The extended fence would be built in an already highly militarized border, with abundant border guards patrolling (including via @Frontex), thermal cameras and even a sound cannon being reportedly used.
In 2021 @amnesty documented 21 pushbacks by 🇬🇷authorities (19 in Evros), mostly violent, estimated to have affected 1,000+ people.
Victims went through detention & heinous abuse, sometimes amounting to torture, by 🇬🇷 authorities in cooperation with civilians, often armed.
In August '21 @YlvaJohansson declared that the release of additional border control funding to Greece would be conditional on the creation of an independent border monitoring mechanism to help prevent & investigate violations.
Greece’s National Transparency Authority, tasked with monitoring violations, fails to meet the conditions for independence and lacks the necessary expertise on the matter.
Its first investigation into pushbacks, which found no violations, was flawed.
Meanwhile, as recently as April, the @ECHR_CEDH granted interim measures in several cases of Syrian refugees, incl. 44 children, stranded on an islet in the Evros river, requesting Greece provide humanitarian assistance and not to remove the individuals.
Some of those individuals had already been pushed back to #Turkey
🧵Authorities in #Europe must stop violating the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and to non-discrimination of people that wish to express solidarity with #Palestinians.
The volume and frequency of bans and cancellations of public assemblies, meetings and cultural events across Europe critiquing the policies of the state of #Israel amounts to a ‘chilling effect’ on peaceful expressions of solidarity with Palestinians’ human rights.
Yesterday 1000s of anti-racist protesters in #Paris marched against #racism, police violence & for the protection of all children’s human rights. They did so in defiance of multiple attempts by the authorities to prevent them from protesting.
As we feared, the #EUMigrationPact agreed today looks set to:
· Weaken the rights of #asylumseekers, #refugees, and other migrants in the #EU
· Worsen existing legislation
· Fail to address urgent issues in European asylum and reception systems
In practice today’s deal will mean:
· More people detained at European borders
· More asylum seekers in substandard procedures
· Limited support for EU border states 🇮🇹🇬🇷🇪🇸
· Emergency measures that restrict asylum becoming the norm
· Less coherent border responses
Afghan refugee N. faces up to 10 years in prison for the death of his 6-year old son, who drowned on the journey from Turkey to Greece, while travelling with his father and 22 others in November 2020.
Hasan, also from #Afghanistan, faces smuggling charges for being at the wheel of the boat, and life imprisonment for N’s son’s death & 230 years in prison for endangering the lives of the other passengers.
70+ organisations are calling for the charges against both to be dropped
Amnesty has repeatedly denounced the increasingly hostile environment for refugees and migrants in Greece. Changes in Greek migration law and policy mean fewer safeguards for #asylumseekers and an increased possibility of detention.