On Thursday 7 November 2013, ECRE Member Pro Asyl will publish a report entitled Pushed Back: Systematic Human Rights Violations against Refugees in the Aegean Sea and at the Greek-Turkish land border. The research contained in the report is based on interviews with refugees, mostly Syrians, who were allegedly pushed back from Greece to Turkey.

Greece has been accused of blatant human rights violations before, but the brutality and the extent of violations found by the report are shocking. According to the report, masked Special Forces ill-treat refugees upon apprehension, detain them illegally on Greek soil and then deport them back to Turkey, in direct breach of international law. Special Units of the Greek Coast Guard abandon refugees in Turkish territorial waters without consideration for their safety.

The launch of the report will be held from 10.30am to 12.00pm at the Residence Palace, room Passage, rue de la Loi 155, Brussels. Please contact afontal@ecre.org  in order to register. There will be speeches from Karl Kopp, Director of European Affairs, Pro Asyl, Germany, and Michael Diedring, Secretary General of ECRE. Discussions can be followed on Twitter using the hashtag #pushbacks.


 


This article originally appeared in the ECRE Weekly Bulletin of 31 October 2013
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