/flash-actu

signé Pepe Escobar

C’est moi où c’est bourré de raccourcis ? Sous couvert de factualité brute il balance des trucs éminemment sujets à caution, on le sait bien à la lecture de tout ce qui circule sur les études de Raoult depuis ces derniers jours. Exemple :

Raoult was part of a clinical trial that in which hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin healed 90% of Covid-19 cases if they were tested very early.

Je trouve la phrase un tantinet manipulatrice, car elle laisse supposer que la fiabilité statistique du test de Raoult n’est pas questionnable, alors qu’on sait ce qu’il en est par ailleurs, suffisamment de liens ont été postés ici sur la question.

Par ailleurs l’article est intéressant sur les liens du pouvoir avec l’industrie pharmaceutique, mais il me semble qu’en ce moment tous ceux qui opposent la collusion de ce gouvernement avec l’industrie pharma à la supposée géniale indépendance de Raoult se plantent complètement.

Après ça il y a des réflexions intéressantes, sur la destruction méthodique du système de santé en particulier.

Un dernier truc qui me paraît gros, émanant de sa source française et balancé brut de fonderie :

« They did not make life easy for Professor Raoult – he received death threats and was intimidated by ‘journalists.’ »

Euuhh ? Quelqu’un à des infos là dessus ? Ça m’étonne quand même qu’on en ait pas entendu parler plus que ça ?

Alors par contre après avoir googli Valérie Bugault, on peut se rendre compte qu’elle a des lieux de publication pas franchement recommandables :
▻https://chouard.org/blog/2020/02/17/important-derriere-le-liberalisme-la-dictature-des-institutions-britannique
▻http://www.comite-valmy.org/spip.php?article11655

@ericw L’annonce même que « la France est en train de cacher » un médicament est ridicule. La preuve : même Asia Times et Donald Trump connaissent tous les détails sur les bienfaits de ce produit…

C’était signalé dans Le Canard Enchaîné de cette semaine.

Le parquet ne retient - pour le moment ? - que «  actes d’intimidation  ».

Coronavirus : enquête ouverte après des menaces visant le Pr Raoult
▻https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/coronavirus-enquete-ouverte-apres-des-menaces-visant-le-pr-raoult-20200326

Une enquête a été ouverte à la suite d’« actes d’intimidation » visant le médecin de Marseille Didier Raoult, dont les préconisations pour un traitement à base de chloroquine des malades du Covid-19 font polémique, a indiqué ce jeudi le parquet de Nantes. « Une enquête est en cours pour actes d’intimidation mais pas menaces de mort », a précisé à l’AFP Pierre Sennès, procureur de la République de Nantes. Il a indiqué que le parquet de Nantes avait été saisi car l’origine de l’appel téléphonique visant le directeur de l’institut hospitalo-universitaire (IHU) Méditerranée se trouve à Nantes.

Initialement ouverte par le parquet de Marseille, l’enquête « a été transmise au procureur de la République de Nantes, en raison du domicile de l’auteur des faits présumé », avait indiqué un peu plus tôt à l’AFP la procureure de Marseille Dominique Laurens, confirmant une information du journal La Provence.

Selon La Provence, cette enquête a été ouverte suite à des menaces reçues par le professeur Raoult les 1er et 2 mars. Le téléphone utilisé pourrait être celui d’un médecin du CHU de Nantes, selon Le Canard Enchaîné dans son édition hebdomadaire.

L’infectiologue marseillais n’a pu être joint directement jeudi. Interrogé par l’AFP, l’IHU Méditerranée infection a indiqué « ne pas faire de commentaire sur une procédure en cours ».

La Provence, mais c’est 6 heures plus tôt que Le Figaro mentionne les mentions du dépôt de plainte, y compris «  menaces de mort  » mais se contente d’évoquer, très discrètement, des doutes, «  de source judiciaire  » sur la qualification de l’infraction…

Faits divers - Justice | Menaces de mort sur le professeur Raoult : l’enquête confiée au parquet de Nantes | La Provence
▻https://www.laprovence.com/actu/en-direct/5944665/push-plainte-raoult.html

Le professeur Didier Raoult a déposé plainte à la suite de menaces de mort qu’il aurait reçues les 1er et 2 mars. L’enquête a d’abord été ouverte par le parquet de Marseille. « Elle vient d’être confiée au parquet de Nantes en raison de l’origine des appels présumés », précise-t-on ce matin de source proche de l’enquête. Le téléphone utilisé pourrait en effet être celui d’un médecin du CHU de Nantes, ainsi que l’indique Le Canard Enchaîné dans son édition hebdomadaire. L’infectiologue marseillais n’a pu être joint.

Sa plainte a été déposée pour « menaces de mort » et « acte d’intimidation envers une personne chargée d’une mission de service public ». Les propos invoqués seraient les suivants : "Tu vas arrêter de dire des conneries d’ici demain 14 h, sinon tu verras", puis « Moins de quatre heures pour te rétracter sur la chloroquine ». « Cela mérite une enquête mais aussi un examen de l’infraction sur le plan pénal », a précisé une source judiciaire.

@arno oui oui, j’adore ce genre de preuve circulaire : encore de grands découvreurs du mouvement perpétuel.

entendu dire qu’un numéro dédié a été mis en place par l’état...

►https://twitter.com/haikatte/status/1239305400828211203

COVID-19 isolation could create ‘fertile ground for domestic violence’

https://www.euractiv.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/shutterstock_716866177-800x450.jpg

On the day that France’s President Emmanuel Macron announced sweeping plans to go into a 15-day period of enforced lockdown from Tuesday, concerns also arose as to the potential increase in cases of gender-based domestic violence, following a previous surge in China under similar conditions.

“The crisis that we are going through and the quarantine could unfortunately create a fertile ground of domestic violence,” read a statement from France’s Secretary of State in charge of Gender Equality, Marlène Schiappa, adding that with the new quarantine measures in France, “the situation of emergency shelters for female victims of domestic violence is a major concern.”

The statement also recognised that although courts in France are on lockdown, domestic violence cases are still open and being dealt with, and that the government website, Arretons Les Violences is still online, but that the ‘3919’ emergency hotline service for domestic violence victims will be operating under a reduced service.

It is understood the state department will hold talks with the Fédération Nationale Solidarité Femmes on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of keeping the line open.

The French Feminist collective NousToutes also recently highlighted the potential risk of domestic violence cases rising as a result of enforced isolation and called upon victims to make use of the 3919 emergency hotline.

“Being confined at home with a violent man is dangerous. It is not recommended to go out. It is not forbidden to flee. Need help? Call 3919,” a statement from the group on Twitter read.

Not forgetting the victims

Due to the potential stress on public services as part of France’s ongoing battle against the coronavirus outbreak, some in Europe have been calling for the authorities to make sure that the authorities do not lose sight of the work they do in tackling domestic violence.

Amandine Clavaud, policy adviser on Europe and gender equality at the Fondation Jean-Jaurès in Paris told EURACTIV that there is a need for an increase in vigilance on behalf of public bodies, with regards to these types of issues.

“We have to be very attentive to the risks towards women and children amid this crisis, because the work of associations will possibly slow down with the quarantine,” she said.

“In the case where public services reach saturation point, the treatments of domestic violence cases should definitely not be left-behind, but fully part of the whole strategy in dealing with the crisis.”

Crisis abuse cases

Concerns have arisen both in the United States and China with regards to the increase in domestic violence cases that could occur as a result of people in abusive relationships being forced to isolate together, and rights groups in Europe have now started to sound the horn over potential blindspots in this area.

“In times of crisis and natural disasters, there is a documented rise in domestic abuse. As normal life shuts down, victims – who are usually women – can be exposed to abusers for long periods of time and cut off from social and institutional support,” the European Institute for Gender Equality’s Jurgita Pečiūrienė told EURACTIV.

“The financial insecurity that often prohibits domestic violence victims from leaving abusers can also worsen in the aftermath of a crisis,” Pečiūrienė, who specialises in gender-based research, said.

She added that there is a worrying deficit of data in the EU with regards to information sharing in the context of home-based violence amid national crises.

“A lack of data in Europe prevents countries from learning from each other to ensure police and other support services can adapt to changing patterns of domestic violence in times of crisis,” she said.

China & the US

The measures imposed by the Chinese government in response to the COVID-19 outbreak for citizens to self-isolate for 14 days led to a surge in the recorded instances of domestic violence, according to reports from activists working in the country, as well as employees as women’s shelters.

Meanwhile stateside, a statement released by the US National Domestic Abuse Hotline over the weekend noted that domestic violence abusers may seek to capitalise on the forced measures for domestic violence sufferers to isolate themselves.

“Abuse is about power and control. When survivors are forced to stay in the home or in close proximity to their abuser more frequently, an abuser can use any tool to exert control over their victim, including a national health concern such as COVID-19,” the statement read.

“In a time where companies may be encouraging that their employees work remotely, and the CDC is encouraging “social distancing,” an abuser may take advantage of an already stressful situation to gain more control.”

▻https://www.euractiv.com/section/coronavirus/news/covid-19-isolation-could-create-fertile-ground-for-domestic-violence

signalé par @isskein

#coronavirus #femmes

Je partage ici les pensées d’une amie. Je ne sais pas si elle veut que son nom soit dévoilé, je laisse donc son témoignage (que j’ai reçu par email, le 18.03.2020) de manière anonyme, car elle pose des pensées qui sont très importantes à mes yeux et que ça vaut la peine qu’elles soient partagées...

Voici son message :

J’avais aussi dans ma liste « conséquences dramatiques du confinement » : la hausse des IVG, IST, dépressions, pétages de plombs des plus isolé.es, des santés mentales fragiles, etc... mouarf.

En fait, en gros, pour moi, la question principale est : si on pense que le confinement est la seule manière de combattre la pandémie, alors il faut le faire de façon responsable, c’est à dire en mettant en place des mesures CONCRETES pour éviter la création de conséquences graves en parallèle... parce que sinon, pour moi ça donne une situation paradoxale : on sauve effectivement des vies d’un côté, et d’un autre, on envoie d’autres à des situations de souffrance extrêmes et aussi à la mort... comment on tient les comptes alors ? Combien seront « sauvé.es », pendant que d’autres mourront d’autre chose que du coronavirus ?

Annoncer un confinement :
– sans garantir de revenu minimum pour un tas de professions / gens (notamment les gens comme moi qui ne sont pas salarié.e mais intermittent.es du spectacle, ou artisans, etc...)
– sans garantir une protection des personnes (enfants y compris !) victimes de violences
– sans garantir une prévention / un suivi des réductions des risques...
– sans regarder en face qu’on va « sauver » des milliers de vies d’un côté oui, mais envoyer des milliers de gens vers des souffrances extrêmes , à aussi à la mort d’un autre côté ...

ça me semble étrange et irresponsable.

J’en parle très peu autour de moi, parce que c’est un sujet brûlant, je sens qu’il y a comme une sorte de consensus hyper général (comme après les attentats de Charlie)... et ça semble difficile d’émettre une opinion un peu critique...

En vrai, j’applique les « gestes barrières » et les consignes de sécurité, parce que je suis pas débile, XXX et moi on fait au mieux pour nous et pour les autres, et on a je crois un sens aïgue de la solidarité...

et c’est justement parce que je me sens solidaire que j’ai aussi conscience que c’est pas une bonne idée pour des tonnes de gens, pour une tonne de situations sociales, ce confinement.
Donc, prenons en compte tous les aspects de cette situation de pandémie : les données sanitaires ne sont pas les seules à prendre en compte il me semble. Il faut les croiser avec les données sociologiques, sociales, psychologiques. Nan ?

Et puis, aussi, je trouve ça un peu « gros » quand Macron, dans son allocution guerrière d’hier soir, culpabilise les « inconscient.es » qui se baladent dans les parcs un dimanche après-midi dans un contexte de pandémie, alors qu’ils maintiennent les élections municipales, ou que bon nombre d’entreprises/banques/institutions ne sont pas obligées de fermer. Pourquoi ma voisine continue à aller bosser dans son usine de production d’objets inutiles, voir nuisibles à la planète et à la société alors que je ne peux pas aller faire courir mes gosses dans le parc en bas de chez moi ???
Il faudrait peut être tenir une ligne claire et cohérente non ?

Le confinement exacerbe les violences conjugales et complique leur prise en charge

►https://seenthis.net/messages/832378

Femmes italiennes confinées au temps du coronavirus : « L’urgence a amplifié les #inégalités et les #oppressions »
►https://seenthis.net/messages/831344

For some people, social distancing means being trapped indoors with an abuser

As more cities go under lockdown, activists are worried that attempts to curb coronavirus will inadvertently lead to an increase in domestic violence.

Coronavirus is fuelling domestic violence

Home is supposed to be the safest place any of us could be right now. However, for people experiencing domestic violence, social distancing means being trapped inside with an abuser. As more cities go under lockdown, activists are worried that attempts to curb the coronavirus will inadvertently lead to an increase in domestic violence.

Domestic violence is already a deadly epidemic. One in three women around the world experience physical or sexual violence, mostly from an intimate partner, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). As the WHO notes: “This makes it the most widespread, but among the least reported human rights abuses.” Gender-based violence tends to increase during humanitarian emergencies and conflicts; “women’s bodies too often become battlefields”.
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Reports from China suggest the coronavirus has already caused a significant spike in domestic violence. Local police stations saw a threefold increase in cases reported in February compared with the previous year, according to Wan Fei, the founder of an anti-domestic violence not-forprofit. “According to our statistics, 90% of the causes of violence are related to the Covid-19 epidemic,” Wan told Sixth Tone, an English-language magazine based in China.

A similar story is playing out in America. A domestic violence hotline in Portland, Oregon, says calls doubled last week. And the national domestic violence hotline is hearing from a growing number of callers whose abusers are using Covid-19 to further control and isolate them. “Perpetrators are threatening to throw their victims out on the street so they get sick,” the hotline’s CEO told Time. “We’ve heard of some withholding financial resources or medical assistance.”

With all attention focused on curbing a public health crisis, the problem of private violence risks being overlooked or deprioritized by authorities. In the UK, for example, schools are now closed to everyone except for the children of key workers performing essential services. Domestic violence professionals have been left off this list; apparently preventing abuse at home isn’t an essential service. Dawn Butler, Labour’s women and equalities spokeswoman, has asked the prime minister to “urgently reconsider” this classification and consider implementing emergency funding to help people in danger escape domestic abuse during the crisis. “[T]wo women are killed every week by a partner or former partner,” Butler tweeted. “If the Govt fails to prepare and plan more people will die.”

Now more than ever we need to look out for the most vulnerable in our society; activists are calling on neighbors to be extra aware and vigilant of possible cases of domestic violence. Retreating into our homes doesn’t mean cutting ourselves off from our communities. We’re all in this together.
Harvey Weinstein begins his 23-year sentence

The convicted rapist was transferred to a maximum-security prison in New York on Wednesday. New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, recently announced that New York will produce its own hand sanitizer, manufactured by prison inmates making as little as $0.16 an hour – so it’s possible that Weinstein might end up making state sanitizer.
Remembering the Latina who invented hand sanitizer

Did you know hand sanitizer was invented by a woman? In 1966 a student nurse named Lupe Hernandez realized that alcohol in gel form could be used to wash hands when there was no access to soap and water. Hernandez, who was based in California, quickly called an inventions hotline to patent the idea.
Four men executed over Delhi rape and murder

In 2012 a 23-year-old medical student was brutally gang-raped and murdered in a Delhi bus; a crime which shook the world and sparked unprecedented protests in India. On Friday four of the men convicted of the crime were hanged, the first time in five years capital punishment has been used in the country. One family may have got closure but the situation for Indian women remains bleak. “[I]n India, where a rape of a woman is reported every 16 minutes, this is no time for celebration,” argues a CNN op-ed. Since the attack India has introduced tougher sexual assault laws but rapes have continued to go up; in 2018, the last year for which there are statistics, they were significantly higher than in 2012.
New Zealand passes law to decriminalize abortion

“For over 40 years, abortion has been the only medical procedure considered a crime in New Zealand,” the country’s justice minister said in a statement. “But from now abortions will be rightly treated as a health issue.”
Catherine Hamlin, trailblazing doctor, dies at 96

The Australian gynecologist devoted much of her life to treating Ethiopian women with obstetric fistula – an injury sustained in childbirth that leaves women incontinent and often ostracized by their community.
Marvel unveils its first black non-binary superhero: Snowflake

Snowflake has a twin brother called Safespace. The reaction to these names has been less that ecstatic.
The average woman gets mansplained to 312 times a year

That’s according to a study of 2,000 employed women commissioned by a financial app called Self. I’m sure a helpful man somewhere will be happy to tell you exactly what is wrong with this study.
The week in penguinarchy

The best thing by far on the internet this week was a video of a penguin called Wellington marching around Chicago’s deserted aquarium and marveling at the fish. Coronavirus has caused most of us to go under lockdown, but at least Wellington got a nice day out.

▻https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/21/coronavirus-domestic-violence-week-in-patriarchy?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Le confinement cause une hausse des violences familiales, déplore la FCPE

Marlène Schiappa avait alerté sur ce risque en période de confinement lié au coronavirus. La FCPE confirme ses craintes.

C’était une des conséquences malheureusement prévues par le gouvernement en temps de confinement face au coronavirus. Le secrétaire d’État à l’égalité entre les hommes et les femmes Marlène Schiappa avait alerté dès le 16 mars et l’instauration de ces mesures exceptionnelles sur le fait qu’elles pouvaient “hélas générer un terreau propice aux violences conjugales”.

La FCPE confirme ses craintes, ce dimanche 22 mars. Invité d’Europe1, Rodrigo Arenas, co-président de la principale fédération de parents d’élèves, a expliqué avoir une recrudescence d’appels liés à des situations de “violences familiales.”

“Il y a deux choses qui rendent dingues les gens : la chaleur et la promiscuité. On n’a pas la chaleur, mais on a la promiscuité. On a énormément de remontées de violences conjugales et les enfants qui sont au bout de la chaîne s’en prennent plein la figure”, a-t-il indiqué à la radio comme vous pouvez l’entendre ci-dessous.

Problème supplémentaire, contrairement à ce que promettait Marlène Schiappa au début du confinement, le numéro d’information dédié aux violences conjugales 3919 ne répond plus. Ou du moins plus beaucoup.

Comme L’Obs, ou BFMTV vendredi, Le HuffPost a tenté de contacter le service ce samedi 22 mars sans succès. Un message pré-enregistré nous invite à renouveler notre appel plus tard.

Joint par RTL samedi, le cabinet de Marlène Schiappa précise que le numéro “fonctionne toujours” mais que la migration -provoquée par le télétravail- de la plateforme prend du temps et entraîne des bugs. “Au plus tard lundi tout sera fonctionnel”, promet l’entourage de la ministre.

▻https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/entry/confinement-la-fcpe-deplore-une-hausse-des-violences-familiales_fr_5e

Les dispositifs pour les femmes victimes de violences

▻https://m.centre-hubertine-auclert.fr/article/agir-pendant-le-confinement-les-dispositifs-pour-les-femm

Coronavirus Covid-19 : violences conjugales et femmes en danger, comment les aider en période de confinement ?

Marlène Schiappa et son homologue italienne Elena Bonetti ont annoncé « agir ensemble » pour protéger les femmes contre les violences sexistes et sexuelles en cette période de confinement. Mais en application, comment ça se passe ?

▻https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/bourgogne-franche-comte/cote-d-or/dijon/coronavirus-covid-19-violences-conjugales-femmes-danger

Le confinement va augmenter les #violences_intra-familiales et en particulier les #violences_conjugales, c’est déjà ce qu’a révélé l’expérience du #Wuhan (▻https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51705199). Là encore, ces violences seront encore moins prises en charge qu’avant puisque le 3919 ne fonctionne plus pendant cette crise contrairement à ce qu’avait annoncé Marlène Schiappa (▻https://www.nouvelobs.com/droits-des-femmes/20200319.OBS26314/le-39-19-ne-repond-plus.html). Au sixième jour du confinement, cette tendance est d’ailleurs aussi relatée par la FCPE ce dimanche (▻https://www.europe1.fr/societe/face-au-confinement-on-a-enormement-de-remontees-de-violences-conjugales-rap).

►https://npa2009.org/idees/societe/le-confinement-la-destruction-du-lien-social-et-ses-consequences

Concernant les violences conjugales et familiales, les procès en cours d’assises, que ce soient viols ou « féminicides », sont reportés. Ce qui constitue une non-réponse à la situation de fait. Mais certains tribunaux maintiennent des permanences au civil où des Juges aux Affaires familiales (JAF) peuvent décider d’éloigner par exemple un mari violent. Il appartient aux magistrats d’apprécier l’urgence des situations.

►https://www.franceculture.fr/droit-justice/denis-salas-la-justice-se-trouve-confrontee-a-un-phenomene-totalement-

#Coronavirus : l’#arrêté anti-alcool finalement abrogé dans l’#Aisne

La préfecture avait indiqué par arrêté en milieu de journée que cette mesure visait à limiter les risques de #violences au sein du cercle familial.

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/834078

For Abused Women, a Pandemic Lockdown Holds Dangers of Its Own

As millions across the U.S. stay home to help flatten the curve, domestic violence organizations and support systems are scrambling to adapt to the rapidly shifting landscape.

Early last week, as the novel coronavirus exploded from state to state, a woman called the National Domestic Violence Hotline in a crisis: Her partner had tried to strangle her and she needed medical help, but feared going to the hospital because of the virus.

Another woman was being forced to choose between work and home. “He threatened to throw me out if I didn’t work from home,” she said. “He said if I started coughing, he was throwing me out in the street and that I could die alone in a hospital room.”

In another call, a girl — aged between 13 and 15 (specific identifiers have been removed to protect the callers) — said that her mother’s partner had just abused her mother, then gone on to abuse the girl herself. But with schools shut, turning to a teacher or a counselor for help was not an option.

These instances, gleaned from the hotline’s first responders, highlight two important facets of things to come during the coronavirus crisis. First, as lawmakers across the country order lockdowns to slow the spread of the virus, the lives of people stuck in physically or emotionally abusive relationships have — and will — become harder, which has already been seen in the pandemic hotspots of China and Italy.

Second, the virus raises the stakes for domestic violence services across the country as they scramble to adapt to a patchwork of new government policies and restrictions that shift day by day and vary from state to state.

“We know that any time an abusive partner may be feeling a loss of power and control — and everybody’s feeling a loss of power and control right now — it could greatly impact how victims and survivors are being treated in their homes,” said Katie Ray-Jones, chief executive of the hotline.

She expects to see the intensity and frequency of abuse escalate, even if the number of individual cases doesn’t — a pattern that experts witnessed during the economic downturn of 2008 and immediately after 9/11, Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Katrina.

In the U.S., more than one in three women has experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner (defined as current or former spouses or partners) in their lifetime, according to a 2010 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And in recent years, the number of domestic violence cases (which includes assault by intimate partners and family members) has spiked, making up more than half of all violent crimes in the U.S. in 2018, according to the Justice Bureau.

Spending days, weeks or even months in the presence of an abusive partner takes an immense emotional toll too, said Teresa Burns, who manages the Casa de Esperanza shelter in St. Paul, Minn. And that’s exactly the conditions that the coronavirus lockdown has set up.

Many of Burns’s clients are undocumented individuals whose immigration status can become a means of control by abusive partners. It’s not uncommon for abusers to claim that survivors will be deported if they seek help.

She fears these types of threats will escalate during the coronavirus crisis, and with information about the government’s response changing nearly by the hour, survivors may not know who or what to believe.

Those who may have felt safe once their partner left for work or their children were at school now live without any window of relief as businesses and schools shutter. “When the mind is constantly in fight, flight, freeze [mode] because of perpetual fear, that can have a lasting impact on a person’s mental health,” Burns said.

Shelters across the country are adapting as best they can while trying to keep pace with constantly changing virus regulations, including implementing social distancing practices on site, taking temperatures of newcomers and regularly cleaning and disinfecting common spaces.

In New York, now considered the epicenter of the virus in the U.S., shelters are categorized as essential services and are encouraged to keep functioning as normally as possible, even though many are at or almost at capacity, said Kelli Owens, executive director of the state’s Prevention of Domestic Violence office.

But several organizations have started to cut back on certain services and may have to turn away newcomers soon to avoid overcrowding at shelters. Drop-in counseling centers are shut down and in-person support groups are suspended.

One survivor, Maggie, 25, who spoke to The Times via Twitter, and is working to heal from an abusive relationship she left five years ago, said that in recent weeks, her weekly therapy appointment moved online and her support group was canceled altogether, which has made it even more difficult for her to cope with her increased isolation. As a result, she’s fallen back into unhealthy coping mechanisms, like drinking and smoking, she said.

“I imagine many survivors, even if they are safe in their home, are experiencing long hours of sitting alone with traumatic thoughts and nightmares due to increased anxiety,” Maggie said.

Advocates, who are often the first responders in cases of domestic violence, are fielding questions remotely, preparing those who can’t flee for worst case situations, known as safety planning.

“We’re having really difficult conversations, running through horrific scenarios,” Ray-Jones said.

“What that could mean is, OK, if an argument breaks out, where is the safest place in your house? Keep arguments out of the kitchen, out of the bathroom, which can be really dangerous spaces. If you need to go sleep in your car, is that a possibility?”

