The Greek coast guard illegally pushed back asylum seekers, abandoning them in an inflatable life raft at the edge of their territorial waters, the New York Times revealed on Friday (19 May), providing videos where a coast guard boat, partially funded by the EU, was used to complete the task.
According to the investigation, the boat was identified as the Coast Guard vessel 617, mostly paid by EU funds according to archived lists of Greek Coast Guard assets.
The European Commission has said that it is “concerned by the footage”, and that the executive will discuss the matter with Greek authorities.
The Commission’s migration spokesperson Anitta Hipper told The New York Times that Greece “must fully respect obligations under the EU asylum rules and international law, including ensuring access to the asylum procedure”.
A similar answer was given by the EU executive when the SOS Mediterranee boat Ocean Viking was aggressively approached by the Libyan coastguard, to prevent the rescue ship from saving some 80 migrants in distress.
EU Commission will listen to Libyan version of Ocean Viking incident
The European Commission will listen to the version of Libyan partners about the incident that occurred with the NGO SOS Mediterranee boat Ocean Viking on Saturday (25 March), Commission spokesperson Peter Stano told the press on Monday.
According to the Ocean Viking Crew and the Italian media Radio Radicale, the Libyan coast guard used an ex-Italian asset named ‘656 Zawia’, donated to them by the EU, to prevent the search and rescue operation by the NGO.
Peter Stano, the Commission’s foreign affairs spokesperson, told journalists that the EU executive had asked for clarification of the incident to Libyans.
A well-established pattern
In the past, Greek authorities have always denied that using the practice of abandoning people in small rafts at sea, a thesis debunked by the investigation, which confirmed the violation of national, EU and international laws by national officials.
However, violent and illegal push backs as well as physical abuses to migrants by law enforcement officials are a regular reality, as the Council of Europe (CoE) stated in an annual report published on 30 March.
Physical abuse of migrants prevalent in Europe, Council of Europe finds
The Council of Europe (CoE) identified a ‘clear pattern’ of physical abuse and torture in the context of illegal pushbacks of migrants by law enforcement officials, according to the annual report of the CoE anti-torture committee revealed on Thursday (30 March).
[Edited by Benjamin Fox]
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Source: euractiv.com
