#pushbacks

[tearsofrefugees]

Greek border pushbacks: Frontex reports describe abuse, masked men and a climate of impunity

Frontex reports and a recent BBC investigation have renewed scrutiny of Greece’s Evros border operations, documenting allegations of violent

[rightsinexile]

Weaponising geography on the Greek-Turkish border

This article was written by Josh Askew, a free-lance journalist based in Greece and the UK and reporter for the Border Violence Monitoring Network. It was published on the University of Oxford School of Law blog on 22 March 2021.

That Greece is illegally expelling migrants is well-known. Since 2016, the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN), along with other human rights watchdogs, has documented how migrants are being systematically detained by the Greek police, transferred to the Turkish border and forced out of the European Union (EU).

These expulsions are known as pushbacks. Distinct from deportation, push backs are when individuals are expelled to other countries without formal procedures or safeguards. Needless to say, they are illegal. Beyond flouting the principle of non-refoulement – which guarantees that no one should be returned to a country where they face persecution – pushbacks preclude asylum.

Pushbacks involve a concerning degree of violence. Driven by the perverse logic of a flawed deterrence strategy, Greek authorities have beaten, tortured, sexually assaulted  and killed migrants. Yet, since the end of 2020, the BVMN has observed a new, hybrid form of violence emerging on the Greek-Turkish border; one which incorporates geography itself. [Read more here.]

[indizombie]

Not all solidarities are the same. Far too often, expressions of outrage at what is happening ‘over there’ act as cover to ignore, dismiss, or otherwise minimize the ritual violence that happens right here. Europeans marching to defund the Minneapolis police might demand that their own governments defund Frontex, the EU border authority responsible for illegal pushbacks and deportations across the Mediterranean.

Noam Chomsky, 'Solidarity means dismantling the system everywhere', openDemocracy

[tearsofrefugees]

Greek police 'hiring masked migrants' to force back other migrants into Turkey | LBC

Greek police have been 'hiring masked migrants' to forcibly push other migrants back across the border with Turkey.

[tearsofrefugees]

UNHCR urges Lithuania to end migrant pushback policy, honour EU refugee commitments

A senior UN refugee agency official is urging Lithuania to reconsider its policy of turning back irregular migrants at t...

[tearsofrefugees]

Rejection of asylum seekers at border: German government defies court ruling

Germany’s government is defending border rejections despite a court ruling deeming them unlawful. Legal experts warn the practice likely vio

[tearsofrefugees]

'The border guards beat migrants': How EU border pushbacks are becoming banalized

Seeking asylum in Cyprus, Poland and Bulgaria is becoming increasing difficult given the number of pushbacks at the external borders of the

[tearsofrefugees]

India pushing back ‘illegal’ immigrants to Bangladesh

160 undocumented migrants from Bangladesh were flown on an Indian Air Force plane to Agartala from Ghaziabad on May 25, 2025 to be sent acro