Organizations most often take these kinds of questions over the phone, but being in such proximity with an abuser can turn the simple act of a phone call into such a dangerous gamble that many are preparing for fewer calls on their hotline and more questions via their text and online chat services that are available around the clock.

Meanwhile, with courts closing across the country and advocates, who would typically help survivors navigate the judicial system, working remotely, yet another avenue of support for people experiencing abuse is further complicated, said Susan Pearlstein, the co-supervisor of the Family Law Unit of Philadelphia Legal Assistance.

Still, the public should know that obtaining a legal protection order is considered an essential service by most jurisdictions and “many courts are trying to have access open for domestic violence survivors and to allow order petitions of abuse or restraining orders to be filed,” either over the phone or electronically, Pearlstein said.

“This is a really heartbreaking time,” said Ray-Jones, speaking to the overall heightened anxiety during this uncertain period.

Resources for victims and survivors:

Anti-Violence Project offers a 24-hour English/Spanish hotline for L.G.B.T.Q.+ experiencing abuse or hate-based violence: call 212-714-1141

The National Domestic Violence Hotline is available around the clock and in more than 200 languages: call 1-800-799-SAFE or chat with their advocates here or text LOVEIS to 22522.

New York State Domestic and Sexual Violence Hotline is available in multiple languages: call 1-800-942-6906 for English. For deaf or hard of hearing: 711

For immediate dangers, call 911.

▻https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/24/us/coronavirus-lockdown-domestic-violence.html

Warning over rise in UK domestic abuse cases linked to coronavirus

Manchester deputy mayor says police beginning to classify incidents connected to virus.

There has been a rise in domestic abuse incidents directly related to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a police leader.

Beverley Hughes, Greater Manchester’s deputy mayor for policing and crime, said there had been reports of abuse linked to the lockdown, and said authorities were preparing for serious incidents.

After a meeting of the region’s Covid-19 emergency committee, Lady Hughes said: “I think we are beginning to see a rise in domestic abuse incidents. We anticipated this might happen in the very stressful circumstances for many families.”
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Charities and police forces across the country have been warning of a potential rise in cases of domestic violence. In China there was a threefold increase in cases reported to police stations in February compared with the previous year.

The justice secretary, Robert Buckland, told the Commons justice committee this week that there may be more cases of domestic abuse, online crime and fraud during the lockdown.

Hughes later said the overall level of domestic abuse cases was as expected, but officers had begun to classify incidents believed to have a connection to the virus.

She said families were being asked to stay at home and many had significantly less money as a result of the restrictions.

Hughes said: “The potential for tension to arise in the home as a result of what we are asking people to cope with, in order to suppress the virus, is going to increase and therefore we would be right to think this might display itself in an increase in the number of domestic incidents we are called to.

“We are preparing for that. Some of those most serious incidents will be challenging to deal with, particularly if the victim needs to be moved to a refuge, but the police specialise in these kind of cases and the local partners, local authorities, they’re working together really closely to prepare for that.”

Avon and Somerset police reported a 20.9% increase in domestic abuse incidents in the last two weeks, from 718 to 868. Police in Cumbria have asked postal workers and delivery drivers to look out for signs of abuse.

DCI Dan St Quintin, of Cumbria police, said: “In the coming weeks and months we ask for everyone to look out for each other as much as possible. We would also like to extend this plea to those such as postal workers, delivery drivers, food delivery companies and carers who will still be visiting houses, to keep an eye out for any signs of abuse and to report any concerns to us.”

Quintin said the Bright Sky app, which can be disguised for people worried about partners checking their phones, provided support and information for victims.

The National Centre for Domestic Violence said it fully supported the plea and warned of “huge dangers lurking for victims”..

Its chief executive, Mark Groves, said: “While the whole country grapples with the consequences of Covid-19, there are huge dangers lurking for victims of domestic abuse and violence. We fully support Cumbria police’s plea to key workers to help the police investigate suspicions or concerns surrounding victims or perpetrators.”

The Thames Valley chief constable, John Campbell, said his force expected to see a rise in the number of domestic abuse calls He said domestic violence and fraud would become a priority for his force as “criminals decide to change their behaviours’ to take advantage of coronavirus”.

“We are seeing and monitoring very closely the issues around domestic abuse, we anticipate that it might increase and we will deal with that robustly in a way that you would expect us to,” Campbell said.

Shanika Varga, a solicitor at Stowe Family Law, who specialises in domestic abuse cases, said: “Being stuck in a house together for two weeks or longer means the risk of a situation becoming violent is much higher. Lots of people – whether they realise it or not – are in abusive relationships, and abusers will typically manipulate any situation to take advantage of their perceived position of power.”

Varga urged victims to start thinking of a contingency plan for escaping their abusers. “Knowing your options and making sure people are informed and fully prepared to take action if need be is vital. Don’t forget that help is out there,” she said.

▻https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/26/warning-over-rise-in-uk-domestic-abuse-cases-linked-to-coronavirus?CMP=

Confinement : les violences conjugales et intrafamiliales explosent

▻https://www.ledauphine.com/edition-grenoble-vercors/2020/03/29/les-violences-conjugales-et-intrafamiliales-explosent

N’oubliez jamais qu’il suffira d’une crise politique, économique ou religieuse pour que les droits des femmes soient remis en question.

Simone de Beauvoir.

#backlash

Coronavirus en #Nouvelle-Aquitaine : Les violences intrafamiliales en forte hausse avec le confinement

Si la délinquance est en baisse, dans la région, les forces de l’ordre multiplient les interventions dans les foyers depuis une semaine.

Avec le confinement, les violences intrafamiliales explosent selon les policiers et gendarmes en Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Le phénomène est national.
Les disputes sur fond d’alcool se multiplient alors que les victimes se retrouvent prises au piège dans les foyers.
L’Etat maintient ses services face à cette recrudescence. Les forces de l’ordre elles n’hésitent pas à reprendre contact avec les victimes après leurs interventions.

C’était un scénario prévisible et malheureusement, il se vérifie un peu plus chaque jour. Les violences conjugales et intrafamiliales augmentent voire explosent depuis le début du confinement en France. Les policiers et gendarmes de la Gironde sont à l’unisson sur le sujet : « Si la délinquance (vol, cambriolage, trafic…) est en forte baisse, expliquent leurs responsables départementaux, les interventions pour des violences familiales se multiplient même si elles ne déclenchent pas forcément à chaque fois des procédures. » Ce mercredi soir, leurs collègues du Périgord ont par exemple interpellé un trentenaire qui menaçait sa famille avec un fusil et tentait de mettre le feu à la maison.

Dès le 18 mars, les recours à police secours dans le département étaient déjà en forte hausse avec 1.200 appels ce jour-là contre 600 habituellement. Une semaine plus tard, le nombre de demandes sur la plateforme arretonslesviolences.gouv.fr aurait augmenté de 40 % selon les policiers girondins. En effet comme le soulignait le gouvernement en début de semaine, « le contexte particulier du confinement constitue malheureusement un terreau favorable aux violences » en raison de « la promiscuité, des tensions et de l’anxiété » qu’il entraîne.

Encore plus difficile de se signaler pour les victimes

Les gendarmes soulignent des interventions toujours plus nombreuses pour « des disputes familiales sur fond d’alcool et souvent la nuit. » A ce sujet, la réponse de Fabienne Buccio, la préfète de Gironde et de Nouvelle-Aquitaine, est claire : il n’y aura pas d’interdiction de ventes d’alcool « à ce stade » comme a pu tenter de le faire son homologue dans l’Aisne. La représentante de l’Etat préfère soulever un problème beaucoup plus important :

« Je ne veux pas stigmatiser qui que ce soit mais en ce moment les hommes sont bien plus présents au domicile familial que d’habitude avec le confinement et c’est donc encore plus difficile pour les victimes de se signaler auprès des autorités. »

Une situation face à laquelle, la plupart des associations se disent « désemparées » à l’image de l’Union nationale des familles de féminicides. « Être confiné, c’est déjà compliqué pour des gens qui s’entendent bien. Alors, pour les victimes de violences conjugales, elles vont vivre un véritable calvaire », rappelait il y a quelques jours sa présidente Sandrine Bouchait. Sans oublier, les enfants, eux aussi en première ligne face à la violence.

Les forces de l’ordre n’hésitent pas à rappeler après leurs interventions

Alors comment faire pour limiter au maximum les violences intrafamiliales ? Il y a les moyens connus avec les services de police ou de gendarmerie (17 ou 112), les pompiers (18 ou 112) ou le Samu (15) qui restent mobilisés pour les situations d’urgence. Marlène Schiappa, secrétaire d’État chargée de l’Égalité entre les femmes et les hommes et de la lutte contre les discriminations, a annoncé que les numéros d’écoute, les plateformes gouvernementales, l’accompagnement dans des hébergements d’urgence et les procès au pénal contre les agresseurs seraient maintenus. Le 3919 est notamment de nouveau opérationnel depuis lundi.

Les forces de l’ordre sont également mobilisées sur le terrain : « Après certaines interventions, nous n’hésitons pas à rappeler les personnes et à reprendre contact avec elles. Nous sommes vraiment très attentifs à ce phénomène », explique la gendarmerie de la Gironde.

De son côté, le secrétaire d’Etat auprès du ministre des Solidarités et de la santé en charge de l’enfance Adrien Taquet « appelle à nouveau chacun à redoubler de vigilance pendant cette période, et à composer le 119 si l’on est témoin, même auditif, même dans le doute, de violence commise sur un enfant, quelle que soit sa nature. » Le gouvernement va également réactiver une campagne de sensibilisation à la question des violences faites aux enfants cette semaine.

▻https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/2748663-20200326-video-coronavirus-nouvelle-aquitaine-violences-intrafamil

Coronavirus et confinement : femmes et #enfants en danger

Plus d’une centaine de sénatrices et de sénateurs demande au gouvernement de protéger les familles victimes de violence que le confinement expose à des dangers encore plus graves.

Sans nier la gravité de la crise sanitaire et la nécessité absolue du confinement, nous ne devons pas occulter les risques auxquels sont exposés les femmes et les enfants dans les foyers violents. Le confinement peut être un piège terrible quand il enferme une famille dans la terreur permanente des insultes, des cris et des coups. En cette période où nous déployons une immense énergie pour essayer de dominer nos frustrations et notre angoisse, il faut imaginer ce que peut être le quotidien des victimes de violences, a fortiori quand le drame se joue dans un logement exigu : l’#enfer.

En annonçant la mise en place d’un plan de continuité pour protéger les victimes de violences conjugales, la secrétaire d’Etat chargée de l’Egalité entre les femmes et les hommes et de la lutte contre la discrimination Marlène Schiappa a anticipé ce danger. Le maintien du numéro d’appel 3919 est une excellente initiative et il faut remercier les écoutants qui continuent d’exercer cette mission dans des conditions beaucoup plus complexes.

Face à l’isolement de la victime

De nombreuses questions persistent cependant : comment fuir un conjoint violent – surtout avec des enfants – quand les parents et amis susceptibles d’offrir un refuge sont loin, quand les transports sont aléatoires et quand les hébergements d’urgence, structurellement débordés, peuvent difficilement garantir des conditions de sécurité correctes face au virus ? Quelles mesures prendre pour protéger les victimes établies habituellement hors de France ? Comment les victimes confinées chez elles peuvent-elles joindre le 3919 ou la plateforme en ligne dédiée aux victimes de violences, alors que l’on sait que le premier signe de violences conjugales est l’isolement de la victime, privée de tout moyen de communication autonome par son compagnon violent qui lui a souvent confisqué son téléphone et s’acharne à traquer ses mails ?
Si l’accompagnement des victimes peut toujours être assuré par les services de police et si le dépôt de plainte demeure possible, comment envisager qu’une victime puisse, sans courir un danger accru, porter plainte contre un conjoint violent avec lequel elle est condamnée à cohabiter à cause du confinement ? Est-il encore possible, compte tenu de l’état de nos hôpitaux, d’y faire établir des constats médicaux de coups et violences sexuelles ?

Enfin, ne peut-on craindre que, malgré le renforcement récent, dans le sillage du Grenelle de lutte contre les violences conjugales, des efforts de formation et de sensibilisation des personnels de police et de gendarmerie, ceux-ci aient le réflexe de minimiser ces violences et de les considérer comme un effet compréhensible, voire excusable, du stress lié au confinement ? Chaque jour, le décompte glaçant des victimes du coronavirus a remplacé celui des féminicides qui avait marqué l’année 2019. L’épidémie a fait disparaître les violences conjugales et intrafamiliales de l’actualité mais pas de la réalité.
Tous concernés

Nous, sénatrices et sénateurs, demandons solennellement au gouvernement de continuer à assurer la protection, en cette période de crise sanitaire majeure, des femmes et des enfants victimes de violences, que l’exigence de confinement expose à des dangers encore plus graves. Malgré l’épreuve exceptionnelle que traverse notre pays, les femmes et les enfants qui subissent des violences ne doivent en aucun cas être sacrifiés.

Le gouvernement peut compter sur les collectivités territoriales – les départements comme les communes – déjà très impliquées en temps normal dans les missions d’aide aux personnes vulnérables, de protection de l’enfance et de lutte contre les violences, pour apporter les solutions adaptées à chaque territoire pendant cette période exceptionnelle. La question des moyens alloués à ces missions et à leurs acteurs reste d’actualité.

Engageons-nous, ensemble, pour que le nombre de ces victimes n’alourdisse pas le bilan, d’ores et déjà effroyable, de la crise sanitaire. Violences intrafamiliales : citoyens, voisins, amis, parents, collègues, tous concernés, tous acteurs, tous mobilisés, tous vigilants. C’est notre responsabilité collective.

▻https://www.liberation.fr/debats/2020/03/28/coronavirus-et-confinement-femmes-et-enfants-en-danger_1783279

Violences conjugales : Schiappa annonce des « points contacts éphémères » dans les centres commerciaux

▻https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/violences-conjugales-schiappa-annonce-des-points-contacts-ephemeres-dans-le

La secrétaire d’État à l’Égalité femmes-hommes, Marlène Schiappa, a annoncé samedi l’installation de « points d’accompagnement éphémères » dans des centres commerciaux pour accueillir des femmes victimes de violences en temps de confinement où les déplacements sont limités. « Comme il est plus difficile de se déplacer, nous faisons en sorte que les dispositifs d’accompagnement aillent aux femmes », explique Mme Schiappa dans un entretien au Parisien.

Créés « en partenariat avec des associations locales, les services de l’État et Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, gestionnaire de centres commerciaux », ces « points d’accompagnement éphémères » seront installés dans des locaux « permettant la confidentialité mais assez vastes pour accueillir les femmes en respectant les mesures barrières », détaille-t-elle.

La secrétaire d’État cite « dans un premier temps » pour la région parisienne So Ouest à Levallois-Perret, les 4 Temps à la Défense, Carré Sénart à Lieusaint, le Forum des Halles à Paris, ou les Ulis, et, dans le Nord, V2 à Valenciennes. « Dans un deuxième temps, Dijon, Rennes, Lyon... là où il y a un hypermarché ouvert », ajoute-t-elle, affirmant viser « une vingtaine de points dans les prochaines semaines ». « En allant faire les courses, ces femmes trouveront une oreille attentive et un accès à leurs droits d’une manière innovante et efficace », estime-t-elle.
Fonds spécial et dépôt de plainte

Parallèlement, Mme Schiappa annonce un « fonds spécial financé par l’État d’un million d’euros pour aider les associations de terrain à s’adapter à la période ». Elle promet également de financer « jusqu’à 20.000 nuitées d’hôtel pour que les femmes puissent fuir l’homme violent ».

Interrogée sur l’absence de « motif ’’dépôt de plainte’’ », dans l’attestation de sortie obligatoire en période de confinement, la secrétaire d’État a répondu que « les juridictions pour les violences conjugales » avaient été laissées ouvertes.
À lire aussi : "Une petite augmentation mais rien de significatif" : les violences conjugales à l’heure du confinement

Elle a avancé le chiffre de « deux » meurtres de femmes par leur conjoint ou ex-conjoint depuis le début du confinement, le 17 mars. « Le confinement est une épreuve collective qui vient percuter l’histoire familiale et personnelle de chaque personne, la situation peut dégénérer à tout moment quand on vit avec une personne violente », rappelle-t-elle, inquiète que « les femmes se disent qu’elles doivent subir pendant le confinement ». « Non ! Les dispositifs de l’Etat ne sont pas mis sur pause, ils sont même renforcés », assure-t-elle.

À VOIR AUSSI - Violences conjugales et confinement : un dispositif d’alerte mis en place dans les pharmacies

Espérons que les flics n’en profite pas pour verbaliser les femmes dans ces point éphémères.

Coronavirus. Les associations craignent une augmentation des violences conjugales
À Nantes, avec les mesures de confinement, l’association Solidarités Femmes double ses écoutantes au téléphone. Elle craint une augmentation des violences conjugales.
Depuis mardi 18 mars, l’association Solidarité Femmes a renforcé sa ligne d’écoute téléphonique, destinée aux femmes victimes de violences conjugales. La ligne est ouverte du lundi au vendredi, de 10 h à 17 h, au 02 40 12 12 40.

▻https://www.ouest-france.fr/pays-de-la-loire/loire-atlantique/coronavirus-les-associations-craignent-une-augmentation-des-violences-c

« En Belgique, plusieurs associations féministes ont également lancé un message d’alerte à ce sujet, comme l’association Femmes de Droit. L’asbl Vie Féminine a adapté ses activités : elle a renforcé ses permanences juridiques et sociales et a reçu l’autorisation de la Région Wallonne de les effectuer par téléphone, ce qui n’est pas le cas en temps normal où il leur est demandé de les organiser physiquement. »
▻https://www.rtbf.be/info/dossier/les-grenades/detail_coronavirus-le-risque-de-violences-conjugales-augmente-a-cause-du-confin

Les violences conjugales à l’épreuve du confinement

https://radioparleur.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DSC05653-modif-1068x601.jpg

Depuis le début de la période de confinement, les collectifs féministes alertent sur les risques d’augmentation des violences conjugales. Les pouvoirs publics doivent prendre au sérieux une situation compliquée, comme celle où l’on se retrouve enfermée pour plusieurs semaines avec un conjoint violent.

Le foyer, dans lequel il s’agit de se réfugier pour se protéger de la pandémie, n’est pas synonyme de réconfort et de sécurité pour de nombreuses femmes en France. La violence conjugale, souvent physique, mais également verbale, émotionnelle ou économique, pourrait se manifester plus fortement pendant la période de confinement. En Chine, les violences physiques au sein des couples ont augmenté pendant l’épidémie du coronavirus. La France n’est pas à l’abri de voir ses statistiques s’élever.
Des femmes abandonnées

Alors que le système d’aide aux victimes de violences conjugales ne fonctionne pas toujours correctement en période normale, le confinement et les bouleversements qui l’accompagnent n’arrangent pas les choses. Le numéro d’écoute national 3919 destiné aux femmes victimes de violences et à leur entourage ne fonctionne plus depuis l’annonce du confinement. Il rouvre avec des horaires réduits à partir de ce lundi 23 mars 2020. Pour Léonor Guénoun, du collectif féministe Nous toutes : « C’est très grave, et c’est vraiment un comble que ce numéro soit réduit, surtout en période de confinement, alors qu’il devrait être ouvert 24 heures sur 24. »

Les centres d’hébergement ont du mal à accueillir de nouvelles personnes. Nous Toutes « demande des places dans des hôtels qui sont fermés ou peu occupés comme en Espagne » pour pallier ces foyers surchargés. L’absence de moyens spécifiques alloués empêche la prise en charge rapide et efficace des femmes victimes de violences conjugales. Pour Mohamed Jemal, président de l’association Un Toît pour elles, une association qui aide les femmes en grande précarité à se trouver un logement, « des promesses faites par le gouvernement n’ont pas été tenues pour la mise à disposition de chambres d’hôtel et la mise à l’abri des SDF ».

Il regrette également qu’il n’y ait pas eu de « consignes claires pour mettre à l’abri des femmes en danger ». De plus, l’hébergement solidaire chez des particuliers ne fonctionne plus en raison du confinement. Les centres sociaux font face à des problèmes sanitaires supplémentaires à celui de l’épidémie. Les masques, les gants et le gel hydroalcoolique qui doivent parvenir aux associations sont répartis selon des schémas complexes, peu accessibles à des petites structures, comme celle gérée par Mohamed Jemal.
Un climat propice à la violence

Selon Léonor Guénoun, « trois risques principaux d’augmentation des violences » existent : dans des couples sans violence où un conjoint commence à être violent, dans un passage à un cran supérieur -de la violence verbale à la violence physique par exemple- et enfin « la tragédie d’un féminicide ».

L’avocate Isabelle Steyer, référence dans la défense des victimes de violences conjugales, explique que le climat de surveillance constante se renforce étant donné que l’on peut vérifier les appels, les sorties, les occupations de chacun·e. Le confinement, selon elle, se vit comme une situation particulière car « on a jamais eu l’habitude de vivre tout le temps ensemble ». Être constamment ensemble peut déclencher des actes insoupçonnés parce que « la violence arrive à un moment où on ne s’y attend pas ».

D’après l’avocate, le risque de ne plus avoir de vie intime et de tout partager pour la femme est de ne plus pouvoir « appeler qui l’on veut et penser à élaborer le départ ». Léonor Guénoun explique que la « fuite du domicile » doit pouvoir rester une option possible pour les femmes victimes.
Des actions rapides et de l’aide collective

Pour remédier à cette situation et prévenir tout acte violent, Nous toutes met en place des campagnes de sensibilisation et diffuse des visuels « pour que les femmes sachent qu’elles peuvent fuir et être aidées« . Le collectif féministe rappelle aussi les numéros à contacter, en cas d’urgence la police par le 17 ou le 114 pour les SMS, ou le 08.00.05.95.95. qui peut aider les femmes victimes. L’avocate Isabelle Steyer encourage également les femmes à prévenir et à « utiliser des espaces que l’on avait pas l’habitude d’utiliser pour téléphoner ».

Pour les personnes qui ne seraient pas confrontées à de la violence conjugale, il faut rappeler à son entourage que le confinement n’autorise pas à être violent. Il convient également prendre régulièrement des nouvelles des personnes pouvant subir des situations violentes. Enfin, selon l’avocate, « le côte très positif est que tout les voisins sont là », ce qui facilite l’appel au secours et la demande d’aide rapide car « les relations sont beaucoup plus proches avec ce confinement ».

▻https://radioparleur.net/2020/03/24/violences-conjugales-epreuve-du-confinement

Violences masculines en période de confinement : « Personne ne viendra m’aider »
►https://seenthis.net/messages/833751

Clémentine Autain dit dans l’un des articles de ce dernier seen que le milliard demandé par les féministes et qui n’est jamais arrivé, il manque bien aujourd’hui...

Sur la mesure donnant la possibilité de signaler des violences en pharmacie, j’ai eu une discussion avec une personne (une femme, je crois) qui trouvait la mesure cheap et ridicule mais les pharmacies ne sont pas que des commerces, ce sont aussi des lieux de soin, plus accessibles et qui offrent un meilleur accueil que les poulaillers, et l’Espagne fait ça depuis vingt ans avec un certain succès.

Il y a quelques textes (par Wu Ming et Claude Guillon) sur le sujet lus dans cette émission.
►https://seenthis.net/messages/838621
@cdb_77, tu saurais retrouver celui de Wu Ming en italien et français ?

Domestic abuse cases soar as lockdown takes its toll

Some charities can no longer ‘effectively support’ women because of lockdown and staff sickness.

More than 25 organisations helping domestic violence victims have reported an increase in their caseload since the start of the UK’s coronavirus epidemic.

One group, Chayn, said that analysis of online traffic showed that visitors to its website had more than trebled last month compared with the same period last year. An audit of 119 organisations by the domestic abuse charity SafeLives found, however, that even as pressure on frontline services increased, most were being forced to reduce vital services.

The groups were surveyed during the last week of March, with 26 of them able to confirm increased caseloads owing to Covid-19. Three-quarters said they had had to reduce service delivery to victims.

Most domestic abuse organisations provide face-to-face or phone support, but a quarter say they can not “effectively support” adult abuse victims owing to technical issues, inability to meet victims, and staff sickness.

A separate study highlights the plight of domestic-violence survivors. SafeLives interviewed 66 survivors, and the women were asked to score themselves from zero to 10, with 10 denoting “safe”. More than half offered a score of five or less, with three saying they felt “not safe at all”.

One said: “I’m in a controlling, emotionally abusive relationship and fear it could escalate due to heightened stress surrounding the current virus situation.” Another added that she was having to sit in her car to get away from the perpetrator.

There is growing pressure on the government to announce emergency funding to help victims. Suzanne Jacob, chief executive of SafeLives, said: “We know the government is thinking about what extra support might be needed for victims and their families during this difficult time, and this research shows that helping services to stay afloat and carry on doing their vital lifesaving work will be key.”

Hera Hussain, founder of Chayn, said: “Survivors of domestic abuse are walking on eggshells, scared of having no support if tensions escalate.”

Evidence suggests that domestic abuse is likely to increase as a result of the pandemic. In China’s Hubei province, where the virus was first detected, domestic violence reports to police more than tripled during the lockdown in February.

