#lesvos

Ces engins utilisés pour refouler ressemblent fortement au #lifeboats utilisés par l’#Australie dans le même but :
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/879396#message879399

#modèle_australien

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

More images published by @ABoatReport
this morning: a floating deportation camp.

▻https://twitter.com/itamann/status/1265202422177320960?s=03

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Tents at Sea: How Greek Officials Use Rescue Equipment for Illegal Deportations

Back in 2013, Australia introduced strange new machinery in its campaign against unauthorized migration: a dozen bright-orange and windowless life vessels, shaped like missiles. These were equipped with navigational systems, air conditioning, and an engine. Each vessel, asylum seekers said, was given “just enough fuel” to reach Indonesia. When they washed ashore in February 2014, Indonesian locals were initially unsure what they were looking at. It was a piece of new deportation infrastructure, designed to launch migrants intercepted at sea back to where they had come from.

In the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, Greek authorities have put in place comparable deportation machinery. In at least 11 incidents since March 23, migrants have been found drifting in orange, tent-like inflatable life rafts without motors or propellants and that cannot be steered. Members of the Turkish Coast Guard reported these apparitions, but Greek authorities neither explained nor documented them. Images of these life rafts, fluorescent triangular structures afloat between black sea and dark sky, looked strange enough to seem superimposed. Relying on testimony and footage we obtained from multiple sources, including asylum seekers in the area, our investigation verifies this latest show of violence at the Greek-Turkish maritime border.

Far from Australia’s flashier orange vessels from five years back, these are more modest structures. Importantly, the Greek life rafts have appeared in a very different maritime environment: compared to the oceans surrounding Australia, the Aegean Sea is a relatively placid and narrow body of water. Yet like the Australian vessels, these too have been put in place by State authorities, in an organized way, violating fundamental rules of international law. The two sets of deportation craft share visible similarities and are each used in dangerous ways, shedding light on the legal and moral risks that states are now willing to take, just to keep out unwanted populations.

Maximum Deterrence

On Nov. 27, Greek Member of Parliament Kyriakos Velopoulos, leader of the right-wing Greek Solution party, appeared on a popular TV talk show on ERT, a Greek state-owned public broadcaster. He advanced a policy first adopted by the United States in Guantanamo Bay, where Haitian asylum-seekers were detained long before 9/11, and later expanded upon by Australia: open-air detention of asylum seekers on “uninhabited” islands. For those whose applications are rejected, Velopoulos suggested unilateral pushbacks to Turkey: Greek authorities should simply remove arriving migrants from the country and send them back to where they came from. Holding photos of the oblong orange vessels Australia had used, he explained: “This here … is a raft made by the Australian government … with food, actual food, and it never sinks.” An interviewer gasped: “There’s a humanitarian aspect to it!”

The relevant background to Velopoulos’s suggestions goes back to 1990, when the Dublin Convention introduced a system whereby asylum seekers must remain in the first European Union member State they access and have their requests processed there. This created an enormous and unjust burden on states at the “external borders” of the EU, such as Greece.

The latest version of this arrangement, the Dublin III Regulation, was adopted in 2013. In June 2015, the EU further exacerbated the disproportionate role given to Greece in “migration management”: with the announcement of the “hotspot” approach, several Aegean islands became locations for asylum-seeker screening, with departures to the mainland prohibited. By August, the flow of refugees from conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, particularly the Syrian civil war, began to surge, generating a crisis within the EU as Member States argued over how to handle the arrivals.

The influx of migrants generated a legal challenge to the Dublin rules, but the Court of Justice of the European Union upheld them in a 2017 ruling. In the meantime, in 2016, the EU and Turkey issued a joint statement saying Turkey would prevent unauthorized migrants from leaving its territory, in return for as much as 6 billion euros from the EU. Refugees and migrants thus became a bargaining chip that Ankara continuously used in its diplomatic wrangles with Brussels.

Earlier this year, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pressed for Western approval of his military operation against Syrian and Russian forces in northern Syria, he intensified his exploitative bargaining. On Feb. 29, he declared that the country would no longer prevent migrants from reaching Europe.

