First off: We are back – after a long hiatus barred behind firewalls and various projects!
In its October 29th issue, German news magazine, DER SPIEGEL (article is in English), reports on inhumane expulsion practices by Greek officials dealing with refugees along the country's shores.
German refugee rights organization ProAsyl and the Greek Group of Lawyers for the Rights of Refugees and Asylum Seekers have issued a condemning report on the human rights violations that are apparently common practice in the refoulement of unwanted refugees and would be migrants in Agean Sea.
The report alledges the following:
“The Greek coast guard systematically maltreats newly arrived refugees. It tries to block their
boats and force them out of Greek territorial waters. Regardless of whether they survive or not, passengers are cast ashore on uninhabited islands or left to their fate on the open sea.
In one reported case on the Chios island, the degree of maltreatment amounted to torture (serious beating, mock execution, electric shocks, pushing a refugee's head into a bucket full of water).
This is in contravention of international law. Without exception, all new arrivals are placed under a deportation order, also in breach of international law. The detainees are left without any information about their rights and without legal counsel.
All three of the detention camps visited by the delegation offer unacceptable living conditions.The circumstances of detention amount to degrading and inhuman treatment.”
ProAsyl and its supporting organizations, including the European Council for Refugees and Exiles, ECRE, are calling upon the EU to take rapid, punitive action against Greece, respective of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Geneva Convention on the Protection of Refugees and existing European Directives.
Read ProAsyl's press release here (PDF).
Download the full report here.