▻https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/04/domestic-abuse-cases-soar-as-lockdown-takes-its-toll?CMP=Share_iOSApp_O

In Italy, support groups fear lockdown is silencing domestic abuse victims

MILAN: Italy has seen a sharp fall in official reports of domestic violence as it approaches a month under coronavirus lockdown, raising concern among some support groups that forced confinement is leaving victims struggling to seek help.

Citing official data, a parliamentary committee into violence against women said last week that reports to police of domestic abuse dropped to 652 in the first 22 days of March, when Italy went into lockdown, from 1,157 in the same period of 2019.

Telefono Rosa, Italy’s largest domestic violence helpline, said calls fell 55per cent to 496 in the first two weeks of March from 1,104 in the same period last year. Other help groups said they had seen similar declines.

The parliamentary committee’s report said the trend did not mean a decline in violence against women but was rather a signal that “victims of violence risk being even more exposed to control and aggression by a partner who mistreats them.”

“There are a lot of problems in this situation, maybe not the least of them is the difficulty of asking for help when everyone is obliged to stay at home,” said Alessandra Simone, director of the police criminal division in Milan.

Successive Italian governments have passed reforms aimed at improving protections, but 13.6per cent of women have suffered violence from a partner or ex-partner, according to national statistics bureau Istat.

The country has seen more than 100,000 cases of COVID-19 and accounts for almost a third of worldwide deaths. It was the first European nation to go into lockdown.

“We’re seeing a drastic fall in calls by women because they have less freedom in this situation of forced confinement,” said Chiara Sainaghi, who manages five anti-violence centres in and around Milan for the Fondazione Somaschi, a social assistance foundation. She said calls to her group had fallen by as much as 70per cent.

Some help groups and the authorities say they have tried to launch other forms of contact, including messaging services like WhatsApp, whose use has surged during lockdowns in many countries. Users in Italy are placing 20per cent more calls and sending 20per cent more messages on WhatsApp compared to a year ago, the company said in mid-March.

Italian police have in recent days adapted an app originally designed to allow young people to report bullying and drug dealing near their schools to report domestic violence by sending messages or pictures without alerting their partner.

In Spain, where police said they had also seen a fall in calls for help, authorities launched a WhatsApp service for women trapped at home which the Equality Ministry said had seen a 270per cent increase in consultations since the lockdown began.

Valeria Valente, the senator who chairs the Italian parliamentary committee, said cultural and social factors in Italy already made it hard for many to report domestic violence.

But she said the shutdown appeared to be leading some women who might otherwise try to leave their partners to stick it out.

“How is a woman who wants to report violence supposed to move? With the lockdown (she) can only contact the anti-violence centres when she goes to the pharmacy or buys food,” Valente said.

▻https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/in-italy--support-groups-fear-lockdown-is-silencing-domestic-abuse-

Dans un #Liban confiné, les violences domestiques explosent
►https://seenthis.net/messages/839862

Domestic abuse killings ’more than double’ amid Covid-19 lockdown

Pioneering project identifies at least 16 suspected incidences in UK over three-week period

At least 16 suspected domestic abuse killings in the UK have been identified by campaigners since the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions were imposed, far higher than the average rate for the time of year, it has emerged.

Karen Ingala Smith, the founder of Counting Dead Women, a pioneering project that records the killing of women by men in the UK, has identified at least 16 killings between 23 March and 12 April, including those of children.

Looking at the same period over the last 10 years, Smith’s data records an average of five deaths.

Her findings for 2020, which are collated from internet searches and people contacting over social media, were raised during evidence to the home affairs select ommittee on Wednesday.

Dame Vera Baird QC, the victims’ commissioner for England and Wales, told MPs at the remote session: “Counting Dead Women has got to a total of 16 domestic abuse killings in the last three weeks. We usually say there are two a week, that looks to me like five a week, that’s the size of this crisis.”

A number of domestic abuse charities and campaigners have reported a surge in calls to helplines and online services since the lockdown conditions were imposed, reflecting experiences in other countries.

Smith, who is also chief executive of a domestic abuse charity, said: “I don’t believe coronavirus creates violent men. What we’re seeing is a window into the levels of abuse that women live with all the time. Coronavirus may exacerbate triggers, though I might prefer to call them excuses. Lockdown may restrict some women’s access to support or escape and it may even curtail measures some men take to keep their own violence under control.

“We have to be cautious about how we talk about increases in men killing women. Over the last 10 years, in the UK, a woman has been killed by a man every three days, by a partner or ex-partner, every four days. So if this was averaged out, we might expect to see seven women killed in 21 days. In reality, there are always times when the numbers are higher or lower.

“But we can say that the number of women killed by men over the first three weeks since lockdown is the highest it’s been for at least 11 years and is double that of an average 21 days over the last 10 years.”

Smith’s research shows at least seven people have been allegedly killed by partners or former partners during the period, while three people have been allegedly killed by their father.

The committee also heard evidence from Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales. She said time limits on investigating crimes would need to be relaxed to allow survivors of violence in the home to report perpetrators once the coronavirus restrictions were eased.

“I have heard from police about the need to extend the time by which people can report crimes. There are people who are experiencing abuse right now who aren’t able to call the police because it wouldn’t be safe for them,” said Jacobs.

“But they may well want to report a crime later so we need to allow for some extension to what the normal timescales would be for that kind of thing.”

Crimes that are “summary only”, which means that they can only be tried at a magistrates court, including common assault and harassment, must be prosecuted within six months.

Jacobs said services must prepare for the “inevitable surge” of domestic abuse victims seeking support when the lockdown lifts.

She said there were concerns that some of the millions of pounds of government funding announced for the charity sector may struggle to reach small local charities that supported specific groups.

“We need to allow those charities to quickly and very simply bid in and get the funds they need to sustain what they are doing, but also plan for the inevitable surge that we will have.“There will be people that are waiting and trying to survive every day and then will access support as quickly as they can when some of the lockdown is lifted,” she told MPs.

▻https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/apr/15/domestic-abuse-killings-more-than-double-amid-covid-19-lockdown?CMP=Sha

–-----

Sur Counting Dead Women:
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/843847

Politique de soutien en matière de lutte contre les violences domestiques ou intrafamiliales (#VIF) : Gérer la situation post-confinement en matière de maltraitance infantile et violence conjugale

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/845358
#déconfinement

Les violences conjugales et la crise du Covid-19

Les politiques publiques menées en réponse à la crise sanitaire ont eu des conséquences lourdes sur les victimes de violences conjugales, en particulier en termes spatiaux puisque le confinement est venu renforcer le contrôle spatial exercé par les hommes violents. La recherche présentée dans ce blog scientifique vise à interroger la dimension spatiale des politiques publiques menées pendant la crise et leurs effets sur les pratiques spatiales des victimes de violences et de surveillance conjugale, en vue d’accompagner l’élaboration de politiques publiques à venir, d’éviter qu’une réponse à une crise sanitaire se traduise par une mise en danger des personnes les plus vulnérables.

Le projet fait l’objet d’un financement ANR / Fondation de France. Il se déroulera pendant une période d’un an à compter de septembre 2020. Il a été lancé par une équipe de quatre membres : #Marion_Tillous (coordinatrice scientifique), Eva San Martin Zapatero, Julie Bulteau et Pauline Delage. Pour en savoir plus sur l’équipe, voir la page « A propos ».

▻https://anrcovico.hypotheses.org/1

Violences conjugales, un « confinement sans fin »

La période d’assignation à domicile au printemps a provoqué une hausse importante du nombre de signalements. Augmentation liée à une aggravation des faits de violence mais aussi à une plus grande mobilisation des proches, et en particulier du voisinage.

Si l’on comprend les violences faites aux femmes comme une « guerre de basse intensité » (Falquet, 1997), alors le confinement instauré au printemps en réponse à l’épidémie de Covid-19 a marqué une nouvelle bataille, sur un terrain bien particulier. L’assignation à résidence et les restrictions de déplacement ont renforcé l’auteur de violences conjugales dans ses exigences de contrôle. En retour, le fait pour la femme victime de ne pas pouvoir sortir n’a pas seulement restreint la possibilité pour elle de trouver des relais et des témoins aux violences qui lui étaient faites, elle a aussi réduit les interactions dans lesquelles elle était considérée comme une personne à part entière. Le fait que les écoles et la plupart des services publics soient restés fermés après la fin du confinement a prolongé cette situation.

La violence conjugale exercée par les hommes n’est pas soudaine ou ponctuelle. Elle s’inscrit dans une stratégie d’emprise : non seulement la victime est surveillée en permanence, mais également progressivement coupée des liens avec ses proches, et placée dans une dépendance matérielle et affective vis-à-vis de son agresseur. La question spatiale est cruciale dans ce processus de contrôle et d’isolement, ce que la chercheuse Evangelina San Martin Zapatero a mis en évidence à travers le terme de « déprise spatiale » (2019). S’inspirant du concept développé en sociologie du vieillissement, elle montre que les violences conjugales ont notamment pour conséquence une forte restriction des déplacements, une perte de compétence spatiale et une dépendance au conjoint pour la réalisation des déplacements.

L’instauration du confinement en réponse à l’épidémie de Covid-19 a inévitablement été un atout pour les agresseurs dans leur stratégie d’emprise. C’est ce que montre l’augmentation considérable du nombre de signalements de faits de violence intraconjugaux pendant la période, que ce soit en France ou dans les autres pays concernés par des mesures de confinement. Dès le 5 avril, le secrétaire général de l’ONU, António Guterres, a appelé à un cessez-le-feu dans les violences faites aux femmes. L’organisation a estimé à la fin du mois d’avril que chaque nouveau trimestre de confinement se traduirait par 15 millions de cas supplémentaires de violence basée sur le genre (projections de l’Unfpra). Le rapport de la mission interministérielle pour la protection des femmes contre les violences et pour la lutte contre la traite des êtres humains paru au cours de l’été fait état également d’une forte hausse des signalements de violences sur les plateformes d’écoute des victimes, en particulier via les modes de communications « silencieux ». Ainsi, « les tchats de la plateforme de signalement des violences sexistes et sexuelles "Arrêtons les violences" ont été multipliés par 4,4 par rapport à 2019 pour tous les faits de violences et par 17 pour les faits de violences intrafamiliales ».

Comme l’indique le rapport, cette hausse des signalements est liée à une aggravation des faits de violence plutôt qu’à un déclenchement de nouvelles violences dans des couples non concernés avant le confinement. Elle est aussi imputable à une plus grande mobilisation des proches, et en particulier du voisinage. Car si le confinement assigne à résidence les victimes et leurs agresseurs, il transforme aussi les voisin·e·s en témoins à temps complet. Et grâce au colossal travail de sensibilisation des organisations de lutte contre les violences conjugales et au mouvement #MeToo, ces témoins ne se contentent plus de vous glisser entre deux paliers que les murs sont fins comme du papier à cigarettes, mais assument de plus en plus la responsabilité d’alerter les associations ou les forces de l’ordre.

Si le confinement a donné des oreilles aux murs, il a aussi ôté des yeux aux institutions et aux professionnels de la protection, comme le souligne Edouard Durand, juge des enfants au TGI de Bobigny, dans son audition par la délégation aux droits des femmes et à l’égalité des chances entre les hommes et les femmes du Sénat. Il a également considérablement compliqué le travail des associations qui accompagnent les femmes victimes de violence et assurent leur hébergement d’urgence (Delage, 2020). Et révélé à quel point les moyens manquent pour offrir des solutions concrètes : favoriser le recueil des témoignages tourne court si les écoutant·e·s ne peuvent pas diriger les victimes vers des lieux d’accueil d’urgence. Les 2 millions d’euros gouvernementaux issus du Grenelle contre les violences conjugales et du redéploiement des crédits du secrétariat d’Etat à l’égalité entre les femmes et les hommes pendant le confinement sont bien maigres pour imaginer des solutions de logement à la hauteur des besoins. Et le financement de nuitées d’hôtel destinées à l’éloignement des hommes agresseurs sur cette enveloppe et non sur celle de la justice grève encore le budget.

Les politiques publiques menées (ou non menées) pendant la crise du Covid-19 au printemps 2020, en premier lieu le confinement, ont révélé l’ampleur des violences conjugales et la dimension proprement géographique de l’emprise des hommes violents. Elles ont montré que les violences conjugales ne sont pas autre chose, pour reprendre les termes d’Annick Billon (présidente de la délégation sénatoriale évoquée plus haut), qu’« un confinement sans fin ». En 2000, la philosophe Marilyn Frye définissait déjà l’oppression comme un ensemble de forces et de barrières qui produisent des « vies confinées et contraintes ». C’est ce qui rend si impérative une loi-cadre qui réponde de manière coordonnée aux différentes dimensions de l’oppression patriarcale.

▻https://www.liberation.fr/debats/2020/10/01/violences-conjugales-un-confinement-sans-fin_1801102

Au cas où...

https://i.imgur.com/a9hJsoY.png

#France_victimes

Enquête sur une société de sécurité espagnole qui espionnait Assange à Londres
▻https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/enquete-sur-une-societe-de-securite-espagnole-qui-espionnait-assange-a-lond

Selon le document judiciaire, qui cite la plainte des avocats d’Assange, Undercover Global, chargée par Quito d’assurer la sécurité de son ambassade à Londres entre 2015 et 2018, avait mis en place tout un système d’espionnage. La société avait notamment installé des caméras capables d’enregistrer le son ou des micros dans les toilettes pour femmes, où Assange « organisait beaucoup de ses réunions pour en garantir la confidentialité », ou sous un extincteur.

« Des réunions qu’Assange menait avec ses avocats, des visites médicales ou de diverse nature ont pu ainsi être enregistrées », selon le document judiciaire. Les informations recueillies étaient ensuite transférées vers des serveurs informatiques, accessibles aux services de renseignements équatorien et américain.

Toujours selon l’Audience nationale, Morales réalisait « de fréquents voyages aux États-Unis », parfois plus d’une fois par mois, pour remettre personnellement les disques durs contenant les enregistrements. En outre, il « aurait versé tous les mois 20.000 euros en espèces à la responsable de la sécurité de l’ambassade afin d’éviter qu’elle ne fasse des rapports négatifs sur UC Global qui aurait pu conduire à une rupture du contrat ».

Le Royaume-Uni empêche un juge espagnol d’interroger Julian Assange (El Pais) | Le Club de Mediapart
▻https://blogs.mediapart.fr/segesta3756/blog/231019/le-royaume-uni-empeche-un-juge-espagnol-dinterroger-julian-assange-e

https://static.mediapart.fr/etmagine/default/files/2019/10/23/1571817241-796975-1571817596-noticia-normal-recorte1.jpg

La position britannique, sans précédent dans ce type de demandes de collaboration judiciaire, est considérée par les instances judiciaires espagnoles comme un signe de résistance contre les conséquences que l’affaire pourrait avoir sur le processus d’extradition du cyberactiviste australien aux États-Unis.

Israeli forces arrest prominent Palestinian lawmaker and activist Khalida Jarrar
Human rights and feminist activist was detained at her house in Ramallah, along with the writer and journalist Ali Jaradat
By Shatha Hammad in Ramallah, Occupied West Bank - 31 October 2019
▻https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-forces-arrest-prominent-palestinian-lawmaker-and-activist-kha

Israeli soldiers have arrested the prominent Palestinian lawmaker and activist Khalid Jarrar at her house in the Albera area of Ramallah, along with the writer and journalist Ali Jaradat.

Jarrar, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), had been released in February from Israel’s Damon prison after 20 months in administrative detention without charges.

Jarrar’s daughter Suha, told Middle East Eye that 12 military vehicles surrounded their house at 3am on Thursday morning, Israeli forces then banged the doors of the property and about 20 armed soldiers raided the house. (...)

Une députée palestinienne à nouveau arrêtée par Israël
Par Le Figaro avec AFP
Publié le 31 octobre 2019 à 13:02
▻https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/une-deputee-palestinienne-a-nouveau-arretee-par-israel-20191031

Une influente parlementaire palestinienne, qui avait déjà passé 20 mois en détention administrative pour liens avec un mouvement palestinien, a été à nouveau arrêtée tôt jeudi 31 octobre par les autorités israéliennes en Cisjordanie occupée, a indiqué sa fille.

« Ma mère, Khalida Jarrar, a été arrêtée à notre résidence de Ramallah » vers 3h du matin (1h GMT), a écrit sa fille Yafa sur Facebook. Membre du Conseil législatif palestinien sous la bannière du Front populaire de libération de la Palestine (FPLP, gauche radicale), Khalida Jarrar avait été arrêtée en juillet 2017 et placée en détention administrative qui s’est prolongée sur 20 mois. Les accusations exactes portées à son encontre sont confidentielles, comme c’est généralement le cas avec les ordres israéliens de détention administrative. Selon le Club des prisonniers palestiniens, 11 autres personnalités ont été arrêtées au cours de la nuit de mercredi à jeudi dont l’écrivain Ali Jaradat, une figure connue du FPLP. Le service de renseignement intérieur israélien, le Shin Bet, qui ordonne en règle générale ce type d’arrestations, n’a pu être joint.

Israël arrête à nouveau une ex-députée palestinienne
Avec notre correspondant à Jérusalem, Guilhem Delteil - Par RFI Publié le 01-11-2019
▻http://www.rfi.fr/moyen-orient/20191101-israel-arrete-ex-deputee-palestinienne-khalida-jarrar

Khalida Jarrar, femme politique palestinienne, membre du Parlement désormais dissout, a été arrêtée par l’armée palestinienne, pour la troisième fois, jeudi 31 octobre 2019.

Une nouvelle fois arrêtée par l’armée israélienne, Khalida Jarrar, était à son domicile, près de Ramallah, au moment des faits jeudi matin. C’est la troisième fois qu’elle est arrêtée ; elle était sortie de prison il y a tout juste huit mois.

Selon la fille de Khalida Jarrar, les forces israéliennes sont venues en nombre arrêter cette responsable politique. Plus de 70 soldats, à bord d’une douzaine de véhicules, sont entrés au milieu de la nuit à Al Bireh, banlieue de Ramallah, assure Yafa Jarrar.

Jusqu’à la dissolution du Parlement palestinien l’année dernière, Khalida Jarrar était députée, élue du Front populaire de libération de la Palestine. Une organisation terroriste aux yeux d’Israël, comme des États-Unis ou de l’Union européenne.

De nouveau en détention administrative

En 2015, Khalida Jarrar avait été condamnée à 17 mois de prison pour incitation à l’enlèvement de soldats israéliens. À nouveau interpellée en 2017, elle avait été placée alors en détention administrative et incarcérée sans jugement, pendant 20 mois.

L’arrestation de Khalida Jarrar a été condamnée unanimement par les partis palestiniens. Hanane Ashraoui, l’une des dirigeantes de l’Organisation de libération de la Palestine, y voit une volonté « de terroriser et intimider tout le peuple palestinien ».

Elle réclame une condamnation internationale du principe de la détention administrative. Ce principe permet de détenir une personne indéfiniment pour des motifs sécuritaires, mais sans notifier de raisons.

IOF Continues Arbitrary Arrests of Palestinians
October 31, 2019
▻https://pchrgaza.org/en/?p=13119

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) launched an arrest campaign across the West Bank at dawn on Thursday, 31 October 2019, targeting a number of political activists. Among the arrestees were Khaleda Jarar, former member of the dissolved Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and writer/journalist Ali Jaradat. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns IOF arbitrary arrests against Palestinian civilians and calls upon the international community and international organizations to exert pressure on Israel for the immediate release of all detainees.

According to PCHR investigations, at approximately 03:00 on Thursday, 31 October 2019, IOF moved into Ramallah city and raided Khaleda Kan’an Mohammed Jarar’s house (56), political bureau member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). IOF ransacked through Jarar’s house, arrested her and transported her to the investigation centre at Ofer prison, south-western Ramallah. It should be mentioned that Jarar was released on 28 February 2019, after serving a total of 20 months in detention since July 2017. Meanwhile, IOF moved into al-Bireh, raided Ali Jaradat’s (64) house and arrested him. Jaradat had spent a total of 14 years in Israeli prisons on separate intervals the last of which was in 2016. (...)

Désormais ce sont des images de violences policières, dont j’ignore s’il s’agit bien du Liban ce soir, qui circulent :
▻https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1185303102049738752/pu/vid/848x480/mCl7g_uIG5SZcGMm.mp4

OKLM…
▻https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1184960342767603718/pu/vid/360x750/0x7Mx4YQm6-o-ul5.mp4

#only_in_lebanon

Reçu via WhatsApp:

https://i.imgur.com/QVBTsbb.jpg

Sur Al Manar, un type lance en direct : « Pourquoi on n’a pas de danseuse, nous, à Nabatieh ? »
▻https://i.imgur.com/BtDQok0.mp4

#répression #Catalogne #Espagne

(4) 56- Lois sur le #viol et #correctionnalisation : Francine Sporenda - YouTube
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB82y6ZTneE

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edit - il existe maintenant des sous tribunaux pour les sous citoyennes que sont les femmes ceci afin de ne pas condamner les viols dont elles sont à 94% les victimes.

▻https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/un-aide-soignant-juge-pour-des-abus-sexuels-sur-des-patientes-dans-une-mais

WSJ: Turks fleeing Erdogan fuel new influx of refugees to Greece

Thousands of Turks flee Turkey due to a massive witch-hunt launched by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government against the Kurds and the Gülen Group in the wake of a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
Around 14,000 people crossed the Evros frontier from January through September of this year, more than double the number for the whole of last year, according to the Greek police. Around half of them were Turkish citizens, according to estimates from Frontex, the European Union’s border agency. Many are judges, military personnel, civil servants or business people who have fallen under Turkish authorities’ suspicion, had their passports canceled and chosen an illegal route out.
Nearly 4,000 Turks have applied for asylum in Greece so far this year. But most Turkish arrivals don’t register their presence in Greece, planning instead to head deeper into Europe and further from Turkey.

About 30 Turks have been arriving on a daily basis since the failed coup, according to Kathimerini, there were zero arrivals from Turkey in 2015. However, thousands of Turkish citizens have started claiming asylum in Greece since “Erdogan stepped up his crackdown against his opponents since the failed coup attempt.”

The Wall Street Journal interviewed some of the purge-victim families in Greece:

“In the dead of night, Yunuz Cagar and his wife Cansu gave their baby some herbal tea to help her sleep, donned backpacks and followed smugglers on a muddy path along the Evros river, evading fences and border guards until they reached Greece.

Mr. Cagar, a 29-year-old court clerk, was living a quiet life with his family in a provincial town near Istanbul until Turkey’s crackdown after a failed military coup in 2016 turned their world upside down. Judges, colleagues and friends were arrested. He lost his job and had to move the family into his parents’ attic. Mr. Cagar was arrested and spent four months in prison. His crime, he says, was downloading a messaging app, an act he says the state treated as evidence of supporting terrorism.
The flow of asylum seekers crossing the Greek-Turkish border along the Evros river is rising for the first time since the peak of Europe’s migration crisis in 2015. This time, though, the increase is mainly due to Turks fleeing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his dragnet against real or imagined followers of the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Turkey accuses Mr. Gulen, an ex-ally turned enemy of Mr. Erdogan, of orchestrating the coup attempt.

“We didn’t say goodbye to anyone before leaving,” said Mr. Cagar, who is now in Athens trying to find some way to get to Germany. His wife and child already made it there with the help of smugglers who have demanded a hefty price. “We began our journey with €13,000 ($14,700) and I have €1,500 left,” he said.

Ahmed, a 30-year-old former F-16 pilot in the Turkish air force, spends his days talking to smugglers and trying to find a way out. “My dream is Canada, but the reality is Omonoia,” he said, referring to the gritty square in downtown Athens where migrants and smugglers mingle.

A few months after the coup attempt, Ahmed said, he was dismissed, accused of Gulenist links, arrested and beaten, after another officer denounced him. He said he has no connections with Mr. Gulen’s network. He was released pending trial, but decided to flee when a prison term appeared unavoidable.

Yilmaz Bilir, his wife Ozlem and their four children were on vacation when the coup attempt happened. Mr. Bilir, who worked at the information-technology department of Turkey’s foreign ministry, found out months later that he was suspected of Gulenist links, which he denies. The family went into hiding, staying with relatives and friends. Mr. Bilir was arrested when he briefly visited his own home and neighbors called the police. When he was released pending trial, the family decided to leave Turkey.

Mr. Bilir made it to Germany using a forged passport and has applied for asylum there. His wife and children have applied to join him.

Mrs. Bilir, stuck for now in Athens, remembers how happy the family was when they crossed the river Evros one summer night. “It was an endless walk, but we were happy, because we were away together,” she said. “I was so stressed in Turkey that I couldn’t sleep well for months, but that first night in detention in Greece, I finally slept.”

After the coup, Meral Budak was suspended from her job as a teacher. Her husband was a journalist at Zaman, a major Turkish newspaper linked to Mr. Gulen’s movement. He had a valid U.S. visa and was able to travel to Canada, where he now works as an Uber driver. His 18-year-old son joined him a few months later.

Mrs. Budak and the couple’s 15-year-old son Ali remained in Turkey and soon had their passports revoked. They went into hiding for a year. “The most traumatic memory was when I burned hundreds of books,” she said. “Even my children’s school books could be considered evidence, since the publishing companies were funded by Gulen.”
On Jan. 1 of this year, Mrs. Budak and Ali undertook the long walk across the Evros and into Greece, where they now wait to join the rest of the family in Canada.