As thousands of migrants gathered at the Turkish-Greek border, seeking to enter, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned in a tweet, “Once more, do not attempt to enter Greece illegally – you will be turned back.” On March 1, the Greek government issued an emergency decree suspending asylum applications. According to Human Rights Watch, the Greek National Security Council announced that unauthorized migrants would be immediately returned, without registration, “where possible, to their countries of origin or transit,” such as Turkey. As in other countries in the Mediterranean basin, which also resorted to emergency measures, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has provided a convenient pretext for cracking down on migrants.

Adrift on the Aegean

According to a report from the Turkish Coast Guard, the first of at least 11 alleged pushback incidents involving life rafts occurred on March 23. One of the Turkish Coast Guard’s March 23 reports on “irregular migration” stated that the Guard had rescued 31 Syrian asylum seekers found floating in a life raft off the coast of Muğla’s Datça district in the Aegean Sea. The raft in question can clearly be seen in a press release photograph published by the Coast Guard about the incident.

https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/24mar20datca.jpg

The refugees contacted the Consolidated Rescue Group, a grassroots organization run by Arabic-speaking volunteers who operate an emergency hotline for migrants in distress. In a statement obtained by the group and forwarded to us, the asylum seekers rescued on March 23 said they landed on the Greek island of Symi on March 22, at approximately 6 am. At certain points, the island is less than 8 km (or 5 miles) from the Turkish shore. The next day, the Greek authorities forced them onto “a small raft that looked like a tent and was orange in color” and left them to drift.

“Up until then, we had no idea that this was what they are going to do,” one of those on board, a construction worker (name withheld for security reasons) from the southeastern outskirts of Damascus, told us in a follow-up interview over WhatsApp.

The Greek Coast Guard had brought them to the main port of Symi and boarded them onto a ship: “They told us they would take us for a Corona test, and then we would be given our belongings back and transferred to Athens,” he said. Instead, after two hours onboard the Greek Coast Guard vessel, the authorities forced them down into a small raft: “They put everyone in … children, women, elderly, and young people. They didn’t leave anyone in the ship,” he said, telling us that they were left to drift “for over three hours,” until they were eventually rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard.

He provided us with video footage that he recorded of the group’s arrival on the island of Symi, as well as footage recorded from inside the raft, while awaiting rescue (see below).

The Greek government’s daily public statistics of arrivals contains no record of their arrival on the Greek island or their deportation to Turkey.

https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Lesvos-Harbor-March-24.jpeg

A series of similar incidents were reported by the Turkish Coast Guard in the following days. On March 27, the Coast Guard reported rescuing 10 migrants (eight Palestinian, two Egyptian, consisting of 3 men, 2 women and 5 children) in a “life raft” off the coast of Muğla’s Datça district (the Turkish version is written as “Can Salı”). Again, photographs accompanying the Coast Guard’s official press release show people being rescued from a tent-like raft. According to the Turkish Coast Guard’s statements, the migrants had been “pushed back towards Turkish territorial waters by Greek Coast Guard.”

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The next day, on March 28, nine Syrians (4 men, 2 women and 3 children) rescued were reported found in a “life boat” off the coast of Aydın’s Didim district, again with clear photographs of the distinctive tent-like raft accompanying the Guard’s report.

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We interviewed a Kurdish couple from Hasaka, Syria, who were among the group. According to the couple, on the morning of March 27, “around 7 or 8 a.m.,” they arrived on the Greek island of Farmakonisi. Unlike the larger Aegean islands of Chios, Lesvos, Samos, and Kos, where refugees most commonly arrive, Farmakonisi is an uninhabited island and a military base. There are no camps or reception facilities for asylum seekers.

The couple told us they were held by the army in terrible conditions. They described being “treated like animals, … [t]he army took our phones, money, clothes, and documents then threw them into the sea. Around 3 a.m., they took us toward the sea border. Then they made us take a boat shaped like a square tent, 2 meters wide. Then we were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard.”

Again, on March 29, the Turkish Coast Guard reported rescuing 18 migrants (7 men, 4 women and 7 children) at 11:40 p.m. The Coast Guard issued a press release, complete with clear photos of the migrants being rescued from a life raft.

