Adriana Tidona Profile picture
Oct 13, 2022 18 tweets 10 min read Read on X
1/For 460 days Latvia's borders with Belarus have been under a “state of emergency” which allows border guards to push back refugees & migrants and suspends the right to seek asylum. Latvia denies these human rights violations. @amnesty report, out today, tells a different story. Image
@amnesty 2/We interviewed people, some with small children, stranded at #Latvia's border in 2021-2022.
They painfully described Latvian forces using tasers on their body, beating and humiliating them and nights spent sleeping on the snow, scared of bears & wolves. Take their word for it: Image
3/Beatings, forced nudity, torture and humiliation have nothing to do with border control. Image
4/People described "commandos" working with Latvian border guards, gratuitously using tasers on their bodies including genitals.
This constitutes torture.
Latvia denies officers having #tasers but law allows them.

These acts must be urgently investigated.⚖️
5/It is not only a migration & asylum issue.
The state of emergency restricts access to the border, affecting media workers and NGOs' ability to monitor.

@coe @CommissionerHR is concerned this has "prevented effective transparency and accountability for measures" at the border.
6/Without external scrutiny, people interviewed reported spending months stranded at the border, including being held in *tents* in undisclosed locations.
Latvian authorities only maintain using tents for humanitarian reasons.
The reality of people's experiences was much bleaker Image
7/Sometimes people were forced to go to tents after an initial apprehension.
Inside, they were kept held in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, forced to “shower” in the open, on the snow, heavily supervised and sometimes beaten for misbehaving. Image
8/Families back home were left in the dark.
People were held in undisclosed locations, having had their phones confiscated; left without safe alternatives to being continuously, violently pushed back between Latvia and Belarus.
This practice may constitute enforced disappearance Image
9/A small number of people were taken out of the border area and put into detention centres.
Yet, our research shows that some were only taken out after agreeing to return to their home countries under threats or coercion.
Many had already experienced pushbacks and abuses Image
10/Others were forced or misled to agree to return once in police stations or detention centers.
There, their attempts to report the abuses at the border to officers or judges fell on deaf ears.
@amnesty welcomed the @CoE_CPT visit to Latvian migration detention facilities in May Image
11/@amnesty is concerned that @UNmigration Latvia representative ignored evidence that people transferred in some “voluntary” returns had not given their consent.
IOM’s policy states that migrants’ agency & consent must be respected in returns and violations should be reported.
@amnesty @UNmigration 12/In Latvian detention centers, people are held systematically and hence arbitrarily, with serious concerns about access to legal assistance and external communication.
Migrant and refugee #children, accompanied and not, are routinely detained, in violation of international law. Image
13/While accountability is still far away, some promising signs:
Latvia’s own Internal Security Bureau (IDB) has opened an investigation into police and border guards’ behaviour, currently pending.

Pushbacks and other abuses by Latvia are being considered by the @ECHR_CEDH.
14/Let’s not forget that this is happening at several #EU borders.
Amnesty previously denounced similar abuses in #Lithuania and #Poland.
@amnesty condemned #Belarus' actions for recklessly facilitating migrants’ movements and for abusing them. bit.ly/3CTeJ9v
15/#EU condones Latvia & other states' claims that they face “hybrid threats” proposing tools that would allow them to derogate from asylum law
In Lithuania @EUCourtPress clarified the limits to the use of emergency powers to curb migrants’ rights
The same should happen in Latvia
16/@Frontex has long been active in Latvia.
Given the serious violations of human rights reported, it should start the process to suspend or terminate activities.
Today, an #OLAF report revealed concerning information about FRONTEX’s approach to violations of rights in Greece.
17/@amnesty asks Latvia to
- End the state of emergency
- Restore the right to asylum for all people, no matter how they travel.
- Investigate abuses
We ask #EU to activate infringement proceedings and ensure Latvia establishes an Independent Border Monitoring Mechanism/END Image
Ah - and if this thread was interesting to you, the full report is at: amnesty.org/en/latest/news…

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More from @AdrianaTdn

Sep 24, 2020
THREAD – Yesterday @EU_Commission launched its #Pact on Migration and Asylum, which includes a political communication and legislative proposals.