“When I was walking through Greek villages, I realized my life was never going to be the same,” Mrs. Budak said. “I was walking into the unknown.”
Read the full report on: ▻https://www.wsj.com/articles/turks-fleeing-erdogan-fuel-new-influx-of-refugees-to-greece-1543672801

▻https://turkeypurge.com/wsj-turks-fleeing-erdogan-fuel-new-influx-of-refugees-to-greece
#réfugiés_turcs

Fourth migrant found dead near border, Greek ’pushback’ suspected

Bodies of migrants keep piling up on Turkey’s border with Greece, while Greece denies it is involved in illegal “pushback” practices. Villagers in Adasarhanlı, where the body of another migrant was found earlier this week, alerted authorities after they discovered a body in a rice field, a short distance from the Turkish-Greek border, late Wednesday. The man is believed to be an illegal migrant forced to walk back to Turkey in freezing temperatures by Greek police as part of their controversial pushback practice.

An initial investigation shows the man froze to death three days ago, and there were lesions on his body stemming from prolonged exposure to water.

İbrahim Dalkıran, the leader of the village, said they have seen a large number of migrants recently in the area, and many took shelter, in wet clothes or half naked, in Adasarhanlı. “This is a humanitarian situation. Greece sends back migrants almost every three or four days. Some arrive injured, and we call a doctor. It is sad to see them in such a state,” Dalkıran told reporters.

Olga Gerovasili, Greece’s minister for citizen protection whose ministry oversees border security, has denied previous allegations of pushback and told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Greece is not involved in such incidents. Yet, figures provided to AA by Turkish security sources show many illegal migrants were forced to go back to Turkey by Greek officials, with some 2,490 migrants being pushed back in November alone. The agency reports that some 300 of them were subjected to mistreatment by Greek security forces, ranging from beatings to being forced to go back half naked to the Turkish side of the border.

Three bodies, believed to be Afghan or Pakistani migrants, were found in three villages in Edirne, the Turkish province that borders Greece. More than 70,000 illegal migrants were intercepted in Edirne between January and November, a high number compared to the 47,731 stopped last year as they tried to cross into Greece despite an increase in pushback reports.

Under international laws and conventions, Greece is obliged to register any illegal migrants entering its territory; yet, this is not the case for some migrants. Security sources say that accounts of migrants interviewed by Turkish migration authority staff and social workers show that they are forced to return to Turkey, where they arrived from their homelands with the hope of reaching Europe.

Pırıl Erçoban, a coordinator for the Association for Solidarity with Refugees (Mülteci-Der), says pushback constitutes a serious crime. She said it was “sad and unacceptable” that three migrants died, the number of deaths illustrates a serious problem. “It sheds light on the fact that pushback is being applied. It is still a crime to send those people back, even if they can make it back to Turkey alive,” Erçoban told AA. She says pushback was also taking place on migrant sea journeys, but has stopped, although the practice has continued on land. “Both Greece and Bulgaria are involved in this practice. Our figures show some 11,000 [illegal migrants] entered Turkey from Greece and Bulgaria, though not all of them were forced; we believe a substantial portion of returns are the result of pushback,” she said, adding returns were mostly via Greece. Erçoban said taking legal action to help migrants forced to return was difficult, as they could not reach the victims. “There should be administrative and criminal sanctions, and the culprits should be found. Turkey should take steps against pushback if [Greece] adopted it as a state policy. We hear that they are being beaten with iron bars and sent back without their clothes. This is a crime,” she added.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of migrants flee civil conflict or economic hardship in their home countries in hope of reaching Europe. Edirne is a primary migration route. Turkish Directorate General of Migration Management data reveals that most of the migrants come from Pakistan, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The numbers increase in late summer and autumn before dropping in the winter months.

Temperatures hover near minus zero degrees Celsius in Edirne and other provinces at the border, which also saw heavy rainfall last week. Migrants usually take boats on the Meriç River, while some try to swim across to the other side. Early yesterday, police stopped 17 Pakistani migrants who were walking on train tracks near the border.

▻https://www.dailysabah.com/investigations/2018/12/07/fourth-migrant-found-dead-near-border-greek-pushback-suspected/amp?__twitter_impression=true
#mourir_aux_frontières #décès #morts

Greece accused of migrant ’pushbacks’ at Turkey border

Hundreds of migrants including children and families have been illegally returned from Greece to Turkey despite Greek authorities being repeatedly warned about the practice, three non-governmental organizations said Wednesday.

Migrants being forced back over the border, in violation of international law, has become the “new normality” at the border crossing with Turkey in Greece’s northeast Evros region, the three Greek organizations said.

The testimonies of 39 people who attempted to cross the border to Europe, collected in detention centers near the border since the spring, were published in a report by the Greek Council for Refugees, ARSIS and HumanRights360.

In their testimonies, the migrants describe being intercepted and detained by people wearing police or military uniforms, sometimes with a hood covering their face, who then forced them onto a boat to cross the Evros River back to Turkey.

Some migrants described being physically abused or robbed by the individuals, who mostly spoke Greek.

The report “constitutes evidence of the practice of pushbacks being used extensively and not decreasing, regardless of the silence and denial by the responsible public bodies and authorities,” the NGOs said.

The “particularly wide-spread practice” leaves the “state exposed and posing a threat for the rule of law in the country,” they added.

The Greek office of the U.N. refugee agency also said it had recorded a “significant number of testimonies on informal forced returns” through the Evros border.

“On many occasions, we have addressed those concerns to the Greek authorities requesting the investigation of incidents,” the UNHCR office said.

“The state’s response so far to these practices has not produced the results required for an effective access to asylum.”

Greek authorities have denied involvement in the migrant returns and have announced investigations into potential militia action, without result so far.

The flow of migrants across the Greek-Turkish land border has almost tripled this year, according to Greece’s migration ministry, with 14,000 people intercepted so far compared to 5,400 in 2017.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/dailystar/Pictures/2018/12/12/749835_img650x420_img650x420_crop.jpg

Greece: Violent Pushbacks at Turkey Border

Greek law enforcement officers at the land border with Turkey in the northeastern Evros region routinely summarily return asylum seekers and migrants, Human Rights Watch said today. The officers in some cases use violence and often confiscate and destroy the migrants’ belongings.

“People who have not committed a crime are detained, beaten, and thrown out of Greece without any consideration for their rights or safety,” said Todor Gardos, Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Greek authorities should immediately investigate the repeated allegations of illegal pushbacks.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed 26 asylum seekers and other migrants in Greece in May, and in October and November in Turkey. They are from Afghanistan, Iraq, Morocco, Pakistan, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen, and include families traveling with children. They described 24 incidents of pushbacks across the Evros River from Greece to Turkey.

Most incidents took place between April and November. All of those interviewed reported hostile or violent behavior by Greek police and unidentified forces wearing uniforms and masks without recognizable insignia. Twelve said police or these unidentified forces accompanying the police stripped them of their possessions, including their money and personal identification, which were often destroyed. Seven said police or unidentified forces took their clothes or shoes and forced them back to Turkey in their underwear, sometimes at night in freezing temperatures.

Abuse included beatings with hands and batons, kicking, and, in one case, the use of what appeared to be a stun gun. In another case, a Moroccan man said a masked man dragged him by his hair, forced him to kneel on the ground, held a knife to his throat, and subjected him to a mock execution. Others pushed back include a pregnant 19-year-old woman from Afrin, Syria, and a woman from Afghanistan who said Greek authorities took away her two young children’s shoes.

Increasing numbers of migrants, including asylum seekers, have attempted to cross the Evros River, which forms a natural border between Greece and Turkey, since April. By the end of September, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) had registered 13,784 arrivals by land, a nearly fourfold increase over the same period last year.

In early June, Turkey unilaterally suspended all returns under a bilateral readmission agreement, stopping coordinated returns over the land border. In a July letter to Human Rights Watch, Hellenic Police Director Georgios Kossioris acknowledged an “acute problem” related to new arrivals and migrants arrested in the region, causing the overcrowding in some facilities, and inhumane conditions in police stations and registration and identification centers Human Rights Watch had documented.

Accounts gathered by Human Rights Watch are consistent with the findings of other nongovernmental groups, intergovernmental agencies, and media reports. UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, has raised similar concerns. In a June report, the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Committee for the Prevention of Torture said it has received “several consistent and credible allegations of pushbacks by boat from Greece to Turkey at the Evros River border by masked Greek police and border guards or (para-)military commandos.” In November, the CoE human rights commissioner called on Greece to investigate allegations, in light of information pointing to “an established practice.”

Human Rights Watch wrote to the head of border protection of the Hellenic Police on December 6, 2018, informing them of its findings. In his reply, Police Director Kossioris categorically denied that Hellenic Police carry out forced summary returns. He said all procedures for the detention and identification of migrants entering Greece were carried out in line with relevant legislation, and that they “thoroughly investigate” any incidents of misconduct or violation of migrants’ and asylum seekers’ rights. Greek authorities have consistently denied pushback practices, including a high-ranking Greek police official in a June meeting with Human Rights Watch. For a decade, Human Rights Watch has documented systematic pushbacks by Greek law enforcement officials at its land border with Turkey.

Greek authorities should promptly investigate in a transparent, thorough, and impartial manner repeated allegations that Greek police and border guards are involved in collective and extrajudicial expulsions at the Evros region. Authorities should investigate allegations of violence and excessive use of force. Any officer engaged in such illegal acts, as well as their commanding officers, should be subject to disciplinary sanction and, as appropriate, criminal prosecution. Anyone seeking international protection should have the opportunity to apply for asylum, and returns should follow a procedure that provides access to effective remedies and safeguards against refoulement – return to a country where they are likely to face persecution, and ill-treatment.

The European Commission, which provides financial support to the Greek government for migration control, including in the Evros region, should urge Greece to end all summary returns of asylum seekers to Turkey, press the authorities to investigate allegations of violence, and open legal proceedings against Greece for violating European Union laws.

“Despite government denials, it appears that Greece is intentionally, and with complete impunity, closing the door on many people who seek to reach the European Union through the Evros border,” Gardos said. “Greece should cease forced summary returns immediately and treat everyone with dignity and respect for their basic rights.”

For detailed accounts from asylum seekers and migrants, please see below. Please note that all names have been changed.

Human Rights Watch interviewed 26 people from Afghanistan, Iraq, Morocco, Pakistan, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen, including seven women, two of whom were pregnant at the time they were summarily returned to Turkey across the Evros River. In seven cases, families were pushed back, including children.

In Greece, Human Rights Watch interviewed people who managed to re-enter Greek territory following a pushback, in the Fylakio pre-removal detention center and in the Fylakio reception and identification center, as well as in the Diavata camp for asylum seekers in Thessaloniki. In Turkey, those interviewed were in the Edirne removal center and in urban locations in Istanbul.

All names of interviewees have been changed to protect their privacy and security. Interviews were carried out privately and confidentially, in the interviewees’ first language, or a language they spoke fluently, through interpreters. Interviewees shared their accounts voluntarily, and without remuneration, and have consented to Human Rights Watch collecting and publishing their accounts.

Pushbacks in Evros

The 24 incidents described demonstrate a pattern that points to an established and well-coordinated practice of pushbacks. Most of the incidents share three key features: initial capture by local police patrols, detention in police stations or informal locations close to the border with Turkey, and handover from identifiable law enforcement bodies to unidentifiable paramilitaries who would carry out the pushback to Turkey across the Evros River, at times violently. In nine cases, migrants said uniformed police physically mistreated them before or during the pushback.

The accounts suggest close and consistent coordination between police with unidentified, often masked, men who may or may not be law enforcement officers. In a May interview with Human Rights Watch, Second Lieutenant Sofia Lazopoulou at the border police station of Neo Cheimonio said that police officers wearing dark blue uniforms were in charge of services at the police station and that those who wear military camouflage uniforms were patrolling officers, in charge of prevention and deterrence of irregular migrants crossing into Greece.

Interviewees said that people who looked like police officers or soldiers, as well as some of the unidentified masked men, carried equipment such as handguns, handcuffs, radios, spray cans, and batons, while others carried tactical gear such as armored gloves, binoculars, and knives and military grade weapons, such as rifles.

The repeated nature of the pushbacks and the fact that those officers who conduct them were clearly on official duty, indicates that commanding officers knew, or ought to have known, what was happening.

Ferhat G., a Syrian Kurdish man in his forties, said two police officers detained him, his wife, and three children, ages 12, 15, and 19, at an abandoned train station on September 19. They were held in a large caged area in the backyard of a police station with dozens of other people for five hours. Ferhat could not say where the train station or police station were:

We were all put in a van, 60 to 70 people. Commandos all in black, wearing face masks, drove us back to the river. We were very afraid… I saw other people there, mainly youths with just shorts, no other clothes. Our blood froze out of fear. When they opened the van, we started going out. “Stand in one line, one-by-one,” they said and hit someone. Ten by 10, they put us in a small boat, driven by a Greek soldier. I cried because of the humiliation.

The modus operandi was largely replicated, with some variations, in the other cases Human Rights Watch documented.

Capture

Twenty-one of those interviewed said local police patrols detained them in towns and villages near the border or in open farmland. Two said that the police took them off a bus or a train shortly after its departure. Three said they could not identify the men who detained them and took them directly back to the border. People said they were then transported in police cars, pick-up trucks, white vans without windows or signs, or larger trucks painted in green or camouflage that appeared to be military trucks.

Karim L., 25, from Morocco, said that police officers removed him from a train to Alexandropouli on November 8. Shortly after its scheduled departure from Orestiada, at 12:37 p.m., police officers began asking passengers who looked foreign to show their passports and took Karim and five or six others off the train. The police took him to a nearby police station and kept him there for two nights. Then four men wearing police uniforms and black masks took him to the border in a van. He said they subjected him to physical violence and a mock execution, then pushed him back to Turkey. He was not photographed, fingerprinted, or given any paper to read or sign, or otherwise informed of the reasons for his arrest. He said that other people, including families with children, were also detained in the station’s three cells.

Mahsa N., an Afghan woman, said uniformed police officers removed her, her husband, their three children, ages 5, 9, and 11, and two unrelated Afghan men from a bus 15 minutes after it left Alexandropouli in mid-September, during their third attempt to enter Greece. They were pushed back to Turkey the same day, with the police who had detained them taking them all the way to the Evros River, where others were already being held so they could be returned on a boat.

Dila E., a 25-year-old Syrian woman, described her experience shortly after crossing the Evros River in late April. She said she was with seven other people, including four children, when masked men she could not identify pushed them back to Turkey as they were walking in a small town near the border:

They came with a car and took us. They put us in a white van. You couldn’t see anything from the inside. They took us directly to the river and made us cross the river with a rubber boat. They took everyone’s mobile phones, set of clothes, and even the money from some.

Malik N., a 26-year-old Moroccan man, said uniformed police stopped him along with three other men on November 13 near a gas station in Didymoteicho, a town two kilometers from the border. He said that one of the policemen made a phone call, and a white van arrived 15 minutes later. Two men he could not identify took him and two of his group to a location that he described as barracks: “They put us in the car, which was very well made, dark inside, and without seats. There were no signs on it. … There was a terrible smell [in the barracks], and officials had their masks on… There were 30 people there.”

Masked men took him to the border the next evening:

After the masked people came, they started to shout at us, and hit us one by one with batons at the door. There were around eight people outside the barracks, each with a thick plastic baton. They would hit you as you walked to the car. They would shout “Fuck Islam.” They put 30 of us in the van. [There were] no chairs. I felt like I was suffocating, there was no air. When we arrived at the river, they ordered people to strip to shorts only. They took my phones, my money, €1,500, and my glasses, and broke them.

Sardar T., 18, from Afghanistan, said that uniformed police caught him and the group of people he was traveling with at the Didymoteicho bus station on April 23. He said the police came with a white van but later brought a big car, similar to a military truck with green camouflage. Human Rights Watch researchers saw a vehicle matching Sardar’s description parked in the yard of the border police station of Neo Cheimonio, as well as numerous white vans, without police signs. Sardar said that the officers who pushed them back to Turkey were wearing police uniforms and that masks concealed their faces except for their eyes.

Detention

Thirteen of those interviewed reported that they were detained in formal and informal locations close to the border, for periods ranging from a few hours to five days. Five said they were taken to a police station, while eight described buildings on the outskirts of nearby villages and towns, or on farmland that they said were used as drop-off points for detained migrants. None of the interviewees, even those held at police stations, were duly identified and registered, and their detention appears to have been arbitrary and incommunicado.

A few dozen to one hundred people were detained at a time, without food, water, and sanitation, and then taken to the Evros River and returned to Turkey. Interviewees described the rooms in the unidentified buildings as “prison-like” and “like a storage room,” with a few mattresses and a single, filthy toilet. They said women and families with children were either held together with unrelated men, or sometimes in adjacent rooms.

Mahsa, the Afghan woman who was summarily returned to Turkey three times, said she and her family were kept for five days, along with unrelated men who were also detained, in a dark room with no beds or heat before the second pushback, in late August. They were not given any food. Their belongings, including winter coats for her young children, and a cherished backpack and doll, were never returned. Up to 10 guards, wearing belts with what appeared to be handguns, batons, and pepper spray, would check on people and lock the door but not provide any information. She saw guards beating men staying in the same room: “They had a blue uniform with writing on it in Greek on the back, with big letters. They called us dirt.”

Azadeh B., a 22-year-old Afghan woman traveling with her husband and two children, ages 2 and 4, said they were pushed back twice from Greece – and had spent five days in detention before being returned the second time, in early October. She said they were taken to a room in a structure located in the middle of farmland:

We could not see or hear anything. We were not asked to sign anything or told anything. The guards closed the door and locked it. When families asked for water, they filled dirty bottles and threw them inside the room through the door. They took everything from us, even the Quran. We asked them to give back our kids’ shoes, but they didn’t. They do this because they don’t want us to come back. If it’s something of value, they keep it, something they don’t like, they put it in the bin.

She said only the children were given some biscuits while detained in a room that was about 40 square meters and shared by about 80 people whom she believed were also all migrants.

Hassan I., a Tunisian man in his thirties, said that before being violently pushed back along with four friends in early August, they spent a day in detention. He said the location resembled a military base because they saw military vehicles, including trucks and tanks, parked near the room in which they were held. It was a 15-minute drive from the town of Orestiada, where they had been stopped and picked up in the morning by two police officers in blue uniforms in a civilian car.

The policemen drove them to the location, where guards violently pushed them against a wall, searched them, and hit them. “First, they asked for phones, then for money,” Hassan said. They were shouting ‘malaka’ [a Greek insult meaning ‘asshole’]. I was shocked. I felt humiliated. When we tried to ask for anything, like our sim cards, memory cards, they hit us immediately.” Hassan and his friends were put in a room that looked like a storage room. In an adjacent room, they could hear the voices of families with children. Hassan estimated that by 9 p.m., when they were taken to the border in trucks, about 80 men were in his room of about 24 square meters, in which there were only a few chairs, a toilet, and a water tap.

Zara Z., 19 and four-months pregnant, from Afrin, Syria, said that in mid-May, men wearing camouflage uniforms stopped her and her husband and detained them overnight in a room without bedding or furniture, together with other migrant families, and without any food or water. The next day they were transferred in a van to the Evros River, put on a boat, and pushed back to Turkey.

Pushbacks across the Evros River

All those interviewed said they were transported to the border with Turkey in groups of 60 to 80, in military trucks or unmarked vans. In all but three cases, the agents wore face masks, black pants, or camouflage, making it impossible to recognize or identify them. In the three other cases, interviewees said police in regular blue and camouflage uniforms transported them to the river. Ten out of 26 interviewees said they were physically abused or witnessed others being ill-treated during the pushback operation.

Karim, a 25-year-old Moroccan man, said Greek police handed him over to masked men wearing police uniforms after they caught him in Greece on November 10 and that he was violently pushed back to Turkey. After ordering him to take off his clothes and shoes, two of the masked officers kicked him to the ground and hit him with a baton, then one of them subjected him to a mock execution. They dragged him by his hair and forced him to kneel on the ground, while the masked officer held a knife to his throat and said in broken English, “Whoever returns to Greece, they will die.” Karim said he could not sleep at night and was experiencing recurrent nightmares.

Hassan, the Tunisian who was pushed back with his four friends on August 10 or 11, said that masked men wearing black clothes ill-treated them after taking them to the border in a truck. One of the men used a stun gun on Hassan’s lower back, causing burns that were still visible over two months later. He provided video footage of the group’s injuries, which he said was recorded the day after the incident and was first posted on social media on August 12, showing several bruises he said resulted from blows to their upper and lower backs and limbs. “Next time I will see you,” one of the masked men told him in English, “I will kill you.” At the time of the interview, Hassan had been sleeping in parks in Istanbul, after all his belongings were confiscated in Greece.

Amir B., a Tunisian man in his twenties, was pushed back to Turkey at the end of September after entering Greece and hiding for six days. He said he was returned from near Alexandropouli to the border in one of two military trucks, which together took around 80 people to the border, including about 30 women and a few children. Amir said masked men pushed people around as they got off the trucks, and then pushed them toward the river, ordering them to remain silent. The agents then split the group into smaller groups of 10 and ordered them to take off their shoes. Women had to give up their coats, while some men had to strip to underwear. Amir’s jeans, where he also kept his money, were set on fire. When a black pick-up truck arrived with a small boat, the guards checked the other side of the river with binoculars, and then used the small boat to take the groups of 10 in turn across the water.

►https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/12/18/greece-violent-pushbacks-turkey-border

#vidéo:
Greek Authorities Beat, Push Back Migrants into Turkey
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2olpuc_tqA

El oscuro secreto de la frontera oriental de Europa

Grecia deporta ilegalmente a los refugiados que llegan a su territorio, en algunos casos incluso secuestrándolos lejos de la frontera, según denuncian ONG y Acnur.

Firas debería estar en Grecia. Es más, oficialmente, según los registros del Gobierno heleno y del Alto Comisionado de Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados (ACNUR), reside en Grecia. Pero no. Este sirio, de 17 años, malvive amedrentado, sin dinero y sin papeles en un pequeño apartamento de Estambul que comparte con otros refugiados, después de haber sido deportado ilegalmente por la policía griega a Turquía en tres ocasiones. Una práctica prohibida por las leyes internacionales, pero que, según las organizaciones de derechos humanos, se está convirtiendo en “sistemática” a medida que la ruta migratoria de entrada a la Unión Europea se desvía hacia la frontera del río Evros. Acnur ha recabado unos 300 casos de devoluciones en caliente de personas que intentan llegar a la UE desde Turquía solo en 2018.

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“En los últimos años hemos recabado un número significante de casos de pushback [término en inglés para referirse a esta práctica ilegal]”, explica Margaritis Petritzikis, representante de Acnur en el campo de detención de Fylakio, en Grecia, junto al Evros. “Los testimonios describen a quienes practican las detenciones vistiendo uniformes de diferentes colores, muchas veces sin distintivos, y con la cara cubierta, por lo que no sabemos a qué cuerpo pertenecen. La jurisdicción del control fronterizo es de la policía griega, pero el área que rodea el río es zona militarizada”, añade Petritzikis.

Los detenidos aseguran que, una vez detenidos y antes de ser devueltos en barcas al otro lado de la frontera, son llevados a almacenes, instalaciones militares o comisarías de policía, transportados con furgonetas sin identificar, supuestamente de las fuerzas de seguridad, según los testimonios recogidos en informes de diversas ONG, entre ellas Human Rights Watch y el Greek Council for Refugees (GCR).

El Evros, también llamado Maritsa, hace de barrera natural a lo largo de 194 de los 206 kilómetros de frontera terrestre entre Turquía y Grecia; el resto lo cubre una valla levantada en 2012. Para aquellos migrantes y refugiados que, desde suelo turco, sueñan con alcanzar territorio europeo, son apenas 100 o 200 metros que cubrir en un bote hinchable, un trayecto mucho más corto que el que separa la costa turca de las islas griegas del mar Egeo. Además, aquí no está vigente el acuerdo firmado entre la UE y Turquía en 2016, que permite la devolución de aquellos migrantes llegados de manera irregular por vía marítima. En la zona del Evros regía otro acuerdo bilateral de devolución firmado entre Turquía y Grecia, aunque Ankara lo canceló el pasado año. Por ello, en los últimos años, se ha incrementado el número de llegadas a través de esta ruta (en 2018 fueron 18.014, un 35% del total de refugiados y migrantes que arribaron a Grecia, según los datos de Acnur). La mayor parte de los que llegan son sirios, afganos y turcos.

Sus aguas aparentemente tranquilas son un espejismo engañoso. Es un río caudaloso, de habituales inundaciones y fuertes corrientes: durante el pasado año, medio centenar de personas murieron en esta ruta, la mayoría ahogadas o por hipotermia. “El río es pequeño, pero peligroso. Sobre todo porque los botes son para cinco personas y cruzamos 30 a la vez”, explica un joven bangladesí detenido en el campo de Fylakio.

Un residente de Edirne, en la orilla turca del río, explica que las tarifas que exigen los traficantes por pasar al otro lado van de 1.000 a 5.000 euros. Aquellos que pagan más “reciben un servicio vip”, y en la orilla griega les esperan otros traficantes que los llevan en coche hasta Salónica o Atenas: “A estos no los suele detener nunca la policía”. A los que no disponen de ese dinero, después de superar el peligro de las aguas les aguarda una nueva barrera.
Práctica ilegal

Dos y media de la madrugada. Se escuchan pasos entre la maleza, en la zona boscosa que rodea el Evros. Hay cuchicheos. Los pasos se detienen al escuchar el vehículo en el que viaja este periodista. Poco después, se alejan.