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This is consistent with statements from migrants claiming to have been among those rescued. We interviewed a Syrian man who provided us with photographs of his arrival on Rhodes on March 27. The man told us he arrived with a group of 18 people: seven Palestinians, six Syrians and five Iranians, including children and a pregnant woman. After arriving on Rhodes, the man and the rest of the group were held by the Greek police on the roadside from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m.

“The weather was really cold and they did not let us light a fire to warm the women and children who were with us,” he said. The group was then transferred to the port by bus: “They gave us two tents, without anything in them. We were under full surveillance,” he added.

“They [Greek authorities] were suspicious that we had corona, so we wrote a sign that none of us has corona so that we could reassure them, hoping they would treat us in a humane way,” he said. “But this changed nothing.”

The group stayed in the makeshift camp for 2 1/2 days, until the night of March 29. He said that was when “a military van with army officers transferred us to the port and handed us over to the Greek Coast Guard.”

They were on board the Greek Coast Guard boat for about one hour: “Then they switched off the engine of the boat and made us go down, in the middle of the sea, in a rubber boat shaped like a tent.” They were left to drift for what he describes as approximately two hours, when they were intercepted by the Turkish Coast Guard:

When the Turkish Coast Guard found us and took us to the Turkish land, they registered our information and transferred us to the police station. They split us in half. One half was Syrians and Palestinians and the other half is the other nationalities. For us, we were detained for like 15 days and after that we were released without any rights as refugees, such as having a Kimlik [Temporary Protection Identification Document].

Without the proper registration, he explains, he is now hiding from the Turkish authorities as he fears being forcibly returned to Syria, where he fled.

Contravening International Rules

“Shaped like a tent,” as migrants repeatedly describe them, the life rafts the Greek Coast Guard appears to be employing to expel migrants are, in fact, designed for emergency evacuation in the case of shipwreck. They are manufactured not for transportation, but for rescue in case of a boat or ship sinking, to keep survivors afloat and alive until assistance arrives. They are not equipped with an engine or other propellant, cannot be steered, and provide minimal protection from the elements.

As Paul Crowley, a former captain for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in Ireland, explained to us, such life rafts are never to be deployed “for any other reason other than to preserve life if no other option is available. It would contravene any internationally recognized standard to take people from a non-life-threatening location, either land or vessel, and place them in a raft.”

As far as the law goes, these returns risk violating the international standard of non-refoulement. This principle is at the centerpiece of international refugee protection, and prohibits returns of asylum seekers to any place where they may suffer persecution, torture, or inhuman and degrading treatment. The returns also violate Greece’s obligations under human rights law, including the prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment, and the right to life (see Articles 3 and 2, respectively, of the European Convention on Human Rights). Inasmuch as these violations constitute a “widespread or systematic attack” directed against a “civilian population,” they may raise concerns under international criminal law. Evidence continues to surface that these days, when it comes to the treatment of migrants, the Greek authorities violate fundamental edicts of international law unabated.

While the use of rescue equipment for deportations appears to be a new development, pushbacks on the Aegean are not. On March 23, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants Felipe González Morales stated that he is “very concerned about the reported pushbacks of asylum seekers and migrants” by Greek authorities at both land and maritime borders. He also referenced recent violence committed by Greek authorities against those seeking to aid migrants in the Aegean Sea area. The Germany-based human-rights monitoring organization Mare Liberum (“The Free Sea”) told us that a more common tactic of the Greek Coast Guard is to remove the engines of migrants’ boats and leave them to drift. Likewise, reports of the Turkish Coast Guard resorting to violence have arisen since Turkey’s implementation of the 2016 deal with the EU. Examples reported to the authors by migrants and NGO workers include driving rings around boats and throwing stones to stop boats from leaving Turkish waters.

Clearly both countries have geostrategic motives for their treatment of migrants related to their fraught relationships with the EU – including aid money and various benefits for their own citizens. Often, it seems like the two countries are playing a violent game of ping-pong across the Aegean with migrant bodies.

