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Frontex between Greece and Turkey, at the "Border of Denial"
Mariana Andrei - Communication Coordinator
15 September 2014
At the Greek-Turkish border the European Agency for controlling the external borders, Frontex, prevents persons in need of international protection from entering the EU. The latest report of the FRONTEXIT Campaign, "Frontex between Greece and Turkey: The Border of Denial”, underlines the dramatic consequences of the intensification of border surveillance (denying access to the territory, lack of access to the asylum procedure, physical and verbal violence etc.), and also the Agency’s lack of accountability.
Based on testimonies and correspondence with Frontex, the report documents the serious human rights violations committed within the agency's operations. Several European Union bodies as well as numerous civil society organisations have recently expressed their deep concern regarding the violations committed at that border.
The consequences of successful policies over the last months, which resulted in an increasing number of interceptions in the Aegean sea, were kept under silence by the Agency and the European Union: since September 2012 at least 191 deaths and over 30 missing have been recorded. The majority of the victims are Syrian and Afghan refugees, families and children. If they had succeeded in reaching the European Union they would certainly have been granted asylum.
Several testimonies have confirmed the practice of collective expulsions: migrants’ boats are intercepted and towed to Turkey by the Greek coastguards, often with violence and without the refugees having been identified, which is contrary to international law.
Frontex was informed about collective expulsions, problems of access to the asylum procedure, acts of violence and the inhuman and degrading treatment applied to migrants. Nevertheless the Agency continues to provide logistic support for the operations. “By continuing such activities (...), although it knew of the proven and repeated violations, the Agency is in fact an accomplice” declared Olivier Clochard, Migreurop president.
The report also highlights the lack of transparency, in particular the lack of access to the complete operational plans and the difficulty of making Frontex accountable for the implementation of the actions it coordinates.
The report is available in French and English on www.frontexit.org.
Source: http://www.migreurop.org/article2533.html?lang=fr
Based on testimonies and correspondence with Frontex, the report documents the serious human rights violations committed within the agency's operations. Several European Union bodies as well as numerous civil society organisations have recently expressed their deep concern regarding the violations committed at that border.
The consequences of successful policies over the last months, which resulted in an increasing number of interceptions in the Aegean sea, were kept under silence by the Agency and the European Union: since September 2012 at least 191 deaths and over 30 missing have been recorded. The majority of the victims are Syrian and Afghan refugees, families and children. If they had succeeded in reaching the European Union they would certainly have been granted asylum.
Several testimonies have confirmed the practice of collective expulsions: migrants’ boats are intercepted and towed to Turkey by the Greek coastguards, often with violence and without the refugees having been identified, which is contrary to international law.
Frontex was informed about collective expulsions, problems of access to the asylum procedure, acts of violence and the inhuman and degrading treatment applied to migrants. Nevertheless the Agency continues to provide logistic support for the operations. “By continuing such activities (...), although it knew of the proven and repeated violations, the Agency is in fact an accomplice” declared Olivier Clochard, Migreurop president.
The report also highlights the lack of transparency, in particular the lack of access to the complete operational plans and the difficulty of making Frontex accountable for the implementation of the actions it coordinates.
The report is available in French and English on www.frontexit.org.
Source: http://www.migreurop.org/article2533.html?lang=fr
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