Anteriormente, en cuanto veían a cualquier persona en la orilla griega, los refugiados se identificaban como tales y pedían que se avisase a la policía. Sabían que habían llegado a territorio seguro. Ya no. Entre los refugiados es sabido que, si son apresados en esta zona, corren el riesgo de ser devueltos al otro lado. Las devoluciones en caliente están prohibidas por la ley: la normativa exige que sean primero identificados y, si es el caso, se les permita presentar una petición de asilo. Firas (que no es su nombre real) cuenta que pasó por ello dos veces durante el año pasado. En la primera ocasión, durante el verano, explica que fue detenido nada más cruzar el río, llevado a una comisaría y devuelto a Turquía al cabo de unas seis horas. “En la comisaría nos pegaron a todos los hombres, nos quitaron nuestras pertenencias y destrozaron los móviles”, asegura.

La segunda fue aún peor: una vez capturados, Firas explica que los agentes de policía llamaron a otros agentes con uniforme militar y la cara cubierta y les propinaron una paliza. Esta vez les quitaron hasta la ropa y los devolvieron a Turquía en calzoncillos. Su historia es similar a las decenas de testimonios recabados por diferentes ONG, que consideran que puede haber un patrón de actuación de las fuerzas de seguridad helenas.

En algunos casos no se trata ni siquiera de devoluciones «en caliente», es decir, al ser detenidos en el borde mismo de la frontera, sino desde bastante más adentro en el territorio griego y pasado bastante tiempo desde que los refugiados entraron al país. A. A., un sirio que residía en Alemania de manera legal, llegó en agosto de 2017 a la ciudad griega de Alejandrópolis para encontrarse con su mujer, que había cruzado recientemente la frontera. Pero, según manifestó al GCR, fue detenido por agentes de la policía que, haciendo caso omiso a sus documentos, lo encapucharon y lo enviaron a Turquía en un bote junto a otros refugiados.

https://ep01.epimg.net/internacional/imagenes/2019/03/03/actualidad/1551607634_105978_1551643214_sumario_normal_recorte1.jpg

Similar es el caso de Firas. La tercera vez que intentó cruzar a Grecia, a mediados de noviembre, explica que lo logró. Y fue enviado al centro de detención de Fylakio. A inicios de enero, salió de él con los documentos que lo acreditaban como solicitante de asilo. Tomó un autobús hacia Salónica, pero cuenta que, cuando llevaba 15 minutos de viaje, la policía le ordenó bajar junto a otros cinco sirios. “Tenía los papeles de la policía griega y de Acnur, pero los destrozaron delante de mí”, relata. “Nos llevaron a un calabozo y agentes con pasamontañas nos desnudaron y nos pegaron. No nos dieron agua ni comida. El segundo día, vinieron otros agentes y nos pegaron con tubos de cañería. Luego nos llevaron al río junto a varias familias con niños y nos devolvieron a Turquía”.

La respuesta del Gobierno griego es siempre la misma: “No existen estas prácticas”. Así lo han dicho públicamente los ministerios de Orden Público y Migraciones ante las quejas formales de ACNUR y el Consejo de Europa. La comandancia regional en Tracia de la policía griega, preguntada por la situación, redirigió a este periodista al comisario de Orestíada, Pascalis Siritudis, quien respondió al teléfono —un día después de haberse negado a recibirlo— con gran enfado: "La policía griega respeta siempre la ley y las normas internacionales. No olvide que esta es la frontera de la Unión Europea, no solo de Grecia”. Desde el Ministerio de Orden Público, la contestación fue similar: «La policía griega cumple con los derechos humanos».

Hay varias investigaciones en marcha. Una, sobre la devolución de varios turcos en mayo de 2017, ha alcanzado el Tribunal Supremo de Grecia. También el Defensor del Pueblo y la Fiscalía de Orestíada han iniciado un proceso judicial tras la denuncia de un ciudadano sudanés deportado ilegalmente a Turquía. Pero, hasta ahora, nadie ha sido condenado. Dimitris Koros, abogado del GCR, admite que es difícil armar estos casos: “La mayoría de los refugiados devueltos no tienen tiempo ni medios para iniciar un proceso judicial y, además, es casi imposible identificar a quienes participan en las devoluciones ya que van con la cara cubierta y sin identificaciones, y se suelen producir de noche”.

Entretanto Firas continúa en Estambul, temeroso de que un día lo detengan las autoridades turcas y lo deporten a la misma Siria de la que escapó huyendo de la guerra. Y se sigue preguntando por qué lo echaron de Grecia si tenía derecho a quedarse. “Me sorprendió mucho el nivel de brutalidad que emplearon conmigo. Siempre habíamos escuchado que la Unión Europea era un lugar donde no había violencia y se respetaban los derechos humanos”, se queja.

▻https://elpais.com/internacional/2019/03/03/actualidad/1551607634_105978.html

Turkish computer science student missing in Evros following failed attempt to escape to Greece

21-year-old university student #Mahir_Mete_Kul has been missing since the boat he used to cross Evros river between Greece and Turkey capsized on March 24.

A computer science student at Istanbul’s Beykent University, Kul spent 10 months in prison on charges of membership to the leftist group, Liseli Dev-Genc, and was released 5 months ago with judicial control, media reported. As the court in charge put an overseas travel ban on his passport, Kul embarked on the risky journey to escape Turkey the same way thousands of others have tried over the past two years: crossing the Evros river along Turkey-Greece border in a bid to seek asylum abroad.

“My son was a pretty young university student. They sent him up to prison. Following his release, they prevented him from going back to the school. As he had a travel ban on his passport, he chose this way [to escape],” Mahir’s mother Araz Kul spoke to Gazete Karinca. Five months ago, the mother left Turkey to Greece due to political reasons too, media said.

Thousands of people have fled Turkey due to a massive witch-hunt launched by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government against all kinds of opposition.

More than 510,000 people have been detained and some 100,000 including academics, judges, doctors, teachers, lawyers, students, policemen and many from different backgrounds have been put in pre-trial detention since last summer.

Many tried to escape Turkey via illegal ways as the government cancelled their passports like thousands of others.

https://turkeypurge.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/sdsd-1.jpg

L’appel de la mère :
▻https://twitter.com/TurkeyPurge/status/1110989355445678080
▻https://twitter.com/TurkeyPurge/status/1110990512381530113

#réfugiés_turcs

À la frontière gréco-turque. Empêcher les migrants d’entrer en Europe, sauver ceux qui y parviennent

Je copie-colle ici la partie dédiée à la région de l’Evros :

L’Evros, région délaissée par les garde-frontières

La gare de Marasia semble aussi abandonnée que le village éponyme. Derrière un panneau jaune et rouge signalant le passage de trains à vapeurs, un cours d’eau ruisselle dans le calme. L’Evros, large d’une dizaine de mètres à peine à cet endroit, est la plus longue rivière des Balkans, prenant sa source en Bulgarie pour se jeter dans la mer Égée, près d’Alexandroupoli. Depuis l’accord entre l’Union européenne et la Turquie et la fermeture de la route des Balkans, la pression migratoire sur la Grèce, qui se concentrait ces dernières années sur les îles en mer Égée, se déporte vers l’Evros, frontière naturelle entre la Grèce et la Turquie. “Aujourd’hui, le problème n’est plus à la barrière mais dans la rivière”, atteste Paschalis Siritoudis, le directeur de la police du département d’Orestiada.

Un effet de vases communicants

Cette affluence ne l’inquiète pas plus que ça. “De plus en plus de migrants arrivent ces dernières années mais c’est un vieux problème auquel la région est confrontée depuis une vingtaine d’années. Avant la construction de la barrière avec la Turquie (celle-ci longe la frontière sur 12 kilomètres dans une zone militarisée, NdlR), 30 000 migrants passaient chaque année. En 2012, nous avons lancé une opération de surveillance à la frontière, du personnel a été recruté. Les années suivantes, ce nombre est tombé entre 1 000 et 3 000 personnes. En 2018, environ 7 000 ont franchi la frontière. Ces chiffres, même s’ils sont moindres, montrent qu’il y a toujours un problème migratoire ici. Mais le flux est sous contrôle, il n’y a aucune comparaison possible avec la situation avant 2012”, martèle le colonel, d’une voix tonitruante.

Les chiffres du Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies (UNHCR) vont bien au-delà de ceux du directorat de police : en 2018, 18 014 personnes sont entrées en Grèce via l’Evros. Presque trois fois plus de personnes (dont une majorité de ressortissants turcs) que l’année précédente.

Dès qu’une porte se ferme dans la région d’Evros, une fenêtre s’ouvre ailleurs. Et vice-versa. Quand, en juillet 2012, l’opération Aspida (“bouclier” en grec) est lancée, le nombre d’entrées à la frontière gréco-turque chute de manière vertigineuse. La première semaine du mois d’août, 2 000 migrants y sont appréhendés. Quelques mois plus tard, en octobre, moins de 10 personnes sont arrêtées par semaine.

Les autorités compétentes et Frontex se félicitent du succès de cette opération. Les réjouissances sont cependant de courte durée : face au renforcement des contrôles à la frontière terrestre, les départs en mer se multiplient. “Immédiatement après le déploiement de l’opération Aspida, le nombre de détections de traversées illégales a augmenté, à la fois à la frontière maritime entre la Grèce et la Turquie et à la frontière terrestre avec la Bulgarie”, reconnaît Frontex dans son rapport annuel 2012, d’où sont issus les chiffres précités.

Sur les 206 km de frontière fluviale entre la Grèce et la Turquie, seuls 12,5 kms sont terrestres et forment ce qu’on appelle le triangle de Karaağaç. C’est sur ce territoire qu’est érigée la barrière. (en rouge sur la carte)

“Les barrières et les murs sont des solutions court-termistes à des mesures qui ne règlent pas le problème. L’Union européenne ne finane et ne financera pas cette barrière. Ça ne sert à rien.”
Cecilia Malmström, ex-Commissaire européenne aux Affaires intérieures, février 2011.

“Le problème n’est plus à la barrière mais dans la rivière” Paschalis Siritoudis, directeur de la police du département d’Orestiada

Sept ans plus tard, l’opération Aspida est toujours en cours et semble faire la fierté de Paschalis Siritoudis. “Elle est connue dans toute la Grèce, dans toute l’Europe même ! Elle est effectuée avec le support de Frontex”, se félicite-t-il.

Les officiers de Frontex déployés près d’Orestiada en 2010 (surtout pour identifier les migrants) pour prêter main forte aux Grecs sont partis. Aujourd’hui, l’agence européenne n’est que peu impliquée dans la région : quelques agents travaillent aux check-points et patrouillent avec des policiers et des militaires le long de la barrière de barbelés. “Nous avons parlé avec les autorités grecques pour augmenter notre présence mais la décision leur revient. Nous sommes prêts à intervenir s’ils en ressentent le besoin”, explique Eva Moncure, porte-parole de l’agence.

À entendre Paschalis Siritoudis, ce n’est pas le cas. “Les officiers grecs qui effectuent l’enregistrement des migrants irréguliers, prennent leurs empreintes digitales et font le débriefing sont plus expérimentés que quiconque en Europe. Ils ont eu affaire à des dizaines de milliers de migrants et leur expertise est reconnue par tous”, s’exclame-t-il, assis derrière son bureau dans le commissariat d’Orestiada.

De son côté, Frontex fait grand cas de ses compétences. “L’agence mutualise les ressources et fait appel aux États membres pour lui fournir du personnel. Il y a donc un turn-over important dans toutes les missions. Au fil des ans, nous avons toutefois développé une expertise, notamment au niveau de l’examen des documents. Avec quel genre de papiers voyagent les migrants ? Sont-ils faux ? Sont-ils vrais ? Où ont-ils été fabriqués ?”, explique Eva Moncure.

Soumise à la bonne volonté des États membres, Frontex insiste pour pouvoir déployer ses guest officers. Ne serait-ce que pour partager les informations recueillies aux frontières avec une floppée d’institutions. Du point de vue de l’agence, plus celles-ci circulent, mieux les frontières sont protégées. Ainsi, depuis 2016, date du dernier élargissement du mandat de l’agence, Frontex est habilitée à mener des interviews sur le trafic d’êtres humains et à partager les informations récoltées avec Europol. “Nous n’enquêtons pas. Nous ne faisons que récolter des informations et les transmettons à qui de droit. Comme nous sommes en première ligne, nous pouvons obtenir ces informations plus aisément”, indique Eva Moncure. “Quand on parle de Frontex, tout le monde parle toujours des migrants mais personne ne parle des trafiquants d’êtres humains. Pour résumer, notre boulot est de surveiller les frontières, de venir en aide aux migrants s’ils sont en danger et de les renvoyer dans leur pays s’ils n’ont pas le droit d’asile en Europe. Un autre volet important, c’est de recueillir des informations sur les passeurs, les routes qu’ils utilisent, les connexions qu’ils ont, etc. Il ne faut pas oublier que les personnes qui font monter les migrants dans des bateaux ou qui leur font traverser une rivière ne sont pas des enfants de chœur. Le trafic d’êtres humains rapporte énormément d’argent, bien plus que le trafic de drogues. Le problème, c’est que pour l’instant, la justice arrête les petites mains pendant que les chefs des réseaux se la coulent douce à Dubaï en comptant leurs billets”, poursuit-elle.

Pour rappel, les officiers ont un pouvoir exécutif lorsqu’ils sont impliqués dans l’enregistrement des migrants : prise d’empreintes digitales, screening (pour établir nationalité des migrants) et vérification des documents d’identité. En outre, ils ne peuvent délivrer de décisions relatives à l’asile puisqu’il s’agit d’un pouvoir régalien.

Renvoyés en Turquie sur des bateaux

Dans la région d’Evros, contrairement aux îles grecques, les agents de Frontex ne sont pas en contact avec les migrants et donc pas habilités à collecter des informations sur le trafic d’êtres humains. Laissé entre les mains des autorités grecques, l’enregistrement (et partant, le screening et l’interview) des migrants qui parviennent à entrer dans l’espace Schengen n’y semble pas garanti.

À ce sujet, deux rapports, publiés en décembre 2018 - l’un par Humans Rights Watch et l’autre par le Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), Human Rights 360 et l’Association for the Social Support of Youth - sont glaçants. Confiscation de biens (“ils jettent nos téléphones dans la rivière”, “ils ont confisqué le lait artificiel pour notre bébé”, “il a déchiré mon certificat de naissance devant moi”) et de vêtements, privation de nourriture et parfois d’eau, fouilles corporelles, violences physiques et verbales… Comble du comble : les migrants seraient reconduits de l’autre côté de la rivière Evros dans des embarcations pneumatiques.

Ces documents font état d’une pratique courante près de la rivière : le push-back, c’est-à-dire le refoulement des personnes qui franchissent la frontière. Ces expulsions collectives (et illégales) obéissent à un modus operandi bien rôdé, à lire les nombreux témoignages récoltés par ces ONG. “La plupart des incidents partagent trois caractéristiques principales : arrestation par une patrouille de police locale, détention dans des commissariats ou des emplacements informels (entrepôts, gares abandonnées, etc.) proches de la frontière avec la Turquie et remise des migrants par les forces de l’ordre à du personnel non-identifié (dont le visage serait le plus souvent caché par une cagoule, NdlR) qui procède au push-back via la rivière Evros, parfois de manière violente”, décrit Human Rights Watch. Certaines personnes interrogées ont subi plusieurs push-backs avant d’être finalement enregistrées selon la procédure légale.

Les migrants ne sont pas photographiés, leurs empreintes digitales ne sont pas prises et les raisons de leur arrestation ne leur sont pas expliquées. Sans enregistrement, leur présence dans l’espace Schengen n’est pas attestée et il est donc impossible d’introduire une demande d’asile. Il est en revanche possible d’assurer qu’ils n’ont jamais un pied sur le sol européen.

Ces allégations sont remontées jusqu’au Commissaire aux droits de l’homme du Conseil de l’Europe et au Comité européen pour la prévention de la torture qui les ont jugées crédibles. Après une visite en Grèce en avril 2018, le Commissaire a par ailleurs souligné l’absence d’enquêtes sur ce genre de pratiques de la part des autorités grecques.

Des bateaux et des chaussures d’enfants

À Marasia, derrière le panneau jaune et rouge signalant le passage de trains à vapeur, un chemin de terre longe une forêt, qui borde l’Evros. Avec l’arrivée du printemps, des fleurs jaunes tapissent ses berges.

Il ne faut pas marcher bien loin pour découvrir les traces d’un spectacle qui suscite malaise et interrogations. À cent mètres de la gare, une paire de rames a été abandonnée.

Un peu plus loin, au bord de l’eau, un bateau gris et bleu est recouvert de feuilles mortes. L’inscription “Excursion 5” est écrite dessus en lettres capitales. Cinquante mètres après, un autre bateau jaune et vert se confond avec la couleur des fleurs.

De retour sur le chemin de terre, des taches de couleur attirent le regard. Ce sont des chaussures. En daim, celles d’un adulte, à côté d’un soutien-gorge et d’un jeans délavé. À côté, deux paires de basket appartiennent à des enfants. Les plus petites, bleues, sont une pointure 26. Leur ancien propriétaire doit avoir entre trois et cinq ans. Que lui est-il arrivé ? A-t-il été reconduit en Turquie ? Ses compagnons de route ont-ils été interrogés sur le trafic d’êtres humains dont ils ont été victimes ?

Confronté aux accusations de push-backs menés dans la région, le chef de la police élude d’abord la question et jure que les migrants interceptés sont pris en charge. Avant de finir par admettre que “nous avons reçu des informations sur les push-backs de la part des ONG”.

Pas suffisamment pour enquêter, comme recommandé par le Commissaire européen aux droits de l’homme et le Comité européen pour la prévention de la torture.

▻https://dossiers.lalibre.be/greco-turque/login.php

Οργανωμένο σχέδιο ανομίας στον Έβρο καταγγέλλει η « Καμπάνια για το Άσυλο »

Την κατεπείγουσα διερεύνηση των συνεχιζόμενων καταγγελιών για τις άτυπες επιχειρήσεις επαναπροώθησης προσφύγων στον Έβρο και τον έλεγχο των εμπλεκομένων ζητούν από τους υπουργούς Προστασίας του Πολίτη, Όλγα Γεροβασίλη, Μεταναστευτικής Πολιτικής, Δημήτρη Βίτσα, και Δικαιοσύνης, Μιχάλη Καλογήρου, δέκα οργανώσεις που συμμετέχουν στην « Καμπάνια για το Άσυλο ».

Σημειώνουν ότι οι υπουργοί είναι υπόλογοι για κάθε καθυστέρηση, η οποία εντείνει την πεποίθηση ότι τα σύνορα στον Έβρο αποτελούν ένα πεδίο εκτός δικαίου και εκτός νόμου και έναν τόπο μαρτυρίου για τους πρόσφυγες.

Υπογραμμίζουν ότι ο συστηματικός τρόπος και οι ομοιότητες της κακομεταχείρισης παραπέμπουν σε οργανωμένο σχέδιο αποτροπής, στο πλαίσιο του οποίου αναπτύσσονται γενικευμένες πρακτικές, οι οποίες έγιναν πιο εκτεταμένες, συστηματικές και σκληρές μετά την υπογραφή της ευρωτουρκικής συμφωνίας το Μάρτιο του 2016. Και αναφέρουν ότι οι πρακτικές αυτές εμπίπτουν στην αρμοδιότητα της ποινικής δικαιοσύνης και στοιχειοθετούν κατά περίπτωση κακουργήματα (βασανισμός, ληστεία, έκθεση ζωής σε κίνδυνο...).

Οι οργανώσεις (ΑΡΣΙΣ, Δίκτυο Κοινωνικής Υποστήριξης Προσφύγων και Μεταναστών, ΕΠΣΕ, Ελληνικό Φόρουμ Προσφύγων, Κίνηση για τα Ανθρώπινα Δικαιώματα – Αλληλεγγύη στους Πρόσφυγες Σάμος, Κόσμος χωρίς Πολέμους και Βία, ΛΑΘΡΑ, PRAKSIS, Πρωτοβουλία για τα Δικαιώματα των Κρατουμένων, Υποστήριξη Προσφύγων στο Αιγαίο) κάνουν λόγο για επιδεικτική βαρβαρότητα ένστολων ή μη στην περιοχή και παράνομες ενέργειες οι οποίες αποτελούν αντικείμενο συγκεκριμένων οδηγιών και εντολών. Σημειώνουν ότι το οργανωμένο σχέδιο περιλαμβάνει επίσης τη συγκάλυψη και νομιμοποίηση των εγκληματικών μεθόδων που χρησιμοποιούνται.

Ολόκληρη η ανακοίνωση της « Καμπάνιας για το Άσυλο » έχει ως εξής :

Απαξίωση της ανθρώπινης ζωής και της νομιμότητας οι επαναπροωθήσεις στον Έβρο

Αθήνα, 2 Μαΐου 2019

Τα σύνορα της χώρας στον Έβρο τείνουν να καταστούν ένας εκτός δικαίου και εκτός νόμου τόπος μαρτυρίου για τους πρόσφυγες που επιχειρούν απελπισμένα να περάσουν στο ευρωπαϊκό έδαφος, στιγματίζοντας τη χώρα μας και τους υπευθύνους για τη διαχείρισή τους.

Ενώ παρακολουθούμε τους αυξανόμενους πνιγμούς στα σύνορα, οι καταγγελίες προσφύγων για βάρβαρες πρακτικές επαναπροώθησης συνεχίζονται. Εκτός από τον αποτροπιασμό που προκαλούν, δείχνουν επίσης ότι η άσκηση βίας και οι συστηματικές παραβιάσεις δεν αποτελούν μεμονωμένες ατομικές επιλογές, αλλά γενικευμένες πρακτικές που αναπτύσσονται στα πλαίσια ενός σχεδίου αποτροπής και προσπάθειας ενίσχυσης του « μηνύματος » αποθάρρυνσης, που « πρέπει να σταλεί » για την ανάσχεση των προσφυγικών ρευμάτων.

Όσα εκτενώς καταγράφονται στην κοινή έκθεση του Ελληνικού Συμβούλιου για τους Πρόσφυγες, της ΑΡΣΙΣ και της HumanRights360, που δημοσιεύτηκε πρόσφατα (1), δεν αφήνουν αμφιβολία για την αλήθεια των καταγγελλόμενων. Ο συστηματικός τρόπος και οι ομοιότητες της κακομεταχείρισης παραπέμπουν σε ένα οργανωμένο σχέδιο, η εφαρμογή του οποίου επιτρέπει -αν δεν προτρέπει- παράνομες συμπεριφορές. Οι περίπολοι ενόπλων με ή χωρίς αστυνομικές και στρατιωτικές στολές, μάσκες ή κουκούλες, που μιλούν εκτός από τα ελληνικά και άλλη ευρωπαϊκή γλώσσα (συχνά αναφερόμενη η γερμανική), που δρουν με επιδεικτική βαρβαρότητα ακόμα και μπροστά σε μικρά παιδιά και οικογένειες, βία και κακοποιήσεις, αφαίρεση προσωπικών ειδών και χρημάτων, ρούχων κατά περίπτωση και συχνά υποδημάτων, αφαίρεση ή καταστροφή κινητών τηλεφώνων (για να μην καταγράφεται η παράνομη δράση), μεταφορά σε εγκαταλειμμένες αποθήκες που χρησιμεύουν ως άτυπα κρατητήρια χωρίς τροφή και νερό και χρήση φουσκωτών για την επαναπροώθηση στην Τουρκία, παραπέμπουν σε εκτέλεση συγκεκριμένων οδηγιών και εντολών, που εφαρμόζονται επιλεκτικά σε εφαρμογή προαποφασισμένου σχεδίου, που περιλαμβάνει και τη συγκάλυψη -και κατά συνέπεια νομιμοποίηση- των εγκληματικών μεθόδων που χρησιμοποιούνται κατ’ αυτές.

Η Καμπάνια για την Πρόσβαση στο Άσυλο καταγγέλλει για ακόμα μια φορά την εφαρμογή των πρακτικών άτυπης επαναπροώθησης που έχουν επεκταθεί και καταστεί σκληρότερες και συστηματικότερες μετά την Κοινή Δήλωση αρχηγών κρατών και κυβερνήσεων ΕΕ-Τουρκίας της 18ης Μαρτίου 2016 και επισημαίνει ότι δεν αποτελούν μόνο σοβαρή παραβίαση των διεθνών υποχρεώσεων της χώρας, αλλά εμπίπτουν στην αρμοδιότητα της ποινικής δικαιοσύνης και στοιχειοθετούν κατά περίπτωση κακουργήματα (βασανισμοί, ληστείες, έκθεση σε κίνδυνο ζωής κ.ά.)

