where people must decide whether they want to contribute to the Frontex budget
srf.ch/news/internati…

14/ Big shout out for the team putting this together:
@SchumacherKeto
@crls__
@g_christides
@stluedke
@TomasStatius
@JuliaPascualita
@LukasHaeuptli
@klaasvandijken
@bash_deeb
@EmmanFre
@GabriGatti_DIP
@HtetAung04
@JackSapoch