An Iraqi refugee whom we interviewed over WhatsApp — we will refer to as “Hatim” for safety reasons — told us that he has been pushed back to Turkey by Greek authorities on three occasions since July 2019. Hatim and his family fled to Turkey in 2014, when ISIS took over their home city of Mosul. They were selected for resettlement in the United States, and had just finished their first interview when Trump’s January 2017 Executive Order interrupted the program. On the night of April 1, 2020, he and his family made four separate attempts to reach the Greek island of Chios. On the last attempt, their rubber dinghy, carrying approximately 40 people, entered Greek territorial waters and was intercepted by the Greek Coast Guard. The Coast Guard confiscated the fuel from their boat and returned them to Turkish waters, leaving them to drift.

The systemic nature of such violations by the Greek authorities was recently highlighted by whistleblowers working under Frontex, the European border enforcement agency. In early March, the crew of a Danish patrol boat participating in “Operation Poseidon,” an EU maritime border patrol mission coordinated by Frontex, revealed that the Hellenic Coast Guard has explicit orders to stop migrant boats from crossing the sea border between Turkey to Greece. The Danish unit had refused to obey a pushback order from Operation Poseidon headquarters. Since then, NGOs Alarmphone and Mare Liberum have documented a series of pushbacks by Greek authorities along the Greece-Turkey border, including in the Aegean, that have become increasingly visible and severe.

Most notably, Greek newspaper EFSYN reported an incident involving 26 migrants whose arrival on Mourtia Beach on the Greek island of Samos April 1 was documented by a resident. The arrival was not reported by the Greek authorities. In fact, government statistics recorded no new arrivals to Samos on that date.

However, photographs taken by the Samos resident (and reproduced in EFSYN’s reporting) show the deflated dinghy and newly arrived migrants heading away from the shore. One member of the group is distinguished by bright red trousers while another carries a red duffle bag. EFSYN published photographs obtained from the Turkish Coast Guard of the same group who had arrived on Mourtia Beach aboard a Turkish Coast Guard boat after their rescue later that day, noting the marked similarities in the appearance, clothing and baggage of the migrants in the two sets of photographs. On the same day, the Turkish Coast Guard reported rescuing 26 migrants (found with a life raft) on the shore near Kuşadası national park, in a location that cannot be reached by land. According to the Turkish Coast Guard, the migrants said they had landed on Samos, were rounded up by the Greek Coast Guard and left to drift in the raft.

https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/02Nisan2020kusadasi.jpg

On May 12, EFSYN published a video of a life raft like the ones pictured above (but without the cover) being dragged by a Greek Coast Guard boat off the southeast coast of Samos. The video was originally published by the Turkish Coast Guard on April 29, at which time it announced rescuing 22 people found drifting off the coast of Aydin province, bordering the Greek island of Samos. According to Bellingcat’s recent investigation into the incident, the group of 22 migrants rescued on April 29 (pictured in the video) had, in fact, arrived on Samos the previous day, on April 28.

Most recently, a video surfaced on YouTube appearing to show the Turkish Coast Guard rescuing a group of 30 migrants aboard two life rafts. According to Turkish records and reports, including photographs, the Coast Guard rescued 30 migrants in two life rafts on May 13, consisting of 13 Congolese, eight Syrians, five Bangladeshis and three Palestinian nationals, along with a Lebanese national. The rescue occurred off the coast of the district of Menderes in Turkey’s İzmir province.

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On May 15, yet another group of migrants were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard after being found in these distinctive life rafts. This group of 25 migrants also reported having been repelled by Greek authorities, again with photographic evidence.

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The Tent and the Missile

Australians eventually replaced their orange lifeboats with fishing boats, although the intention was the same – pushing migrants away from Australian shores. But there was something chillingly memorable about that episode. It embodied the often-hypocritical moral stance of liberal democracies regarding strangers in need: a willingness to engage in extreme measures, even violence, to enforce borders, coupled with an emphasis on efficiency and a pretense of safety.

While the Australian deportation vessels appear to have been custom-made and reportedly were purchased for $40,000 AUD each (about $25,000 USD), the Greek life raft “tents” are considerably more modest. They are the kind of equipment a yacht owner might purchase online for around $2,000. Under the 1974 Safety of Life as Sea Convention, maritime vessels are required to have such protective gear available. The Hellenic Coast Guard has now repurposed them for the opposite ends – putting people in danger.