Ζητάμε να δοθούν απαντήσεις από τις αρχές :

Ποια σώματα ενεργούν στα σύνορα για την αποτροπή παράτυπων εισόδων.
Υπάρχει πλαίσιο συγκεκριμένων εντολών για την περίπτωση εντοπισμού, σύλληψης και μεταχείρισης των παράτυπα εισερχόμενων και έλεγχος για τον τρόπο εφαρμογής του από τις περιπόλους ;
Υπάρχει υποχρέωση καταγραφής των περιπόλων που ενεργούν κατά μήκος του Έβρου και υποχρεωτική αναφορά σχετικά με την πορεία που ακολουθούν καθώς και τις ενέργειες τους ;
Ελέγχεται από την εκάστοτε προϊσταμένη αρχή η νομιμότητα των ενεργειών αυτών των περιπόλων και η τήρηση των υποχρεώσεων που επιβάλει το διεθνές δίκαιο για την προστασία των προσφύγων ;

Η Καμπάνια για την Πρόσβαση στο Άσυλο επισημαίνει ότι τα αρμόδια και εμπλεκόμενα Υπουργεία (Προστασίας του Πολίτη, Άμυνας και Μεταναστευτικής Πολιτικής) αλλά και ο Υπουργός Δικαιοσύνης οφείλουν να προβούν με διαδικασίες κατεπείγοντος στη διερεύνηση των καταγγελιών και τον έλεγχο των εμπλεκόμενων σε επιχειρήσεις αποτροπής και είναι υπόλογοι για κάθε καθυστέρηση, καθώς οι συνεχιζόμενες παραβιάσεις, όσο εκφεύγουν από κάθε μορφής έλεγχο, λογοδοσία και τιμωρία, επιβεβαιώνουν την πεποίθηση ότι ο Έβρος είναι ένα εκτεταμένο πεδίο εκτός δικαίου και εκτός νόμου όπου οι πρόσφυγες είτε σπρώχνονται στο θάνατο είτε στα χέρια εγκληματικών οργανώσεων, όπου μπορεί να αναπτύσσεται ανεμπόδιστα το οργανωμένο έγκλημα και όπου η ανθρώπινη ζωή είναι εξαιρετικά φτηνή ακόμη και γι’ αυτούς που είναι υπεύθυνοι να την προστατεύουν.

▻https://www.efsyn.gr/node/193572

Reçu via la mailing-list Migreurop avec ce commentaire :

10 ONG et associations solidaires somment les Ministres de l’ordre public, de la Politique Migratoire et de la Justice d’ouvrir en toute urgence une enquête concernant les dénonciations répétées d’opérations illégales de refoulement de réfugiés à Evros (frontière fluviale gréco-turque au Nord de la Grèce) ; elles réclament aussi que tous les agents de l’état impliqués dans des telles actions fassent l’objet d’un contrôle.

Les dix ONG qui font partie de celles ayant lancé la Campagne pour l’accès à l’asile (▻http://asylum-campaign.blogspot.com) font remarquer que les ministres seront tenus pour responsable de tout empêchement ou retard dans l’enquête, qui renforcerait la conviction que la frontière d’Evros est une zone de non-droit et un haut-lieu de torture pour les réfugiés (tortures, mauvais traitements, vols avec violence, mise en danger de la vie d’autrui).

Elles soulignent que le mode opératoire quasi-identique de plusieurs opérations de refoulement et les ressemblances dans les mauvais traitements subis par les réfugiés renvoient à un plan organisé et concerté de dissuasion, dans le cadre duquel se déploient de pratiques généralisées qui sont devenus plus fréquentes, plus systématiques et encore plus dures après l’accord UE-Turquie en mars 2016.

Les organisations Arsis , Réseau de soutien social de réfugiés et de migrants (Diktyo) Observatoire grec pour les accords d’Helsinki (Greek Helsinki Monitor ), Forum grec des réfugiés (Greek Forum of Refugees), Mouvement pour les Droits de l’Homme-Solidarité avec les Réfugiés Samos, Monde sans guerres et violence , « LATHRA » -Comité de Solidarité avec les Réfugiés de Chios, PRAKSIS , Initiative pour les droits de détenus ,

Soutien aux Réfugiés en Egée (Refugees Support Aegean) parlent de brutalité ostentatoire de la part des policiers et de groupes paramilitaires et d’actions illégales qui ne pourraient être que le fruit de consignes précises et d’ ordres venant d’en haut. Pour les ONG, le recouvrement et la légalisation implicite de méthodes criminelles employées est partie intégrante du plan organisé de push-back.

“We were beaten and pushed back by masked men at Turkish-Greek border” – Turkish journalist and asylum seeker

A group of Turkish political asylum seekers claims that, following their attempt to cross the Turkish border via Evros River in the northeast of Greece on Friday evening, they were pushed back after being beaten by masked men with batons.

Tugba Ozkan, a journalist in the group, told IPA News on the phone that the group of 15 people fleeing persecution in Turkey crossed the Turkish-Greek border on Friday at 9 pm near Soufli, a town at Evros Regional Unit.

When they stepped on Greek soil, however, she said a group of masked men beat them and pushed them back across the river to Turkish land, where a post-coup crackdown has persecuted tens of thousands of Turkish nationals since the abortive coup in 2016.

A family of four from the group, including two children, disappeared after the alleged push-back. Turkish soldiers reportedly arrested the four Turkish nationals, Alpay Akinci (42), Meral Akinci (40), Okan Selim Akinci (11), and Ayse Hilal Akinci (8).

Trying to hide from Turkish security officers, 11 people, including Ozkan, were attempting to cross the border for the second time.

“Masked men beat us with batons. We are in a very dire situation. We are afraid to be pushed back again. We need help,” a desperate Ozkan said in dismay.

The group of asylum seekers managed to cross the Evros safely in their second attempt, she said, and the group was attempting to hide when two Greek police cars found them.

Greek Police detained the group at around 2 pm on Saturday near the border and took them into custody, according to the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), a non-governmental organization defending human rights and fighting against illegal push-backs in the region.

The group applied for asylum in Greece and are expected to be released in a few days after the official registration is done, according to GCR lawyers.
Push-back: Infamous buzzword of immigration debate glossary

The practice that notoriously became known as “push-back,” can be defined as ‘the use of force to stop asylum seekers at borders and to return them to the country from which they came.’

According to official numbers of the United Nations, thousands of asylum seekers and refugees from various nations cross the Turkish-Greek border illegally every year in an attempt to reach Europe to take refuge.

Many reported push-back incidents have occurred in recent years, but no accurate figures have been revealed yet.

One of those incidents was the case of Murat Capan, a Turkish journalist who worked for the critical Nokta magazine. According to the narrative of Hellenic League for Human Rights, Capan and a Turkish family with three children crossed the Evros river in May 2017, escaping persecution.

The Greek police took them into custody where they asked to apply for asylum. Subsequently, they were taken to a UN facility in a van.

According to the information put forth by Hellenic League, the van met with a car along the road and five masked men dressed in camouflage bound the hands of the Turkish nationals. Two of the masked men then escorted them back to the Turkish side of the border where they were handed over to Turkish soldiers.

Turkish authorities had already sentenced Capan in absentia to twenty-two and a half years in prison. Following the push-back incident, the security forces sent Capan to prison to serve his term.

Another incident included 6 Turkish asylum seekers and took place in September 2018. Two Turkish families entered Greece via Evros and as reported by a Turkish journalist in exile, Cevheri Guven, their presence in Greece can be backed by solid evidence.

One family had their two kids with them and took their photo on a roadside cafe in Alexandroupolis.

https://ipa.news/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/WhatsApp-Image-2019-04-28-at-01.53.24-768x432.jpeg

Guven shares the location and picture of the coffee where the photo above had been taken to display that the families were indeed in Greece.

The families were escorted back to Turkey after appealing for asylum by the Greek police and thrown into the water by the Turkish side, according to Guven. Turkish gendarmerie caught them after hours of walking along the road and 3 adults out of 4 in the group faced arrest.

The cases of Capan and the Yildiz family crystalize the consequences of the push-back practice, which is a widespread method apparently enforced by Greek security forces working alongside Greece’s border with Turkey, according to the work of several NGOs.

Greek NGOs, including GCR, HumanRights360, and ARSIS, released a report on the push-back practice in December 2018.

The report, dubbed “The new normality: Continuous push-backs of third-country nationals on the Evros river,” includes testimonies of 39 people who tried to cross the Evros river to enter Greece, but who were pushed back to Turkey, often violently.

The report of the NGOs concludes that “the practice of push-backs constitutes a particularly wide-spread practice, often employing violence in the process.”

GCR, HumanRights360, and ARSIS have urged authorities to take action against the practice, which they label as “a threat to the rule of law” in Greece.

According to a 2012 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, push-back policy breaches international law, including the Geneva Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

International laws are clear on peoples’ rights to seek protection from persecution in other countries, and the latter is obliged to process these requests in order to avoid the risk of endangering people who have a legitimate claim to protection.

▻https://ipa.news/2019/04/28/we-were-beaten-and-pushed-back-by-masked-men-at-turkish-greek-border-turkish-j

Three Kurdish children drown as more refugees try to make their way into Greece

THREE KURDISH have perished while trying to cross from Turkey into Greece when the boat they were in capsized.

The children were from the Iraqi Kurdistan capital of Erbil and drowned in Maritsa River.

“In the early hours of today, around 3 am, a boat carrying thirteen immigrants who wanted to cross from Turkey to Greece through the Evros River overturned and two children drowned. One child died due to the cold weather,” said Ari Jalal, a representative of Federation of Iraqi Refugees in Kurdistan, in an interview with Kurdish Rudaw.

Jalal further said the body of one child is yet to be found. “The search continues. We are in contact with the consulates of Iraq, Turkey and Greece after the tragic boat incident. The other immigrants were rescued by Greek police,” Jalal said.

Turkey is used as a key and main route by thousands of refugees who want to cross into Europe through Greece, especially since 2011, when the Syrian civil war began.

According to Greece police, the number of migrants registered and arrested after crossing the border was 3,543 by last October, an 82% increase over the same month in the preceding year.

https://ipa.news/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/evros.jpg

The new normality: Continuous push-backs of third country nationals on the Evros river

https://www.gcr.gr/media/k2/items/cache/b80ea3ea38e44cb9b41c65c79ffde000_XL.jpg

The Greek Council for Refugees, ARSIS-Association for the Social Support of Youth and HumanRights360 publish this report containing 39 testimonies of people who attempted to enter Greece from the Evros border with Turkey, in order to draw the attention of the responsible authorities and public bodies to the frequent practice of push-backs that take place in violation of national, EU law and international law.

The frequency and repeated nature of the testimonies that come to our attention by people in detention centres, under protective custody, and in reception and identification centres, constitutes evidence of the practice of pushbacks being used extensively and not decreasing, regardless of the silence and denial by the responsible public bodies and authorities, and despite reports and complaints denouncements that have come to light in the recent past.
The testimonies that follow substantiate a continuous and uninterrupted use of the illegal practice of push-backs. They also reveal an even more alarming array of practices and patterns calling for further investigation; it is particularly alarming that the persons involved in implementing the practice of push-backs speak Greek, as well as other languages, while reportedly wearing either police or military clothing. In short, we observe that the practice of push-backs constitutes a particularly wide-spread practice, often employing violence in the process, leaving the State exposed and posing a threat for the rule of law in the country.
Τhe organizations signing this report urge the competent authorities to investigate the incidents described, and to refrain from engaging in any similar action that violates Greek, EU law, and International law.

►https://www.gcr.gr/en/news/press-releases-announcements/item/1028-the-new-normality-continuous-push-backs-of-third-country-nationals-on-the-e

Pour télécharger le #rapport:

https://i.imgur.com/CXalVbt.png

Απάντηση Γεροβασίλη για τις επαναπροωθήσεις

Επιστολή στον επικεφαλής της Υπατης Αρμοστείας στην Ελλάδα, Φιλίπ Λεκλέρκ, έστειλε η Όλγα Γεροβασίλη απαντώντας στη δική του στην όποια, όπως αναφέρει υπουργός Προστασίας του Πολίτη, « παρατίθενται περιγραφές και μαρτυρίες μεταναστών για περιστατικά και πρακτικές προσώπων, που φέρονται να ανήκουν σε Σώματα Ασφαλείας, στην περιοχή του Έβρου.

 »Συγκεκριμένα, οι αναφορές αφορούν σε άτυπες αναγκαστικές επιστροφές στην Τουρκία, χωρίς την τήρηση των νόμιμων διαδικασιών, σε περιστατικά βίας και σοβαρών παραβιάσεων των ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων, καθώς και σε περιστατικά σύμφωνα με τα οποία δεν επετράπη η πρόσβαση προσφύγων και μεταναστών στο μηχανισμό του ασύλου.

Η κ. Γεροβασίλη υποστηρίζει πως « οι καταγγελλόμενες συμπεριφορές και πρακτικές ουδόλως υφίστανται ως επιχειρησιακή δραστηριότητα και πρακτική του προσωπικού των Υπηρεσιών Συνοριακής Φύλαξης, το οποίο κυρίως εμπλέκεται σε δράσεις για την αντιμετώπιση του φαινομένου της παράνομης μετανάστευσης στα ελληνοτουρκικά σύνορα. Από την διερεύνηση των μέχρι σήμερα καταγγελλομένων περιστατικών και από τις εσωτερικές έρευνες που έχουν πραγματοποιηθεί από τις αρμόδιες Υπηρεσίες, προκύπτει το συμπέρασμα ότι αυτά δεν δύνανται να επιβεβαιωθούν ».

Ισχυρίζεται δε ότι « η εμπειρία, ο επαγγελματισμός και το ήθος του αστυνομικού προσωπικού των Υπηρεσιών Συνοριακής Φύλαξης, δεν αφήνουν ουδεμία αμφιβολία ότι το έργο της διαχείρισης συνόρων επιτελείται με υψηλό αίσθημα ευθύνης και ανθρωπισμού. Προς επίρρωση αυτού, σημειώνεται ότι, στον ποταμό Έβρο έχουν λάβει χώρα, πολλές φορές υπό άκρως αντίξοες συνθήκες, επιχειρήσεις διάσωσης μεταναστών που κινδύνευαν από πνιγμό, από το αστυνομικό προσωπικό, το οποίο και με κίνδυνο της ζωής του επιδιώκει την προστασία της ζωής των μεταναστών όταν εγκλωβίζονται σε επικίνδυνα σημεία του ποταμού Έβρου, αποσπώντας θετικά σχόλια από την κοινή γνώμη.

Επίσης, η υπουργός σημειώνει πως « οι Έλληνες αστυνομικοί που πραγματοποιούν εθνικές επιχειρησιακές δράσεις επιτήρησης συνόρων στην περιοχή του Έβρου, τα τελευταία έτη, υποστηρίζονται από Φιλοξενούμενους Αξιωματούχους διαφόρων ειδικοτήτων, στο πλαίσιο Κοινών Επιχειρήσεων του Frontex που υλοποιούνται στην περιοχή. Ο εν λόγω Ευρωπαϊκός Οργανισμός ενισχύει την επίγνωση της κατάστασης και την επιχειρησιακή ανταπόκριση στα ελληνοτουρκικά χερσαία σύνορα. Σε αυτό το πλαίσιο, ουδέποτε έγινε αναφορά από ξένους Φιλοξενούμενους Αξιωματούχους του Frontex, περιστατικού παράτυπης επαναπροώθησης ή παραβίασης δικαιώματος μεταναστών, με εμπλοκή ελλήνων αστυνομικών ».

Στην επιστολή επισημαίνεται πως « τόσο σε κεντρικό όσο και σε περιφερειακό επίπεδο, το αστυνομικό προσωπικό λαμβάνει ειδικότερες οδηγίες και διαταγές, ενώ παρακολουθεί και εκπαιδευτικά προγράμματα, σχετικά με την προστασία των θεμελιωδών δικαιωμάτων των μεταναστών, με ιδιαίτερη έμφαση στις ευάλωτες ομάδες. Οι οδηγίες εστιάζουν στην προστασία της ανθρώπινης ζωής και αξιοπρέπειας, την αποφυγή των διακρίσεων, την νόμιμη χρήση βίας και την αρχή της μη-επαναπροώθησης. Σε αυτό το πλαίσιο, το αστυνομικό προσωπικό εποπτεύεται και αξιολογείται σε μόνιμη βάση, από την ιεραρχία του σώματος.

Τέλος, η κ. Γεροβασίλη υπενθυμίζει ότι « η Ελλάδα έχει διαχειρισθεί αποτελεσματικά, από το 2015 μέχρι και σήμερα, περισσότερους από 1.350.000 πρόσφυγες/μετανάστες, έχοντας ως γνώμονα την προστασία της ανθρώπινης ζωής και αξιοπρέπειας. Ειδικότερα, επισημαίνεται πώς, κατά το πρώτο 4μηνο του 2019 στην περιοχή δικαιοδοσίας των Δ.Α. Ορεστιάδας και Αλεξανδρούπολης έχουν πραγματοποιηθεί 3.130 συλλήψεις υπηκόων τρίτων χωρών, γεγονός που έρχεται σε αντίθεση με τις καταγγελίες περί επαναπροωθήσεων. Επιπλέον και κατά το συγκεκριμένο χρονικό διάστημα που αναφέρεται στις καταγγελίες (25-29.04.2019), πραγματοποιήθηκαν στην συγκεκριμένη περιοχή 101 συλλήψεις υπηκόων τρίτων χωρών ».

▻https://www.efsyn.gr/node/193868

Traduction de Vicky Skoumbi via la mailing-list Migreurop :

La ministre grecque de Protection du Citoyen (euphémisme pour l’Ordre Public) Olga Gerovassili a démenti les accusations de refoulements illégaux à Evros –frontière nord-est de la Grèce avec la Turquie. En réponse à la lettre que lui avait adressée Philippe Leclerc, représentant de l’UNHCR en Grèce, où celui-ci évoque des témoignages des migrants concernant des mauvais traitements et des refoulements effectués par des forces de sécurité de la région d’Evros, la ministre a tout nié en bloc.

Philippe Leclerc faisait état des témoignages qui dénoncent d’une part des renvois forcés vers la Turquie, sans que les procédures légales soient respectées, et d’autre part des violences et des violations graves des droits humains, ainsi que des cas où on a interdit aux réfugiés et aux migrants l’accès au mécanisme de l’asile.

Mme Gerovassili soutient que « les comportements et les pratiques dénoncées ne font nullement partie des modes opératoires et des pratiques du personnel de la Garde-Frontière, qui est surtout impliqué à des actions de contrôle du phénomène d’immigration illégale aux frontières gréco-turques. L’investigation des incidents dénoncés jusqu’à aujourd’hui et les enquêtes internes réalisées par les services compétents ont conduit à la conclusion que ces incidents ne peuvent pas être confirmés ».

La ministre prétend que « l’expérience, le professionnalisme et l’éthos du personnel policier de la Garde-Frontière, ne laissent aucun doute sur le fait qu’ils opèrent avec un très haut sens de responsabilité et d’humanisme. Pour corroborer ce fait, elle souligne le fait qu’à Evros des opérations de sauvetage ont eu lieu plusieurs fois sous de conditions extrêmement dangereuses : les policiers opèrent au péril de leur propre vie pour la protection de la vie des migrants, lorsque ceux-ci sont bloqués à des endroits dangereux du fleuve Evros.

La ministre ajoute que les officiers de Frontex qui sont impliqués dans des opérations conjointes avec les policiers grecs n’ont jamais dénoncé des cas de refoulement illégal ou de violation de droit de migrants de la part des agents grecs.

Dans la lettre que la ministre a adressée à Philippe Leclerc, il est dit que le personnel policier agit sous des consignes et ordres spécifiques, tandis qu’il est souvent amené à suivre des programmes de formation spécifiques à la protection des droits fondamentaux de migrants. D’après la ministre, les consignes données mettent en avant la nécessité de protéger la vie et la dignité humaine, d’éviter toute discrimination, de s’en tenir à l’usage légal de la violence et au principe du non-refoulement. « Dans ce cadre, les agents de police sont contrôlés et évalués en continu, par leurs supérieurs hiérarchiques », dit la ministre.

Enfin Mme Gerovassili met en avant le fait que 3.130 arrestations de ressortissants de pays tiers ont été effectuées pendant les quatre premiers mois de 2019 dans les régions d’Orestiada et d’Alexandroupolis- proches d’Evros- ce qui, d’après la ministre, contredit les accusations de refoulements illégaux. « Qui plus est, pendant la période précise où les faits dénoncés auraient pu avoir lieu (25-29.04.2019), 101 arrestations de ressortissants de pays tiers ont eu lieu dans cette région ».

Avec ce commentaire :

N’en déplaise à la ministre, les faits sont têtus et aucun démenti ne saurait entamer la crédibilité de rapports des ONG et des témoignages comme ceux par ex. rapportés par le Conseil Grec pour les Réfugiés

▻https://www.gcr.gr/en/news/press-releases-announcements/item/1067-gcr-and-cear-publish-a-joint-video-documenting-the-harsh-reality-of-pushbac

Εvros Pushbacks

The Greek Council for Refugees and CEAR (C​omisión Española de Ayuda al Refugiado), with the support of the Municipality of Madrid, publish together a video on pushbacks in Evros, today, March 20, three years since the implementation of the EU-Turkey Joint Statement, of which the consequences are obvious in Greece’s northern border, as well as on the Eastern Aegean islands. The shattering testimonies of people who attempted to enter Greece from the Turkish border and were violently pushed back to Turkey, without ever being given the opportunity to apply for asylum, reveal the systematic nature of the pushbacks practice, in direct violation of Greek, EU and international law.

▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAyuOlohOss

Le #cimetière :

https://i.imgur.com/VEt6nS6.png

https://visionscarto.net/local/cache-vignettes/L334xH500/18077727274_50c2-6d437.jpg?1504818140#.jpg

Ces migrants mystérieusement refoulés de Grèce en Turquie

C’est un sujet qui, régulièrement, vient mettre en porte-à-faux les autorités grecques : l’accueil des migrants qui traversent le fleuve Evros. Frontière entre la Turquie et la Grèce, ce fleuve sert de point d’entrée en Europe pour les migrants venus d’Asie, d’Afrique ou tout simplement de Turquie.

Et si la traversée du fleuve n’est pas insurmontable, en revanche, les conditions d’accueil sont sujettes à critique par les ONG et même par les migrants.

L’équipe d’euronews à Athènes en a rencontrés. Ils racontent comment les policiers grecs ont pour habitude de les refouler, sans ménagement.

Mikail est turc, demandeur d’asile en Grèce. Il explique qu’il a traversé le fleuve avec un groupe de 11 personnes. Lorsqu’ils sont arrivés sur le sol grec, des policiers les ont arrêtés. « Les types portaient des tenues militaires, raconte-t-il. Et ils avaient des matraques. On aurait dit qu’ils partaient en guerre. Nous, on a essayé de comprendre pourquoi ils se comportaient ainsi. Ils nous ont simplement dit : "On va vous renvoyer chez vous". »

« Mes enfants étaient à côté de moi, ajoute Gulay, réfugiée turque_. Ils m’ont dit : "Maman, y vont nous tuer ?" Je leur ai dit : "Non, ils ne vont pas nous tuer. Ils veulent juste nous renvoyer en Turquie"._ »

Le groupe de ces 11 migrants parviendra malgré tout à rester en Grèce. D’autres n’ont pas eu cette chance.

Le 4 mai, trois personnes, deux hommes et une jeune femme, ont traversé le fleuve. Craignant d’être refoulés, ils ont prévenu un proche vivant déjà en Grèce ainsi qu’un avocat. Ils ont envoyé une photo prise dans la ville de #Nea_Vyssa.

https://i.imgur.com/tAn3mKe.png

►https://twitter.com/zubeyirkoculu/status/1124764045024821249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https

Ils ont ensuite été emmenés dans un commissariat de police à Neo Xeimonio. Et là, on a perdu leur trace. On a appris plus tard qu’ils avaient été renvoyés en Turquie, et qu’ils étaient désormais emprisonnés dans la ville turque d’Edirne.

Ishan, le frère de la jeune femme raconte qu’il est allé au commissariat de police pour savoir ce qui était advenue de sa sœur. « Je leur ai dit : "je sais que ma sœur a été arrêtée et qu’elle était ici". Ils m’ont juste dit : "On n’est au courant de rien". »

« Nous avons sollicité les autorités grecques pour en savoir davantage sur cette affaire, ajoute Michalis Arampatzoglou, journaliste d’euronews . Le ministère de la Protection civile a dit n’avoir aucune information sur cet incident. Pour autant, des cas comme celui-là, il y en a de plus en plus. Les avocats des victimes comptent engager des poursuites judiciaires, pour que enquêtes soient menées et que la lumière soit faite. »

▻https://fr.euronews.com/2019/05/16/ces-migrants-mysterieusement-refoules-de-grece-en-turquie

https://i.imgur.com/tAn3mKe.png

Je copie-colle ici le thread twitter:

Breaking: 3 Turkish nationals, Kamil Y, Ayse E, Talip N, have crossed the Turkish-Greek border through Evros on May 4 at 5 am, they were taken into custody at #Xeimonio police station. A family member and a lawyer in the region, however, were told by the Police they are absent.
Ms. Ayse E. sent her location at Xeimonio before they were detained, she also shared a video urging Greek authorities to stop any possible push-back.
We are Turkish political asylum seekers. We fled persecution back in Turkey and crossed Evros on May 4 at 5 am. We are hiding near Nea Vyssa in fear of push-back. We urge the United Nations and Greek authorities to protect us from being pushed back."