Some thoughts on the #EUMigration pact proposed 'gateway' into the EU and its asylum system: Screening procedures
1/A foreword: The pact insists on a dangerous fiction: people crossing borders irregularly and going through screening and border procedures are not ‘on EU territory’.

This must not be an attempt by the EU of avoiding responsibility for asylum-seekers and migrants at the border
2/Member states would still be exercising jurisdiction and control over these people and be responsible for violations against them

See CJEU on Hungary’s transit zones: amnesty.org/en/latest/news… - end of foreword
Read 15 tweets
Sep 15, 2020
As #Moria shows the tragic consequences of containment policies, @COE_Execution evaluate the @ECHR_CEDH case of M.S.S., which found conditions in Greece to violate the ECHR
Now more than ever supervision of this judgement must continue

@amnesty submission bit.ly/35F1ngU Image
2/M.S.S paved the way to temporarily stop returns of asylum-seekers from European members states to Greece due to the malfunctioning of its asylum system and the inadequate living conditions facing individuals.
3/The @COE_Execution should now assess if measures taken by Greece addressed the structural issues found by the Court in the areas of:
- asylum procedures
- living conditions in camps and facilities
- treatment of unaccompanied minors
- use and conditions of migration detention
Read 8 tweets
Jul 31, 2020
THREAD/1: In April and May @migrationgovgr introduced regulations on NGOs working on migration, asylum & integration. Today @amnesty analysis of the rules concludes that they violate the right to freedom of association, threatening civic space in Greece ➡️ bit.ly/2CYp0FD
2/The new Joint Ministerial Decision No 3063 on the registries of Greek and foreign NGOs and their members and Art 58 of law no. 4686/2020 require all NGOs working in migr/asylum to undergo a burdensome registration process in order to continue carrying out operations in Greece.
3/These provisions are both discriminatory, as they impose additional requirements without apparent justification and only on NGOs working with people on the move, and at odds with international principles on the registration of NGOs and freedom of association.
Read 17 tweets
Jul 6, 2020
This afternoon LIBE/@EP_Justice discusses #greece-#turkey situation with Greek Ministers and @YlvaJohansson. We urge the meeting to address ongoing pushback allegations, including the case of #naderaalmonla.
@EP_Justice
meeting - disappointing to hear @YlvaJohansson
saying "pushbacks are illegal" but that commission has no power to investigate. We need words to be put into action, pushbacks investigated and justice for victims - #whereisNaderaAlmonla
Minister Chrisochoidis replies to specific questions on incidents at borders saying 'we did not use guns' and 'if there is any allegations send it to us we will look into it'

We -and others- have been doing it for a while and still expect a response, including from this meeting.
Read 5 tweets
Jun 9, 2020
THREAD: On 1 June 11,237 refugees and migrants in Greece were asked to leave their accommodation. More will follow in the future. In the uncertainty of #COVID__19, which compounds risks for #refugeesgr, they are expected to earn and find homes for themselves. Some thoughts:
1/In March 2020 Greek law was changed so that, upon obtaining recognition, refugees and subsidiary protection beneficiaries would need to leave their accommodation within 30 days. Earlier, they had 6 months’ notice. This affects those in housing schemes, camps & other facilities.
2/@nmitarakis says that the 1 June deadline applies to 4000 people in #ESTIA housing scheme for 'vulnerable' people, run w/UNHCR, 1200 people renting places autonomously and 6037 residents of camps, hotels and other facilities. Cash assistance for basic needs is also discontinued
Read 21 tweets
May 7, 2020
1/Tomorrow Greece will vote a new reform of #asylum and #migration which would allow the systematic detention of migrants in return procedures & asylum-seekers who lost their appeal
As @amnesty we consider 🇬🇷 proposal on detention gravely irresponsible

Read about our concerns⬇️
2/The proposal is titled ''improvement of migration law"

But does it though?

Our key concerns:
- Systematic detention of asylum-seekers & migrants
- Procedural safeguards are further limited
- Removal of referrals for humanitarian protection
- Closed centres replacing camps
3/Systematic migration detention is both dangerous for people's health and against international principles requiring a presumption of liberty & the exploration of less-invasive measures

Forcing people into confined and often overcrowded spaces is not responsible during #COVID19
Read 6 tweets

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