October 2024

No effective investigation into allegations of pushbacks

The data submitted on 21-10-2024 by the Ministry of National Defence to the Parliament, following a parliamentary question, confirms a pattern of ineffective investigation into allegations of pushbacks by the competent judicial authorities.

Συγκεκριμένα και σύμφωνα με τα στοιχεία According to these data, out of the total number of 125 cases investigated by the Prosecutor οf the Piraeus Naval Court over the last five years (2019-2024), on potential criminal liability of Coast Guard Authorities or Navy military personnel for alleged pushbacks cases, 106 have been archived, 15 remain pending to date and 4 have been transferred to other prosecutors' offices in the country due to their jurisdiction. Consequently, no criminal prosecutions have been brought in any of the pushback cases and no case has been brought to Court. This information follows the response of the Ministry of Justice, according to which all the pushback cases investigated by the other Public Prosecutors' Offices across the country regarding potential criminal liability of police authorities, have also been similarly archived after a preliminary investigation or remain pending to date, without any case having been brought before a court.  

It is characteristic that to this day well-documented pushback cases are still pending before the Greek Justice, such as the case of a FRONTEX interpreter, a case brought to light by the New York Timesin December 2021, for which the Greek authorities had committed to its full investigation. Although the Greek Ombudsman and the Frontex Fundamental Rights Officer, based on their own investigation, have concluded that the complaint is credible, the case is pending before the Greek judiciary for almost 3 years, with no known progress in terms of its effective investigation.

It is recalled that UNHCR has recorded 809 cases of ‘summary forced returns’, involving at least 28,497 persons. The National Commission for Human Rightsbased on the data of the Recording Mechanism of Informal Forced Returns, underlines that informal forced returns "have developed the pattern of a systematic and organised operation", while according to the Ombudsman «unlawful pushbacks at land and sea borders present features that do not correspond or correlate to an isolated phenomenon». «There is sufficient evidence to conclude that pushbacks to Türkiye have taken place and continue to take placeunderlines the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture in its recent report (7/2024).   

At the same time, and although no case has been referred for further investigation before the Greek judiciary, in June 2024, the European Court of Human Rights hold for the first time a hearing in two pushback cases, from Evros and Samos, following Applications lodged against Greece. The pushback case from the Evros land borders is supported by the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), which also represented the Applicant before the European Court of Human Rights, video of the hearing..

In addition, the Greek Council for Refugees has filed since March 2022 and to date, more than 80 applications for interim measures before the European Court of Human Rights with regards refugees at risk of pushback, all of which have been accepted by the Court. 

"No dates available"

This is the message received by those who attempt to follow the only procedure provided on the mainland for lodging an asylum application and accessing to asylum. Due to significant lack of interpretation, throughout most of October 2024, the platform of the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum does not grant appointments to appear before the competent authorities to register new asylum applications, while appointments that had already been scheduled, were postponed and the applicants, including persons belonging to vulnerable groups, received an email that they will be notified about the new date.

Failure to lodge an asylum application leaves those seeking international protection in the country, in a precarious situation, exposed to risks of arrest and detention and at the same time at risk of homelessness and destitution. Without a full registered asylum application, individuals have no access to reception facilities, food or financial assistance. The Greek Council for Refugees has during this period supported cases of third-country nationals who wished to apply for international protection, but due to the lack of access to the asylum procedure, they were arrested and detained under a return decision.

Meanwhile, those who are at the Malakasa Reception and Identification Center for the registration of their asylum application, including unaccompanied children,they remain in de facto detention, for a period which in some cases exceeds the 25-day maximum permitted period. This is for example, a family with minor children who have contacted GCR. They have been at the Malakasa Reception and Identification Center for over a month, without the procedures having been completed to date, without having received an asylum seekers’ card and consequently unable to leave the facility, as reported.

Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the application of the safe third country concept by the Greek authorities - a first step towards the annulment of an arbitrary policy

In a judgment delivered on 4 October 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union (Case C-134/2022), inter alia, underlined that EU law does not allow Member States to reject asylum applications as inadmissible, in application of the safe third country concept, in case that said country does not in fact accept the readmission of those persons.

The judgment was adopted following the preliminary ruling sent by the Council of State , examining the Application for Annulment brought by the Greek Council for Refugees and Refugee Support in the Aegean (RSA) for the cancelation of the 2021 Joint Ministerial Decision adopting a Safe third Country List. According to this Ministerial Decision, Türkiye has been designated as a safe third country for international protection applicants originating from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The two organizations supported the case before both the Council of State and the EU Court of Justice. 

The CJEU's judgment is of major importance because it overturns an arbitrary and abusive practice of the Greek authorities which has been in force for many years, of wholesale rejecting asylum applications as inadmissible under the safe third country principle, and puts an end to the denial of the rights of thousands of applicants, by prohibiting their rejection when there is no possibility of their readmission to Türkiye and dictating their individual examination in accordance with the Directive, GCR and RSA stressed..

The decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union is a first step in ending a policy adopted to expel asylum seekers from the country by making them irregular, beyond all reason and the spirit of law, said the Prsedent of the Board of Directors of GCR..

It should be reminded that between 2022 and 2023, the applications of more than 10,000 asylum seekers were rejected as inadmissible under the safe third country concept, even though any return to Turkey has been suspended already since March 2020. 

Two new Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in cases supported by the Greek Council for Refugees

The European Court of Human Rights published in October 2024 two new judgments in cases supported by the GCR.  

• In the case of H.T. v. Germany and Greececoncerning the return of an asylum seeker from Germany to Greece, the Court found a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights by the German Authorities on the ground that they failed to consider, prior to his return, the treatment that the applicant would face in Greece. The Court also found a violation by Greece due to the detention of the applicant for a period of 2 ½ months at the Leros police station immediately after his return from Germany (exposure to degrading treatment) and the ineffective examination of the detention conditions by the Greek Court. The Court's Judgment underlines the responsibility of the Contracting States to ensure and respect the fundamental rights of asylum seekers and refugees. This is particularly critical at a time when more and more European states are calling for the introduction of derogations and exceptions to the rules of EU and international human rights law in order to achieve the rapid return of asylum seekers and refugees to the country of first entry or their transfer to third countries. See German media reports on the Judgment.

• In the case of T.S. and M.S. v. Greecethe Court condemned Greece for the violations experienced in 2019 by two unaccompanied minor sisters from Afghanistan who were found homeless, despite their obvious vulnerability as minor girls, and subsequently detained in an adult women's cell under "protective custody" in a Pre-removal Detention Facility (Tavros PROKEKA). In the same case, on 21-3-2019, the Court granted interim measures (R39), also supported by GCR, by which the Court for the first time indicated to the Greek authorities to immediately remove the unaccompanied minors from the detention centre and to place them in a specialised centre for unaccompanied minors, paving the way for subsequent requests for interim measures in cases of unaccompanied minors who remained in detention pending their placement in a shelter.. These decisions have significantly contributed to the abolition of the practice of "protective custody" of unaccompanied minors in detention facilities.