The latest live location Ms. Ayse shared with me was from #Xeimonia Police station which proves 3 Turkish asylum seekers taken into custody. The Greek police currently inform their lawyer that there are no such persons in the custody which might mean another push-back on the way.

’Masked men beat us with batons’: Greece accused of violent asylum seeker pushbacks

Scores of Turkish asylum seekers have been pushed back — sometimes violently — from Greece in the last three weeks, lawyers and family members told Euronews.

Witnesses claim various groups of masked men in military uniform, as well as those in plain clothes collaborating with the police, used physical force against those who resisted.

There have been 82 people from Turkey, including children, that have sought political asylum in neighbouring Greece and been sent back since April 23.

Around half have been detained or arrested by Turkish authorities upon their return to their home country on terrorism charges.

They have been linked to the Gulen Movement, which Ankara blames for the failed 2016 coup, or the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who have been involved in an armed struggle with the Turkish state over independence.

The European Commission has urged Greece to follow up on the allegations that Euronews has detailed in this article.

’Violently pushed back’

“We are Turkish political asylum seekers,” began Ayse Erdogan in a video she sent to a family member.

“We fled persecution in Turkey and crossed [at] Evros on May 4, at 5 am. We are hiding near Nea Vyssa [on the Greek-Turkey land border] in fear of a push back. We urge the United Nations and Greek authorities to protect us from being pushed back.”

Ayse, who had crossed the border with friends Kamil and Talip, was picked up by Greek police and taken into custody at a police station in the village of Nea Cheimonio. Hours later, Ayse would be part of a group of migrants that were allegedly violently pushed back to Turkey by Greek police.

Nea Cheimonio was the last place that Ayse’s family was able to pick up a location signal from her phone.

The same day, accompanied by a lawyer, Ayse’s twin brother, Ihsan Erdogan, who is a registered asylum seeker in Greece, went to the police station in Nea Cheimonio, based on her last location information. He was told his sister and her friends had never been held there.

On May 5, Ihsan received a phone call from a family member saying his sister had been imprisoned by a court in the northwestern province of Edirne, over the border in Turkey.

The relative had spoken to Ayse, who said her Turkish group, along with a number of Syrians, had been handed over to a group of masked men soon after they left the police station in Nea Cheimonio. Greek police, she claimed, seized their belongings including her phone.

Ihsan rues that his sister was seemingly sent back just before he arrived in Nea Cheimonio. “I urge Greek authorities not to send others like my sister back to prison,” he told Euronews.
’Masked men beat us with batons’

Freshly-graduated as a mathematics teacher, Ayse had spent 28 months in prison over alleged affiliation with the Gulen Movement, an organisation Turkish authorities have outlawed.

Hundreds of people were arrested in the aftermath of the failed putsch in 2016 and accused of links to US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Ayse was not the only political asylum seeker allegedly sent back to Turkey in what appears to be a violation of international asylum law.

On April 26 this year, at Soufli, a border town near Evros River, a group of 11 people — including three children, a pregnant woman and another one that was disabled — was sent back by masked men after being beaten violently, according to a journalist in the group.

“Masked men beat us with batons,” said Tugba Ozkan, who is 28 and pregnant. "We are in a very dire situation. We are afraid to be pushed back again. We need help.

“I had forgotten about my pregnancy,” she added. “I tried to stop Greek police by moving ahead but they pushed me, too. It was unbelievable and unforgettable to see my husband beaten in front of my eyes.”
No acknowledgement from Athens

According to the account of the group, the police cooperated with a group of masked men who forced them to return to Turkey. The group managed to cross the border again the next day, only to be detained officially and come face-to-face with a police officer who had pushed them back at Soufli. They were released under the protection of a UNHCR officer on April 30.

Greek NGOs published reports last year with testimonies from people from various nationalities who were allegedly sent back to Turkey via Evros after being beaten by masked men.

The UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe urged Greek authorities to investigate those reports.

The claims of violent push back operations at Evros river, however, have never ended. None have been officially acknowledged by Athens.

Greece police declined to comment after requests by Euronews regarding the latest push back allegations.

A European Commission spokesman, speaking to Euronews, said that they were aware of the recent push back claims.

“The Commission expects that the Greek authorities will follow up on the specific allegations and will continue to closely monitor the situation,” he said.

▻https://www.euronews.com/2019/05/11/masked-men-beat-us-with-batons-greece-accused-of-violent-asylum-seeker-pus

Migrants tortured by Greek police, illegally pushed back to Turkey

https://i.imgur.com/s0SZYWb.jpg

Three migrants allegedly tortured by Greek security forces and illegally pushed back to neighboring Turkey were found by Turkish border units and are being provided medical treatment in northwestern Edirne province.

Iraqi national Ibrahim Khidir (35) and Egyptian nationals Hassan Mahmoud (18) and Ahmed Samir (26) were found in a rural area, half-naked and exhausted with deep marks from plastic bullets and battering on their bodies. They were taken under protection by soldiers, who gave first aid to the migrants before handing them over to the provincial migration management directorate.

https://i.imgur.com/f6zdzKE.jpg

The migrants told reporters that they crossed into Greece with a group of seven other illegal migrants after making arrangements with human smugglers in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district. They were held by the Greek police at the coach station in the border district of Didymoteicho while trying to travel to Thessaloniki. They were then taken to a local police station, where they spent two days along with 35 other illegal migrants and were denied any food.

The migrants said they were divided into groups of 10 and boarded boats with two Greek police officers accompanying each and six officers watching guard. They were pushed back to Turkey through the Maritsa River (Meriç in Turkish, or Evros in Greek) forming the border with Greece.

The violence that began at the police station, which included battering with truncheons, shooting with plastic bullets and electroshocks, continued at the riverside and on the boats.

Khidir told reporters that Greek security forces captured him in Didymoteicho and tortured him with electroshocks, rear-handcuffing and plastic bullets fired at his body. His clothes and money were taken when he was detained.

https://i.imgur.com/A09kzuX.jpg

Turkish soldiers treated them very well and took care that they received treatment, according Khidir.

Mahmoud and Samir also said that they were pushed back to Turkey after being stripped of their clothes and beaten up.

Under international laws and conventions, Greece is obliged to register any illegal migrants entering its territory; yet, this is not the case for thousands of migrants were forcibly returned to Turkey especially since the beginning of refugee influx into Europe in 2015. Security sources say that accounts of migrants interviewed by Turkish migration authority staff and social workers show that they were subjected to torture, theft and other human rights abuses. Several migrants were also found frozen to death after being left in desolate areas.

Similar incidents have also taken place on the Aegean, in which migrants and Turkish locals accused the Greek coast guard of deflating their boats or re-routing them back to Turkish territorial waters.

Turkey and the European Union signed a deal in 2016 to curb illegal immigration through the dangerous Aegean Sea route from Turkey to Greece. Under the deal, Greece sends back migrants held in the Aegean islands they crossed to from nearby Turkish shores and in return, EU countries receive a number of Syrian migrants legally. The deal, reinforced with an escalated crackdown on human smugglers and more patrols in the Aegean, significantly decreased the number of illegal crossings.

Bulgarian border authorities were also accused of abuses targeting migrants and pushing them back to Turkey in several incidents.

However, some desperate migrants still take the route across the better-policed land border between Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria, especially in winter months when a safe journey through the Aegean is nearly impossible aboard dinghies.

▻https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/2019/05/30/migrants-tortured-by-greek-police-illegally-pushed-back-to-turkey/amp
#torture

(article en grec) ’’Des soldats dénoncent une chasse aux migrants menée par l’armée grecque sur l’Evros, à la frontière gréco-turque" ▻https://omniatv.com/853445901

Et cette image...

https://i.imgur.com/UVAj02k.png

Greece continues to push asylum seekers back to Turkey

Greek border forces along the Evros River pushed 59 migrants back into Turkey on Friday morning, signaling the continuation of a policy that started before the arrival of the new government.

The pushback was reported by Zübeyir Koçulu, an Athens-based Turkish journalist who tweeted, “It seems nothing has changed on the Evros regarding pushbacks following a recent government change in Greece.”

A total of 59 asylum seekers, nine of them Turkish and the remainder Afghans, Syrians and Somalis, were illegally sent back to Turkey, according to Koçulu.

“The Greek police collected the group soon after their arrival and held them in custody at the Tychero police station for four hours,” he said. “After seizing their phones, security officers pushed the 59 people through the river near Soufli by force, perpetrating violence, according to witnesses.”

He further claimed that Turkish political asylum seekers in the group were detained by Turkish security forces soon after the pushback. Three children in the group were delivered to their relatives.

The Evros River, which forms most of the land border between the two countries, was one of the main routes used by Turkish asylum seekers fleeing government persecution as well as migrants of other nationalities until a series of violent pushback operations a few months ago stopped the flow.

“Ironically, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the new PM of Greece, fled with his parents into exile in Turkey when he was a year old in 1968 during the Greek junta,” Koçulu said. “He knows what it is to be a migrant from his own experience.”

▻https://www.turkishminute.com/2019/07/21/greece-continues-to-push-asylum-seekers-back-to-turkey

What is happening on the Greece-Turkey border?

While migrant camps on the Aegean islands have reached breaking point, and with Turkey threatening to ’open the gates’, migrants continue to arrive in Greece in the hundreds every week. Most come by sea, but in recent months, growing numbers have crossed via the land route across the Evros River. Many claim they are subjected to violent and illegal treatment by authorities at the border.
Since the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants smuggled by lorry into the UK, there have been many more reports of migrants stowing away in trucks and vans. The latest group of 41 people hiding in a truck crossing from Turkey into northern Greece were reportedly mostly Afghan men between the ages of 20 and 30. Some reports said they were in danger of suffocation when they were discovered.

On the Greek-Turkish border, smugglers are regularly caught transporting migrants in minibuses or trucks. There are mixed reports about how many people cross via this border. According to the UN migration agency, IOM, the number has risen steadily in recent months – from 255 arrivals in May to 1,233 in September.

While the focus remains on the overcrowded migrant camps on the Aegean islands, which have seen a much bigger surge in arrivals during the same period, there has been less attention given to what is happening on the land border.

https://i.imgur.com/KVMaGIu.png

’Brutal treatment’

There have been reports of violence and illegal activities by some Greek authorities against migrants crossing the Evros river since as early as mid-2017. These have included claims that migrants have been arrested, beaten up, robbed, detained, and forcibly returned or “pushed back” into Turkey.

Dorothee Vakalis from Naomi, a refugee aid organization in Thessaloniki, says migrants continue to be subjected to “brutal treatment” by authorities at the border. “Everything gets taken away from them, phones, money, sometimes clothing as well. They are sent back to the other side practically naked,” she said on German radio on Tuesday. “We hear from relatives about families with small children, pregnant women being pushed back,” Vakalis said.

Beaten by masked men

According to an account of a case in April reported in Euronews, men wearing masks beat several migrants with batons before sending them back. In the group was a 28-year-old pregnant woman, Tugba Ozkan. “I had forgotten about my pregnancy,” Ozkan told Euronews. “I tried to stop Greek police by moving ahead but they pushed me, too. It was unbelievable and unforgettable to see my husband beaten in front of my eyes.”

InfoMigrants was also in contact last year with a Kurdish couple who said they were locked in a small dark room with many others before being taken by masked commandos back across the border into Turkey.

It is not clear who is carrying out the push backs, because they often wear masks and cannot be easily identified. The Hellenic League for Human Rights (HLHR) and Human Rights Watch describe them as paramilitaries. Eyewitnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch said people who “looked like police officers or soldiers, as well as some unidentified masked men, carried handguns, handcuffs, radios, spray cans, and batons,” and others carried gear such as “armored gloves, binoculars and knives and military-grade weapons such as rifles.”

The HLHR has suggested that the Greek police are either unaware of the existence of these paramilitaries or they turn a blind eye to them. According to Human Rights Watch, accounts suggest "close and consistent coordination “between police and unidentified men.” ..."Commanding officers knew, or ought to have known, what was happening," HRW’s report claims.

Calls for investigation

The Greek Refugee Council and other NGOs published a report in 2018 containing testimonies from people who said they had been beaten, sometimes by masked men, and sent back to Turkey. The UNHCR and the European Human Rights Commissioner have called on Greece to investigate the claims. Late last year another report by Human Rights Watch also based on testimonies of migrants, said that violent push backs were continuing.

https://scd.infomigrants.net/media/resize/my_image_big/8d7c307a8510580a5b6709893a7b1b10f65f849f.jpeg

Turkey has also urged Greece to stop the practice of push backs. The Turkish foreign ministry recently claimed that a total of 25,404 irregular migrants were pushed back to Turkey in the first month of this year, according to the IPA news service. Turkey says it has evidence that the push backs are occurring and has invited the Greek government to “work on correcting the policy.” Greece has not acknowledged that violent push backs are occurring.

According to some of the testimonies in the report by the Greek Refugee Council, Turkey is also responsible for carrying out push backs of Syrian and Iraqi single men.

I believe these illegal push backs are not even known about or discussed in Europe or in Germany.
_ Dorothee Vakalis, humanitarian worker with ’Naomi’ in Thessaloniki

The European Commission spokesperson Natasha Bertaud has confirmed that the Commission contacted Greek authorities about reports of alleged push backs earlier this year. “The Commission expects that Greek authorities will follow up on the specific allegations and will continue to monitor the situation closely,” Bertaud said.

Legal returns and illegal push backs

The Evros River runs along 194 km of the 206 km of land border between the EU and Turkey. This border is not covered by the so-called EU-Turkey Statement, the agreement signed between Turkey and Europe in 2016 which allows the return to Turkey of Syrian migrants who arrive irregularly in Greece by sea.

The land border was covered by a separate bilateral migrant readmission deal between Turkey and Greece. Turkey canceled that agreement last June because Greece refused to hand over several Turkish officers who escaped to Greece after Turkey‘s failed military coup in 2016.

Push backs are prohibited by Greek and EU law, as well as international treaties and agreements, including the Geneva Convention on Refugees, which guarantees the right to seek protection. They go against the principle of non-refoulement, which means the forcible return of a person to a country where they are liable to be subject to persecution.

▻https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/20626/what-is-happening-on-the-greece-turkey-border
#statistiques #chiffres

Griechenland soll 60.000 Migranten illegal abgeschoben haben

Menschenrechtler und die Türkei beschuldigen Griechenland, Migranten und Flüchtlinge illegal abzuschieben. Türkische Dokumente, die dem SPIEGEL vorliegen, sollen die Anschuldigungen belegen.

Am 3. November 2019 greift die die türkische Polizei 252 Migranten in der Nähe des Grenzübergangs Kapikule auf. Danach wird sie einen brisanten Aktenvermerk anfertigen: Die Migranten hätten es über die Grenze nach Griechenland geschafft, schreiben die türkischen Beamten später in ihrem Bericht. Aber dann seien sie gegen ihren Willen zurückgebracht worden, ohne Chance auf einen Asylantrag.

„Push-Backs“ nennen sich diese illegalen Rückführungen von Migranten und Flüchtlingen. Sie sind nach europäischem und internationalem Recht verboten. Dieses schreibt den Staaten vor, potenziellen Asylbewerbern den Zugang zu einem effektiven Asylverfahren zu gewähren.

Seit Jahren beschuldigen Menschenrechtsorganisationen und Anwälte griechische Behörden, Migranten am Grenzfluss Evros illegal in die Türkei abzuschieben. Der SPIEGEL hat nun türkische Dokumente erhalten, darunter auch die Aufzeichnungen der Polizisten über den Vorfall am 3. November. Diese legen nahe, dass Griechenland im großen Stil illegale Push-Backs an der Grenze zur Türkei durchführt.

Harte Anschuldigungen gegen Griechenland

In der Migrationspolitik liegen die Türkei und Griechenland schon lange im Clinch, Anfang November erreichte der Konflikt zwischen den Erzrivalen einen neuen Höhepunkt: Das türkische Außenministerium beschuldigte die griechischen Behörden, Flüchtlinge verhaftet, sie geschlagen, ihre Kleider geraubt, Habseligkeiten beschlagnahmt und sie dann in die Türkei zurückgeschickt zu haben. „Wir haben Fotos und Dokumente“, fügte das Ministerium hinzu.

Der griechische Premierminister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reagierte knapp. „Diejenigen, die die Flüchtlingskrise ausgenutzt haben, indem sie die Verfolgten als Spielball für ihre eigenen geopolitischen Ziele benutzt haben, sollten vorsichtiger sein, wenn sie sich auf Griechenland beziehen.“

Mehr als 58.000 Push-Backs in einem Jahr

Das türkische Material umfasst Fallberichte und Interviewprotokolle. Zudem Fotos, die angeblich Migranten zeigen sollen, die von griechischen Behörden misshandelt wurden. Dazu enthält es bisher unveröffentlichte Daten, die vom türkischen Innenministerium zusammengestellt wurden.

Diesen Daten zufolge hat Griechenland in den zwölf Monaten vor dem 1. November 2019 insgesamt 58.283 Migranten zurückgeschafft. Die meisten registrierten Fälle betrafen pakistanische Staatsangehörige (16.435), gefolgt von Afghanen, Somaliern, Bangladeschern und Algeriern. Dazu kommen mehr als 4.500 Syrer.

Dem Dokument nach lag die Zahl der gemeldeten Push-Backs allein im Oktober bei mehr als 6.500. Ein endgültiger Beweis sind die Dokumente nicht, die Anschuldigungen der Migranten lassen sich nicht unabhängig verifizieren. Und Griechenland bestreitet die Vorwürfe. Allerdings stimmen sie mit ähnlichen Berichten von Menschenrechtsorganisationen überein. Die Menge der Zeugenaussagen verschärft die Zweifel an den griechischen Unschuldsbeteuerungen.

Die am 3. November festgenommenen Asylbewerber wurden nach türkischen Angaben später von der türkischen Polizei befragt und in ein Abschiebezentrum in Edirne gebracht, die Stadt liegt etwa 10 Kilometer von der Grenze entfernt. Alle bis auf die Syrer würden in ihre Herkunftsländer zurückgeschickt, erklärte ein türkischer Beamter. Die Syrer würden an den türkischen Ort zurückgebracht, an dem sie sich zuerst registriert hätten.

Beraubt, eingesperrt, zurückgebracht: Die Geschichte eines Syrers

Einer der acht Syrer, die am 3. November von der türkischen Polizei verhaftet worden sind, gibt an, mit seiner Frau vier Jahre zuvor aus Aleppo geflohen zu sein. So geht es aus der Abschrift des Interviews hervor. Zunächst habe der studierte Jurist demnach als Kassierer in Istanbul gearbeitet. Dann habe er „aus wirtschaftlichen Gründen“ beschlossen, nach Griechenland zu gehen.

Mit einem Schmuggler überquerte der Syrer die Grenze, in der griechischen Stadt Alexandroupolis schließlich stellten er und seine Frau sich der Polizei, um Asyl zu beantragen. Stattdessen seien allerdings ihre Besitztümer beschlagnahmt, sie selbst in eine Zelle gesteckt worden. Laut Interviewabschrift wurden die beiden Syrer zwei Tage später von der griechischen Polizei zusammen mit anderen Migranten zurückgebracht.

14 Polizisten sollen die Gruppe zum Fluss Evros begleitet haben, auf 150 Kilometern markiert er die natürliche Grenze zwischen den beiden Ländern. Anschließend hätten zwei Polizisten das Paar in einem Boot zurück auf die türkische Seite befördert.

Griechisch-türkisches Grenzgebiet

In letzter Zeit würden vermehrt Migranten zurückgebracht, nachdem sie mit Booten den Evros überquert hätten, heißt es in dem Bericht der türkischen Behörden. So gibt der Gouverneur von Edirne in einem Schreiben vom 29. Oktober an das türkische Innenministerium an, dass zwischen Anfang Januar und Ende September insgesamt 91.681 illegale Migranten in seiner Provinz aufgegriffen worden seien.

Dies sei ein dramatischer Anstieg im Vergleich zu den knapp 30.000 Festgenommenen im Jahr 2016. Laut türkischen Behörden gaben mehr als 55 Prozent der festgenommenen Migranten an, es nach Griechenland geschafft zu haben, aber trotzdem zurückgebracht worden zu sein.

Die Zahl spiegelt den erhöhten Druck an den Außengrenzen Europas wider. Seit dem Frühsommer steigt die Zahl der Migranten, die auf den griechischen Inseln in der Ägäis ankommen. In den vergangenen Monaten versuchen auch wieder deutlich mehr Migranten, den Evros auf illegalem Weg zu überqueren. Nach den Daten des UNHCR kamen 2018 über den Evros mehr als 18.000 Migranten in die EU - ein Anstieg von 173 Prozent gegenüber 2017.

Die Überquerung des reißenden Grenzflusses ist gefährlich, immer wieder endet sie tödlich. Die Route hat aber auch Vorteile: Wer es unerkannt über den Fluss schafft, wird nicht wie auf den griechischen Ägäis-Inseln unter unmenschlichen Bedingungen in ein Lager gepfercht. Zudem liegt die Region viel näher an der Balkan-Route, die von Nordgriechenland nach Mittel- und Nordeuropa führt und wieder verstärkt genutzt wird.

Die griechischen Behörden weisen die türkischen Vorwürfe zurück. Es gebe keine Push-Backs, teilte ein Sprecher des griechischen Ministeriums für Bürgerschutz auf Anfrage mit. Bisher haben griechische Behörden nur wenige der Beschwerden überprüft - und fanden demnach keine Beweise für Fehlverhalten.

Nicht nur türkische Behörden sprechen allerdings von systematischen illegalen Abschiebungen: Menschenrechtler werfen Griechenland und anderen europäischen Staaten an der Außengrenze schon seit Jahren Push-Backs vor und dokumentieren diese. Auch in der griechischen und internationalen Presse wird immer wieder über einzelne Vorfälle berichtet (lesen Sie hier einen SPIEGEL-Bericht). Der Europarat spricht von „glaubwürdigen Anschuldigungen“, und auch das Flüchtlingshilfswerk der Uno zeigte sich bereits besorgt.

Die Menschenrechtskommissarin des Europarates, Dunja Mijatovic, erklärte auf SPIEGEL-Anfrage, dass in den letzten Jahren sowohl in der Türkei als auch in Griechenland illegale Abschiebungen dokumentiert worden seien - und mahnte eine menschlichere Migrationspolitik an.

▻https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/griechenland-soll-zehntausende-migranten-illegal-in-die-tuerkei-abgeschoben-

#renvois #expulsions #réfugiés #asile #migrations #Turquie #Grèce #push-back #refoulement #refoulements

Greece illegally deported 60,000 migrants to Turkey: report

Greece illegally deported 60,000 migrants to Turkey, documents released by Turkey reportedly show. The process involves returning asylum seekers without assessing their status.

https://www.dw.com/image/51067566_303.jpg

Greece illegally deported about 60,000 migrants to Turkey between 2017 and 2018, according to a report on the online news portal of weekly German magazine Spiegel, published on Wednesday evening.

Turkey is accusing Greece of not properly dealing with the asylum status of migrants. Instead, Turkish Interior Ministry files claim that Greece illegally transported 58,283 people to Turkey in the 12 month period leading up to November 1, 2018.

Greece is disputing the accusations, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsokasis saying Ankara was playing games: “Those people who have used the refugee crisis to their own ends should be more careful when dealing with Greece.”

A Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman told German news agency dpa that Athens had denied similar accusations “many times” already.

This so-called “push back” of asylum seekers is illegal under European and international law. The state is obliged to assess the asylum status of new migrants rather than sending them to another country.

Where were the migrants from?

According to the Turkish documents, the largest proportion of migrants sent away from Greece were Pakistani, with large numbers from Somalia, Algeria and Bangladesh. 4,500 were Syrians.

Turkish officials said they sent back most of the people back to their countries of origin except for the Syrians, who were sent back to the Turkish town where they originally registered as refugees.

The governor of the Turkish-Greek border region of Edirne reported that over 90,000 migrants were arrested between January and September 2019, a big increase from the 30,000 arrested in the same region in 2016.

▻https://www.dw.com/en/greece-illegally-deported-60000-migrants-to-turkey-report/a-51234698?maca=en-Twitter-sharing

Thousands of ’illegal’ Syrians and other migrants ejected from Istanbul

Turkey says it has expelled nearly 50,000 migrants from Istanbul, including more than 6,000 Syrians. The government says the migrants were in the city illegally and will be made to leave Turkey.
The Istanbul governor’s office said on Friday that 42,888 “illegal” migrants had been arrested and sent to repatriation centers, to be removed later from Turkey. It said 6,416 Syrians had been placed in “temporary refugee centers.”

A campaign from July through to the end of October was aimed at reducing the number of unregistered refugees in Turkey’s biggest city. The country hosts about 3.6 million Syrians — more than any other country.

Syrians who are registered in Turkey are given “temporary protection”, as the Turkish government does not offer them formal refugee status. Under the system, the Syrians have to stay in the province to which they were initially assigned, and can only visit other cities with short-term passes.

In July, officials said that 547,000 Syrians were officially registered in Istanbul, and that no new registrations were being accepted. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said at the time that the aim was to expel 80,000 undocumented migrants by the end of the year.

