Thread by @LHreports

The EU is facilitating a deadly deportation machine in Turkey that is sending 100s of thousands of Afghans back to the Taliban & Syrians to ongoing conflict

A new investigation from @LHreports & partners reveals millions of euros spent on a system of abuse and forced returns 🧵

We found refugees in Turkey are being rounded up on the street, locked up & abused & then forced to sign 'voluntary' return forms

& Europe is supporting this system at every stage
@el_pais, @derspiegel, @politico, @nrc, @lemondefr, @espressonline, @Etilaatroz, @SIRAJ_SYRIA

In some cases, people deported by Turkey end up dead

Jamshid, an Afghan ex-military officer who tried to seek refuge in Turkey, was deported to Iran & then Afghanistan in the Summer of 2023

He was shot dead a month later

The EU has paid Turkey at least €213m to set up & operate approx. 30 removal centres, creating one of the world’s largest migrant detention systems, according to internal EU documents obtained via FOI

We found the EU is knowingly funding the creation of prison-like conditions in the removal centres

The budget includes money for:
- Barbed wire
- Higher walls
- Security guards

Interviews with 37 ex-detainees sheds light on horrific conditions in EU-funded removal centres – including severe overcrowding, filthy facilities & violence by guards

Video footage we obtained from inside the centres, as well as interviews with staff, support these claims

Detainees told us about ‘cold rooms’ in EU-funded removal centres, where people are held in rooms with cold air conditioning for hours, sometimes to coerce them into signing return forms

Lawyers & an NGO have described this practice, which Turkey denies, as a form of torture

The EU has even funded the technology used to identify and arrest Afghans & Syrians, even those legally in the country

& they’ve paid for some of the buses that take them to the detention centres and the Syrian border

European diplomats & an ex-EU official told us they’ve raised concerns internally that EU funding is facilitating illegal returns & abuses against refugees – but have been ignored. EU docs show abuses are an open secret.

‘Everyone knows, but they turn a blind eye,’ said a source

One of the Syrians deported with EU money isAbdul, whose 4-year-old son Ahmad suffers from a heart condition.

Abdul was forced back to Syria last year. Now Ahmad’s life is at risk

‘European leaders are fully aware of what is going on, they just don't want to get their hands dirty,’ says Emma Sinclair-Webb of @hrw

‘The EU is indirectly facilitating forced returns. They subcontract human rights violations to third countries’

This 7-month investigation is the result of a huge collaborative effort:
@mohannadnajar @sebnemarsu @murielska @stluedke @Andresmourenza @NicolasBourcier @MelvynIngleby @ZiaWeise @MoBassiki @MaybeMesud @jalil_rawnaq @YleniaGostoli @MahmoudNaffakh @giacomo_zando @maybulman

@fahimabed @bash_deeb @ElenaDebre @charlottealfred @tessapang_

All of the publications can be found here lighthousereports.com/investigation/…