The Greek orange rafts seen in pictures appear to be a model manufactured by a Greek company called LALIZAS, which specialize in rescue equipment. A November 2019 LALIZAS newsletter includes an article entitled “24 hours in a LALIZAS Liferaft: Mission accomplished!” It describes a training in which members of Greece’s Hellenic Rescue Team and Hellenic Air Force carried out a simulated “‘actual’ case of emergency” by relying on a LALIZAS life raft and its food and survival equipment for a full 24 hours (see the story on the LALIZAS website here, and official video of the simulation, here). The life raft in question, code named “MEDUSSA” for the simulation, appears identical to those in many of the images of the tent-like rafts migrants have been rescued from while adrift in the Aegean.

According to the Greek government’s procurement records available online, it purchased the life rafts for the Greek Navy in 2017. Several government ministries appear to have contracts with this company.

The Australian life raft most closely resembles a missile. Its very image conveys the omnipotence of a regional superpower. By using such a machine, Australia effectively said to those attempting unauthorized maritime entry, “We will shoot you away.” To be sure, this missile is not fired at the migrants. It’s as if they become part of its ammunition; shot back at Indonesia’s shores, they are expected to crawl out of the shell once the missile crashes on one of the country’s countless atolls.

Compared to the grandeur of the Australian missile-like object, and its mechanical cruelty, the Greek tent-like raft is a poignant symbol of inhumanity. Set adrift on the Aegean, its disquieting quality emerges from the fact that it becomes a kind of metaphor for the refugee’s condition. Asylum seekers describing it had often used the Arabic word ḵēma (خيمة), which is the tent one would use in a camp (and typically not a home, even if that too is a tent). It echoes the word mūẖym, which means refugee camp. No fuel is rationed to reach a destination, and the expectation appears to be that the life raft will simply drift across the relatively narrow waterway.

The act of putting migrants to sea in inflatable tents is in line with the broader EU contemporary response to the “refugee crisis” – rejection and abandonment. This is, at least, how asylum seekers protesting at Moria camp, on the Greek island of Lesvos, see it: “We have been abandoned here,” said one asylum seeker on April 22.

Like the Australian example, the tent too is an instrument of deterrence: “We will shoot you away” is replaced with a threat of an even more perilous exile on water. This aspect, however, does not make the Greek use of the life rafts any better than the Australian display of technological might. Both are utilized to perform what is almost an act of murder, but ultimately not quite there.

▻https://www.justsecurity.org/70309/tents-at-sea-how-greek-officials-use-rescue-equipment-for-illegal-depo

–-> #camps_flottants #camp_flottant

A terrifying video of a push-back in the Aegean sea; men, women –two of them pregnant- and children abandoned at sea on a liferaft by the greek coast-guards

▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKsEHZKGsSE&feature=emb_title

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Le reportage complet du quotidien grec Efimerida tôn Syntaktôn:

Επαναπροώθηση με ελληνική σφραγίδα

Ένα ακόμα περιστατικό παράνομης επαναπροώθησης που σημειώθηκε στις 25 Μαΐου στο Αιγαίο, στη θαλάσσια περιοχή ανοιχτά της Λέσβου, έρχεται στη δημοσιότητα για να επιβεβαιώσει την σύνδεση της χρήσης σχεδιών τύπου liferafts, με τις ελληνικές λιμενικές αρχές.

Όπως είχε αποκαλύψει πρόσφατη έρευνα που δημοσιεύτηκε στον ιστότοπο justsecurity.org από τους δρ. Itamar Mann και Niamh Keady Tabal, και παραθέτει στοιχεία και για παράνομες επαναπροωθήσεις, το Ελληνικό Δημόσιο συνεργάζεται στενά με την ελληνική εταιρεία LALIZAS, σωστικές συσκευές της οποίας προμηθεύτηκε και το Πολεμικό Ναυτικό, σύμφωνα με αρχεία αναρτημένα στη Διαύγεια, το 2017.