•••• ➤ Watch: Syrian refugees not ready to go home

Public sentiment in Turkey towards Syrian refugees has worsened in recent years. The Turkish government wants to settle some of them in an area it now controls in northeast Syria, after it launched an offensive last month against the Kurdish YPG militia.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch last month published reports saying Turkey was forcibly sending Syrian refugees to northern Syria. Turkey’s foreign ministry called the claims in the reports “false and imaginary.”

▻https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/20903/thousands-of-illegal-syrians-and-other-migrants-ejected-from-istanbul

Refugees ‘tortured and beaten by Greek soldiers’ before being sent back to Turkey

Bruised and bandaged, a group of refugees show off the injuries they claim were caused by Greek soldiers. One says he was blindfolded and burnt with a cigarette while another said his foot ended up broken in several places. A third migrant claims the authorities confiscated his money and clothes while others say they have been hit over the head with sticks. Their allegations form part of a growing number of complaints made against Greek soldiers at the border with Turkey. In the past year, hundreds of people claim to have been tortured and abused before being physically pushed back over the border.

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Under international law, Greece is obliged to register any illegal immigrant that enters its territory. But Turkey claims they forcibly reject them and this year alone they allege Greece returned some 25,404 undocumented migrants. That figure has not been independently verified but there are allegations of severe abuse, which includes withholding food and water. Musaddiq Javed from Pakistan was one of 30 men who entered Greece last week on foot. He said the group were arrested as they walked towards #Xanthi but the police handed them over to Greek soldiers who allegedly ripped the Turkish liras they found on them. He recalled: ‘The soldiers brought me in a room and blindfolded me. They then burned my hand with a cigarette and kicked my feet.’

https://i0.wp.com/metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/PRI_1010871841.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=768%2C512&ssl=1#.jpg

Muhammad Nainiya from Morocco added: ‘They brought us near a river and put us on a boat and hit our heads with sticks.’ He said they were made to walk back into Turkey and eventually reached a village where local residents gave them clothes. Muhammed added: ‘The doctor told me that I had three broken bones on my foot and that it would need surgery. I had the surgery and stayed in the hospital for a week.’ The men are now staying at a refugee centre in Turkey after receiving medical treatment while the Greek authorities have yet to comment on the claims.

https://i0.wp.com/metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/PRI_1010872421.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=768%2C512&ssl=1#.jpg

Greece is struggling with the number of refugees on both the mainland and the islands. It has camps on five Aegean islands (Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros) with an official capacity of 6,178 people. Two days ago it was holding 35,590 men, women and children in unsanitary and dangerous conditions. The Greek government has pledged a crackdown and plans to convert the refugee camps into detention centres. Human rights groups say it would make it easier for Greece to detain asylum seekers for longer and scrap protections for already vulnerable people. Turkey and the EU signed a refugee deal in March 2016 which aimed to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea. People arriving by boat to the Greek islands were to be returned to Turkey in exchange for EU nations to take Syrian refugees from Turkey.

▻https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/26/refugees-tortured-beaten-greek-soldiers-sent-back-turkey-11223565/?ito=article.desktop.share.top.twitter

Illegal push-backs in Evros. Evidence of human rights abuses at the Greece/Turkey border

https://i.imgur.com/7pvRvwZ.png

Résumé ici:

Mobile Info Team have published a new report on pushbacks from Greece to Turkey in the Evros region. They have been gathering data since August 2018 and have brought together 27 testimonies from people who have experienced this illegal practice.

The procedure is similar in all cases. Firstly, arrest and capture by Greek police inside Greek territory, then detention and confiscation of personal property, followed by coordinated handoffs/transfers to authorities and finally, collective expulsion across the Evros River in small boats.

The violent practices of Greek police are of critical concern. Established legal procedures stipulate that Greek police would meet asylum seekers on Greek land, escort them to police stations, take their personal data and register their requests for asylum. Their reported actions however ranged from complicit handovers to unidentified ‘commando’ groups, to perpetrating acts of violence and theft themselves.

Many of the testimonies are deeply disturbing, although all pushbacks are illegal regardless of whether an individual or group is subjected to violence. Often people reported the deprivation of food and water, theft of property, detention in dirty and cramped spaces, unprovoked violent beatings and even electric shocks.

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-27-11-19-evros-pushbacks-report-human-rights-abuses-at-gree

Έξι Μετανάστες Πέθαναν Από το Κρύο στον Έβρο

Μια νέα θανάσιμη διαδρομή ανησυχεί τις Αρχές, ενώ οι ροές στον Έβρο αυξάνονται.

Έξι μετανάστες βρέθηκαν νεκροί από το κρύο στον Έβρο, σε διάστημα 48 ωρών. Είναι η πρώτη φορά που καταγράφεται αντίστοιχος αριθμός θανάτων από υποθερμία, σε τόσο μικρό διάστημα. Επιπλέον, τα σημεία όπου εντοπίστηκαν τα τέσσερα από τα έξι θύματα, μαρτυρά ότι οι άνθρωποι που περνούν τον Έβρο και κατευθύνονται προς την ενδοχώρα επιλέγουν μια νέα διαδρομή, που ακολουθεί παράλληλα τα ελληνο-βουλγαρικά σύνορα και αποδεικνύεται θανάσιμη λόγω του άγριου εδάφους και των εξαιρετικά χαμηλών θερμοκρασιών.

Το VICE πληροφορείται ότι οι έξι νεκροί μετανάστες βρέθηκαν στη διάρκεια του Σαββατοκύριακου, σε διαφορετικά σημεία. Πρόκειται για τέσσερις άντρες και δύο γυναίκες. Δεν υπάρχει κανένα στοιχείο για την ταυτότητά τους, καθώς δεν είχαν έγγραφα. Οι δύο γυναίκες είναι αφρικανικής καταγωγής, ενώ η ηλικία των θυμάτων εκτιμάται μεταξύ 18 και 30 ετών.

Τα δύο πρώτα θύματα βρέθηκαν κοντά στο ποτάμι, σε χωράφι έξω από το χωριό Γεμιστή. Οι υπόλοιποι τέσσερις άνθρωποι, όμως, εντοπίστηκαν πολύ μακριά από τον Έβρο. Πιο ειδικά, δύο στο 17ο χιλιόμετρο της επαρχιακής οδού Μεγάλου Δέρειου-Σαπών και δύο έξω από το χωριό Κόρυμβος. Οι Αρχές προσπαθούν να διαπιστώσουν αν οι τέσσερις νεκροί στον ορεινό όγκο ήταν στην ίδια ομάδα που είχε περάσει τον Έβρο.

Οι τελευταίοι θάνατοι, αλλά και μαρτυρίες ανθρώπων που κατάφεραν να φθάσουν στη Θεσσαλονίκη, αποκαλύπτουν ότι υπάρχει μια νέα διαδρομή μεταναστών. Προσπαθώντας να αποφύγουν την Εγνατία Οδό και τους ελέγχους της Αστυνομίας, οι μετανάστες περνούν το ποτάμι και κατευθύνονται στον ορεινό όγκο πίσω από το Σουφλί. Έπειτα, περπατούν κατά μήκος των ελληνο-βουλγαρικών συνόρων, ακολουθώντας χωμάτινους δρόμους και τις οδηγίες διακινητών που λαμβάνουν μέσω στιγμάτων στο GPS. Εκτός από τις οδηγίες, δεν έχει διαπιστωθεί φυσική παρουσία διακινητών κατά μήκος της διαδρομής, αναφέρουν πηγές.

Οι μετανάστες θέλουν να φθάσουν στην Κομοτηνή και από εκεί να πάρουν το λεωφορείο για τη Θεσσαλονίκη. Το ταξίδι με τα πόδια από τον Έβρο ως την Κομοτηνή, μπορεί να διαρκέσει ως και επτά μέρες, ανάλογα με τις καιρικές συνθήκες. Η απότομη αλλαγή του καιρού και η σφοδρή κακοκαιρία που έπληξε την περιοχή, φαίνεται ότι ευθύνονται για τους μαζικούς θανάτους των τελευταίων ημερών, σε συνδυασμό με το γεγονός ότι στο βουνό δεν υπάρχουν σημάδια για να ακολουθήσουν.

Όσοι μετανάστες επιλέγουν την παραπάνω διαδρομή, επιθυμούν να συνεχίσουν βόρεια προς την Ευρώπη, χωρίς να καταγραφούν στην Ελλάδα. Υπάρχει κάτι ακόμη. Άνθρωποι που περπάτησαν κατά μήκος των ελληνο-βουλγαρικών συνόρων ανέφεραν ότι έπεσαν θύματα ληστείας από αγνώστους, που φορούσαν ρούχα παραλλαγής, όπως περιέγραψαν. Σε μια περίπτωση, τους άρπαξαν χρήματα και κινητά. Σε μια δεύτερη, γυναίκα από το Ιράν ανέφερε ότι τους άφησαν να συνεχίσουν, επειδή εκείνη τους μίλησε στα τούρκικα, στοιχείο που δείχνει πιθανή εμπλοκή ατόμων από τα μειονοτικά χωριά.

Όλα αυτά συμβαίνουν, ενώ οι ροές στον Έβρο αυξάνονται και η κυβέρνηση σχεδιάζει να λάβει επιπλέον μέτρα για την ανάσχεσή τους, μεταξύ αυτών την επέκταση του φράχτη που υπάρχει από το 2012 στο μοναδικό χερσαίο τμήμα των συνόρων. Ο φράχτης έχει μήκος 12 χιλιόμετρα και εκ του αποτελέσματος απλώς μετάφερε τα περάσματα προς τα νότια, σε άλλα σημεία του ποταμού. Στον σχεδιασμό της κυβέρνησης περιλαμβάνεται επίσης η δημιουργία μιας δεύτερης ζώνης ελέγχου στην Εγνατία Οδό, καθώς και η ανάπτυξη των ηλεκτρονικών μέσων με τα οποία ελέγχονται τα περάσματα στον Έβρο.

▻https://www.vice.com/gr/article/a355mk/e3i-metanastes-pagwsan-kai-pe8anan-apo-to-krio-ston-ebro

–----------

Source : un tweet de Bruno Tersago :

Bodies of 6 #refugees/#migrants found near #Evros river (border #Greece/#Turkey). Aged between 18 and 30. Apparently frozen to death.

▻https://twitter.com/BrunoTersago/status/1204405077936627717

#décès #morts #mourir_de_froid

Six migrants retrouvés morts de froid à la frontière gréco-turque

Six migrants ont été retrouvés morts de froid ces derniers jours dans la région de l’Evros, à la frontière entre la Grèce et la Turquie, a annoncé mardi Pavlos Pavlidis, le médecin légiste de l’hôpital d’Alexandroupoli en charge des autopsies.

Les six migrants, deux femmes africaines et quatre hommes dont les âges étaient évalués de 18 à 30 ans, sont morts d’hypothermie entre jeudi et dimanche derniers, a précisé à la presse le médecin légiste. Aucun document d’identité n’a été retrouvé sur ces migrants, rendant le processus d’identification complexe. La région frontalière de l’Evros séparant la Grèce de la Turquie est un lieu de passage privilégié par les passeurs depuis la signature de l’accord UE-Turquie en 2016 et le renforcement des patrouilles navales en mer Égée.

Malgré un mur de 12 km de long à la frontière gréco-turque, les trafiquants ont trouvé des points de passage pour les migrants, situés au sud des barbelés. Le gouvernement grec a annoncé en novembre l’embauche de 400 gardes-frontières dans la région de l’Evros et le renforcement de la surveillance à la frontière avec des radars infrarouges. La traversée de la rivière est particulièrement dangereuse. De nombreux migrants ont été retrouvés noyés ces dernières années. Des réseaux de passeurs entassent également souvent des dizaines de migrants dans des voitures, conduites à grande vitesse pour échapper aux contrôles policiers, entraînant des accidents fréquents.

Début novembre, quarante-et-un migrants ont été découverts vivants, cachés dans un camion frigorifique intercepté sur une autoroute du nord de la Grèce. Pour la première fois depuis 2016, la Grèce est redevenue cette année la principale porte d’entrée des demandeurs d’asile en Europe. Le flux migratoire via les îles de la mer Egée face à la Turquie reste le plus important avec plus de 55000 arrivées en 2019 selon le HCR, l’Agence des Nations unies pour les réfugiés. Mais les arrivées via la frontière terrestre avec la Turquie sont en augmentation depuis 2018. En 2019, plus de 14000 personnes ont emprunté ce chemin périlleux selon le HCR.

▻https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/six-migrants-retrouves-morts-de-froid-a-la-frontiere-greco-turque-20191210

Statement: Four Push-Back Operations at the Greek-Turkish Land Border Witnessed by the Alarm Phone

The Alarm Phone witnessed four illegal push-back operations at the Greek-Turkish land border over the course of ten days.

CASE 1: The first case occurred on Saturday the 30th of June 2018. In the early morning, we had been informed about a group of people along the Turkish-Greek land border that was in need of support. Five of them were from Syria, five from Sierra Leone, six men, two women, and two children. We contacted the travellers, received their GPS position, and notified the police to their whereabouts, as the travellers had asked us to do. The police confirmed to us that they would search for them. Hours later, in the early afternoon, one of the members of the group told us that she was on her way back to Istanbul. She informed us about what had happened to them: At around 9am local time, they had been found by Greek officers in blue & black uniforms. Their belongings was taken away, and at least 5 of them were forced back to Turkey. They had not taken any pictures as their phones had been taken away. Our contact person had been able to hide her phone. They were kept in confinement for about one hour and treated badly, “like dogs” she said, before being forced onto a boat that returned them illegally to Turkey.

CASE 2: On Thursday the 5th of July, the second push-back operation was observed by the Alarm Phone. We had received a distress call from a group of Syrian, Iraqi, Yemeni and Sudanese migrants who had crossed into Greece seeking international protection. The group was found by the Greek police. The police handed the group to Greek officers who did not hesitate to use violence and intimidation. They were beaten, robbed, and forced onto a boat that returned them to Turkish territory.

CASE 3: In the night of 5th-6th of July 2018, a group of 12 people from Syria and Iraq, including two women, one of whom was elderly, two children (six and eleven years old), and eight men, was reportedly apprehended on Greek soil near Mikrochori in Evros region and pushed back to Turkey. It remains unclear what happened to them upon return to Turkey.

CASE 4: In the night of 9th-10th of July 2018, 19 people from Syria and Iraq, including a one-year-old child, a pregnant woman and a man with a broken leg, were reportedly pushed-back from Greece to Turkey at the land border in Evros. They arrived on 9th July and had sent a SOS-call to the Alarm Phone. The first GPS coordinates received showed their position near Filakto. The group said they had sick kids with them and they were very hungry. A second set of GPS coordinates sent showed them at a position near Provatonas. Communications with the group broke down in the afternoon and only in the late morning of the next day, the group answered again – now from Turkey. They reported that ‘the police’ had found them around 5pm on the 9th of July. They brought them to a place the migrants described as ‘a prison’. At 10pm, the officers allegedly wearing blue trousers and camouflage sweaters, told the group that they would be moved to a camp so that they could apply for international protection. However, instead, they brought them back to the river. There, according to one testimony, the men of the group were beaten. Their belongings such as phones, money, passports and the food for the infant were taken away. They were then put onto a boat at the river and were threatened not to come back to Greece again.

Reacting to our questions concerning cases 3 and 4, the Greek police stated that they had not found anyone at the positions we had provided them with.

The Alarm Phone, when receiving distress calls from groups in the Evros border region who report to have persons among them with special needs, such as pregnant women, people with disabilities, toddlers and infants, elderly or sick, informs the respective authorities (Greek and /or Turkish) upon request of the people in need. In these four cases, GPS positions shared with us showed clearly locations on Greek soil. Despite this fact and despite many requests for assistance made toward the responsible authorities, the people ended up back in Turkey. Instead of getting access to protection in Greece as requested in their calls for help and their claims to asylum, they were returned to a place where they stated they would be in danger.

The Alarm Phone is very concerned about repeated testimonies of illegal push-backs at the Greek-Turkish land border. We demand respect for the people’s human rights and dignity, as well as for the international law, which is clearly beached in such push-back operations.

▻https://alarmphone.org/en/2018/07/06/four-push-back-operations-at-the-greek-turkish-land-border-witnessed-by-

The Turkish Woman Who Fled Her Country only To Get Sent Back

#Ayşe_Erdoğan was persecuted in Turkey as an alleged follower of the Gülen movement. The young teacher fled to Greece to seek refuge. This is how she wound up back in a Turkish prison.

https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/8dc18e00-62f6-46f8-a8cf-31af7f1a2020_w948_r1.77_fpx41_fpy35_fd90.91.jpg

As Ayşe Erdoğan reached for her mobile phone to film herself, she was already aware of the risk she was facing. She had managed to cross over into Greece from Turkey, meaning she had made it to Europe. But she still wasn’t home free.

On the morning of May 4, 2019, Erdoğan, a 28-year-old math teacher from Turkey, hid near the Greek village of Nea Vyssa. Accompanied by two Turkish traveling companions, she had succeeded in crossing the Evros, a wild river that forms a natural border between the two countries but whose current is so strong that it often sweeps migrants away to their deaths.

Erdoğan, who bears no relation to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had been sentenced to more than six years in prison in Turkey. Authorities there had accused her of belonging to the sect of the Islamist cleric Fethullah Gülen, which Ankara considers a terrorist organization. Erdoğan was allowed to leave prison until the start of her appeal, but only under the condition that she remain in Turkey.

Shortly after her release, she fled. She traveled to the north to reach Europe, just as thousands of other Turks who are persecuted as Gülen supporters have done.

Erdoğan wanted to file an application for political asylum. The Turkish national wanted to exercise the right the European Union grants to every individual who reaches European soil — at least in theory.

“We are Turkish political asylum-seekers,” Erdoğan said in one video she recorded on her phone. “We fled persecution back in Turkey. We are hiding near Nea Vyssa in fear of pushback.” She sent the videos to her brother Ihsan, who was already in Athens. A journalist later posted the video on Twitter, and the Greek daily Kathimerini also reported on her case.

Using WhatsApp, Erdoğan sent her location to her brother. She also sent emails to Greek human rights lawyers and the head of the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. “If we push back to Turkey, our life will be in danger,” she wrote.

That same day, Erdoğan was taken back across the Evros. Turkish border officials apprehended her and the two Turkish nationals traveling with her the next morning at 8:10 a.m. and put them in jail. A court convicted Erdoğan the next day for violating the terms of her parole by leaving the country.

For the first time, Forensic Architecture, a research agency based at Goldsmiths College at the University of London, has reconstructed the precise events in the hours leading up to Erdoğan’s capture. DER SPIEGEL also interviewed the brother and Ayşe Erdoğan’s lawyers in addition to reviewing Turkish court documents.

The data and documents lead to just one conclusion: Ayşe Erdoğan had made it to Greece and was in the hands of Greek authorities before she was returned to Turkey. These were presumably Greek border guards or police. Erdoğan herself claims to have been picked up at a Greek police station by masked men.

Responding to a request for comment from DER SPIEGEL, the Greek police stated that they "always comply with Greek and European law in the performance of their duties.” Officials would not comment on the specific case in question. Back in December, DER SPIEGEL and Forensic Architecture analyzed videos showing how the illegal pushbacks along the Evros apparently take place: Masked men speaking with Greek accents are seen taking people who have fled to Greece across to the Turkish side of the Evros in motorized dinghies. Refugees who claim they were pushed back also say they were abused and that their mobile phones were rendered unusable.

All available evidence suggests that the Greek authorities are carrying out systematic pushbacks. DER SPIEGEL has previously reported on Turkish documents which suggest that Greece is illegally deporting tens of thousands of migrants and refugees. Following the revelations, the European Commission demanded an investigation into the accusations, though this has yet to happen.

The only person who has followed up on the pushback allegations is the Greek ombudsman, the agency responsible for independently monitoring the country’s authorities. The agency opened a general investigation into the issue in June 2017. It is now investigating more than half a dozen cases, including the videos published by DER SPIEGEL.

However, the Greek authorities have expressed little interest in the videos. A police spokesman told DER SPIEGEL in January: “There won’t be any investigation because there are no pushbacks on the Evros.”

But Ayşe Erdoğan’s case suggests it is very likely that this statement isn’t true. It underscores suspicions that Greek border officials are deporting even Turkish asylum-seekers without granting them any asylum procedures, even though these people are the subject of political persecution in their home country.

The pushbacks violate international law, European Union law as well as Greek law, since every refugee has the right to fair asylum proceedings. Moreover, those who apply for asylum cannot be sent back to countries where they could be in danger or threatened with persecution. That, however, appears to be exactly what happened to Erdoğan.

The fact that Erdoğan repeatedly shared her location with her brother on WhatsApp and took a selfie together with the two people accompanying her in the village center of Nea Vyssa has been helpful in the effort to reconstruct events. A government building can be seen in the photo, including its logo. Another lawyer, Nikolaos Ouzounidis, met with the group in Nea Vyssa and also took a photo of them.

In collaboration with the Greek NGO HumanRights360, Forensic Architecture analyzed the photos, videos, WhatsApp messages, emails, court files and police reports. Among other steps, the agency compared the photos to images from Google Earth. This made it possible to verify that Erdoğan had, in fact, entered Greece before her arrest.

There is no doubt that Ayşe and the two accompanying her had been in Nea Vyssa that day. “I saw them with my own eyes,” said Ouzounidis.

Erdoğan contacted the police station in Nea Vyssa, near the Turkish border, to apply for asylum. But Greek police brought them to a police station in Neo Cheimonio, a town 18 kilometers (11 miles) south of Nea Vyssa. This is evidenced in Erdoğan’s WhatsApp locations and her testimony in court, which has been obtained by DER SPIEGEL.

Ouzounidis tried to speak to Erdoğan at the police station twice — first on his own and later with her brother, Ihsan, who had come from Athens. Both times, police informed the lawyer that no one with that name was being held at the station. Officially, at least, there was never any arrest or charges filed.

At 6:53 p.m., Erdoğan once again shared her location with her brother on WhatsApp, with the pin pointing to the police station. It would be the last message that Ayşe Erdoğan would send from Greece.

“I thought Ayşe was safe,” said Ihsan Erdoğan. “But they just brushed us off at the police station.” Ihsan found out the next day from his parents that his sister had been deported to Turkey and arrested there.

The Turkish court documents provide details about how Erdoğan experienced her pushback. They describe how masked men put them in a car and took them back to the Evros River. "They put us in a car, took us to Meriç river (Eds. note: as the Evros is known in Turkey) again, put us in an inflatable boat, and took us back to the Turkish banks. Thus, we weren’t able to apply for asylum.”

Turkish police officers apprehended Erdoğan the next morning. A court in the province of Edirne convicted her the following morning on charges of illegally fleeing the country. The court transcript states that, “The accused violated the rules of her parole and left the country via illegal routes but was deported and returned to Turkey.”

As part of her defense, Erdoğan claimed that she had felt isolated after her release from prison, that she was no longer able to find work and that even her friends weren’t speaking to her anymore. She told the court that she regretted having fled. “I am the victim,” Erdoğan said, according to the court transcript.

Her brother Ihsan also denied to DER SPIEGEL that he or Ayşe were members of the Gülen sect.

Turkish President Erdoğan has blamed the Gülen movement for the attempted coup in July 2016. In response, the Turkish state ordered the arrest of tens of thousands of Gülen supporters.

https://cdn.prod.www.spiegel.de/images/fe7c529d-a554-4e91-9379-b9f4c14d180f_w920_r1.5_fpx59.33_fpy50.98.jpg

Gülen, who has lived in exile in the United States since the 1990s, has denied the accusations. In public, he presents himself as a modern reformer of moderate Islam. His followers run schools, universities, media organizations, hospitals and foundations in more than 100 countries.

But people who have left the community have described it as a secret society. “Infiltrating state agencies, maximizing political influence and gaining control of the state is seen as the goal by all those who have been interviewed,” reads one document from Germany’s Foreign Ministry.

Tens of thousands of the Islamist movement’s followers have found refuge in European countries in recent years. More than 10,000 Turks have applied for asylum in Greece alone since 2016.

But it’s not clear how many of those applications have been approved. The Greek authorities don’t want to publish that kind of information out of fear of provoking Turkish President Erdoğan, with whom the Greek government already has a tense relationship.

However, Greek bureaucratic sources say that most of the Turkish refugees who apply for it are granted asylum in Greece. That had also been Ayşe Erdoğan’s hope. Instead, she now finds herself locked up by the Turkish government in a prison in the Gebze province near Istanbul.

Greece has already thrown out a lawsuit submitted by her lawyers. Erdoğan’s attorney, Maria Papamina of the Greek Council for Refugees, says that all the prosecutor did was obtain assurances from the Greek police that Ayşe Erdoğan had never been registered there.

She claims that evidence of the pushback wasn’t even taken into consideration. Papamina says she wants to appeal the case and take it right up to Greece’s highest court if she has to — and even further up to the European Court of Human Rights, if need be.

But the only likely real chance Ayşe Erdoğan would have of getting released from prison would be through her appeal to Turkey’s highest court, but her chances are slim. There’s much to suggest that Ayşe Erdoğan will spend years in a Turkish prison.

▻https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/the-turkish-woman-who-fled-her-country-only-to-get-sent-back-a-fd2989c7-0439

Taking Hard Line, Greece Turns Back Migrants by Abandoning Them at Sea
https://seenthis.net/messages/871942

–-> référence aussi aux refoulements dans l’Evros