Η έρευνα συζητήθηκε διεθνώς και ανάγκασε τον επικεφαλής της Frontex Φαμπρίς Λεγκέρι να παραδεχτεί τις ελληνικές παράνομες επιχειρήσεις επαναπροώθησης.

Το βίντεο που δημοσιοποιεί σήμερα η « Εφ.Συν. » εξετάστηκε από την ερευνητική ομάδα Disinfaux, η οποία συμμετείχε στην έρευνα του justsecurity.org. Στο βίντεο διακρίνεται καθαρά πάνω στη σχεδία η επιγραφή LALIZAS ISO-RAFT. Διακρίνεται επίσης ο σειριακός αριθμός και η ημερομηνία κατασκευής της σχεδίας, βάσει της διαθέσιμης ανάλυσης (ISO 96-50-1, LALIZAS ISO-RAFT, Date of Manufacture 10/2016 Serial Number 161012174). Το προϊόν με αυτά τα χαρακτηριστικά διαφημίζεται στην ιστοσελίδα της εταιρείας.

Σε άλλο απόσπασμα του βίντεο φαίνονται σε κοντινή απόσταση οι άλλες 3 παρόμοιες πλωτές σχεδίες, γεγονός που συνάδει με τα διαθέσιμα στοιχεία για το περιστατικό της 25ης Μαΐου, όπως είχε δημοσιευτεί το ίδιο πρωί, από τη Τουρκική Ακτοφυλακή.

Ελληνικές σχεδίες

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Ανήκε η συγκεκριμένη σχεδία στον επίσημο εξοπλισμό του Πολεμικού Ναυτικού ή άλλων ελληνικών δυνάμεων ; Πώς βρέθηκε καταμεσής του Αιγαίου ως μέσο επαναπροώθησης προς την Τουρκία προσφύγων που είχαν βρεθεί σε κίνδυνο ; Τι αναφέρουν τα πρωτόκολλα διάσωσης για όσους βρίσκονται σε κίνδυνο στη θάλασσα ;

https://www.efsyn.gr/sites/default/files/images/2020/06/lalizas-3-4.jpg

Τα βίντεο τραβήχτηκαν από πρόσφυγα πάνω στη σχεδία την ώρα της επαναπροώθησης. Σε ανάρτησή του στα μέσα κοινωνικής δικτύωσης περιγράφει τις δραματικές στιγμές που έζησε αυτός και άλλοι περίπου 70 πρόσφυγες στις 25 Μαΐου, από τη στιγμή που έπεσαν στα χέρια του Λιμενικού μέχρι που τους εγκατέλειψε, και βρέθηκαν να πλέουν αβοήθητοι πάνω σε τέσσερις σχεδίες στη μέση του Αιγαίου. Παρέμειναν εκεί, ανάμεσά τους πέντε παιδιά και δύο έγκυες. Ένας τους είχε καταφέρει να κρύψει το κινητό του τηλέφωνο και κατάφεραν να καλέσουν το τουρκικό Λιμενικό, το οποίο τους εντόπισε.

Η « Εφ.Συν. » επικοινώνησε με τον πρόσφυγα που ανάρτησε το βίντεο. Όπως αναφέρει, σκάφος της ελληνικής ακτοφυλακής έκανε μανούβρες γύρω από τη βάρκα στην οποία αρχικά επέβαιναν οι πρόσφυγες. « Όλοι οι φίλοι μου έκλαιγαν, ούρλιαζαν, ζητούσαν βοήθεια από το λιμενικό. Άντρες που φορούσαν στρατιωτικές στολές, και είχαν όπλα, πήραν τη μηχανή της βάρκας και μας είπαν : "Είμαστε εδώ για να σας βοηθήσουμε, θέλουμε να σας μεταφέρουμε στο καμπ της Μόριας" », λέει χαρακτηριστικά.

https://www.efsyn.gr/sites/default/files/images/2020/06/anartisi-prosfyga.jpg

Τους επιβίβασαν στο σκάφος του λιμενικού και αφού έλεγξαν τη θερμοκρασία τους με θερμόμετρα, τους χτύπησαν και τους αφαίρεσαν τα προσωπικά τους αντικείμενα. « Μας πήραν τα πάντα : χρήματα, τσάντες, τηλέφωνα », λέει. Αφαίρεσαν από το σκάφος του λιμενικού την ελληνική σημαία, τους οδήγησαν μεσοπέλαγα και τους επιβίβασαν σε τέσσερα liferaft. Τους ανάγκασαν να ανέβουν είκοσι άτομα σε κάθε σχεδία, ενώ η -βάσει προδιαγραφών- χωρητικότητά της είναι για 12 άτομα. Η εταιρεία LALIZAS δεν έχει στον κατάλογο της παρόμοιου τύπου liferaft με χωρητικότητα άνω των 12 ατόμων. Επισημαίνει επίσης πως οι τέσσερις τσάντες από τις οποίες έβγαλαν τα πλωτά ήταν χρώματος πορτοκαλί, όπως διαφημίζεται και το προϊόν στο site της LALIZAS.

« Δεν έδωσαν σωσίβια στους ανθρώπους που δεν είχαν, και όταν εγώ ζήτησα από έναν λιμενικό να μου δώσει το τηλέφωνό μου για να επικοινωνήσω τουλάχιστον με την τουρκική ακτοφυλακή μου απάντησε "έλα και πάρ’ το", δείχνοντάς μου τα γεννητικά του όργανα », αναφέρει ο πρόσφυγας, ο οποίος θέλει να κρατήσει την ανωνυμία του.

Τους περικύκλωσαν για 15 περίπου λεπτά και μετά τους εγκατέλειψαν. Ένας από τους επιβαίνοντες κατάφερε να κρύψει το κινητό του τηλέφωνο και έτσι κατάφεραν να καλέσουν την τουρκική ακτοφυλακή η οποία τους μετέφερε σώους στην Φότσα της Σμύρνης.

« Δημοσιοποιώ αυτό το βίντεο για να δείξω στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση, την Ύπατη Αρμοστεία και το Ευρωκοινοβούλιο, τα αποτελέσματα των αποφάσεων τους για το προσφυγικό », καταλήγει στην ανάρτησή του. Την ίδια στιγμή, ο Διεθνής Οργανισμός Μετανάστευσης (ΔΟΜ), η Ύπατη Αρμοστεία, και αρκετοί φορείς ζητούν απαντήσεις και τη διεξαγωγή έρευνας για τις καταγγελλόμενες επαναπροωθήσεις και μαζικές απελάσεις προσφύγων και μεταναστών στην Τουρκία.

►https://www.efsyn.gr/ellada/dikaiomata/247726_epanaproothisi-me-elliniki-sfragida

#Norvège

Greece Suspected of Abandoning Refugees at Sea

An investigation by DER SPIEGEL and partners has revealed that the Greek Coast Guard intercepts refugee boats, puts the migrants in life rafts, tows them toward Turkey and then abandons them to their fate. What do German troops in the area know about the practice?

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Europe is just a few kilometers away, recalls Amjad Naim, when the men in masks show up. It’s the morning of May 13 and the Palestinian is sitting in an inflatable boat, having paid migrant smugglers in Turkey for the trip. Naim can already see the Greek coast, and with every second, he is getting closer and closer.

Naim wasn’t alone in the boat. They were a group of at least 26 people and they had almost reached the island of Samos. Naim remembers hearing a helicopter, and then all hell broke loose. For the next several hours, those on board would be afraid for their lives.

The men in the masks approached in a large vessel, says Naim, adding that he remembers seeing the Greek flag and several dinghies. And then, he says, the masked men went on the attack.

They fired shots into the water, he says, snagged the migrants’ inflatable raft with a grappling hook and destroyed the motor, thus stopping the boat. The men then took the migrants on board their vessel, Naim says, adding that he started crying and hid his mobile phone in his underwear.

There are videos that prove that Naim really was on his way to Samos. The images show a young man with closely cropped hair and a smooth-shaven face. The motor of the small inflatable boat hums in the background as Naim smiles into the camera. He is originally from the Gaza Strip in the Palestinian Territories, where he studied law and got married. His wife is waiting for him in the Netherlands. Naim blows a kiss into the camera.

The next images of Naim are shaky — a 55-second clip made by Naim that clearly documents a crime. The footage shows him and the other refugees on two inflatable life rafts. The Greek Coast Guard had put them off of the ship and onto the rafts. The square-shaped platforms are little more than wobbly rubber rafts.

In the video, a Greek Coast Guard ship, 18 meters (59 feet) long, is dragging the rafts back toward Turkey. An additional ship stands by. Water can be seen pouring into Naim’s raft.

Then, as can be seen in the video, the Greek Coast Guard unties the tow rope, leaving the refugees to their fate in the middle of the sea. Sitting in a rubber raft that has no ability to maneuver on its own.

It is possible that Naim’s experience could be an isolated incident. It is conceivable that the Greek sailors simply lost their patience or that that particular ship was crewed by an especially nasty group. But that is not the case. Naim is apparently just one victim among many. There is a system behind the tactics he was exposed to. In a joint investigation with Lighthouse Reports and Report Mainz, DER SPIEGEL has forensically analyzed dozens of videos and compared them with geodata in addition to speaking with numerous eyewitnesses.

▻https://cdnstatic.secure.spiegel.de/SP/2020/26/OPQWeKYm-32438806.mp4

The material shows beyond doubt: In the eastern Aegean, European values are being sacrificed in the name of protecting its external borders.

Masked men, almost certainly Greek border control officials, regularly attack refugee boats in the area. In one case on June 4, the inflatable boat belonging to the masked men can be clearly identified as a Greek patrol boat. It belongs to Greek Coast Guard ship ΛΣ-080.

After the refugee boats are intercepted, the Greeks, apparently, frequently put the migrants in inflatable life rafts, tow them toward Turkey and then leave them to their fates. In most cases, they are dragged ashore after several hours by the Turkish Coast Guard.

The actions taken by the Greeks are a clear breach. It has long been known that Greek Coast Guard personnel delay rescue attempts and perform aggressive maneuvers. Now, though, they are actively putting the lives of migrants at risk and they are using life-saving equipment to put people in danger.

Images of migrants on orange life rafts have been appearing for weeks on Facebook and Instagram. NGOs like Aegean Boat Report, Josoor and Alarm Phone have also spoken with refugees and reported their experiences - and since March 23, activists have documented a number of incidents. The Turkish Coast Guard has also published images of the orange life rafts. But Naim’s video is the first to document beyond doubt a Greek Coast Guard vessel towing life rafts toward Turkey and then abandoning the refugees on the open sea.

These so-called pushbacks represent both a violation of international law and of the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. Asylum seekers have a right to have their cases heard on an individual basis and countries are not permitted to bring them back against their will to a place where their safety is not guaranteed.

Itamar Mann, a lawyer at the University of Haifa and member of the Global Legal Action Network, believes pushbacks could also have criminal consequences. From a legal perspective, such operations, he says, are a kind of torture, with refugees experiencing inhumane treatment and humiliation.

When contacted, the Greek Coast Guard denied the accusations and claimed that its personnel does not wear masks. They also said they obey all applicable laws. Delays in rescuing the refugees, they said, were due to the Turkish Coast Guard because they only accompany refugee boats if they are traveling in the direction of Greece. The Greek officials, they said, only locate the refugee boats and then inform the Turkish Coast Guard as quickly as possible.

They claimed that they cooperated with the Turkish Coast Guard in the May 13 incident. In their statement, the Greek Coast Guard did not specifically address the video showing the pushback.
Caught in the Middle

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been in office since last July, and since then, he has taken several steps to ensure that fewer refugees arrive in Greece. He had temporarily suspended the right to asylum and shortened the deadline for appeal in asylum cases. Furthermore, during his tenure, border guards on the Maritsa River between Turkey and Greece have apparently used live ammunition against refugees, likely killing at least one. His government has considered blocking refugee boats with barriers at sea.

His government refers to the practices as “active surveillance.” In fact, though, they are abandoning refugees on the high seas.

There is a reason for this new degree of brutality: Since the end of February, Turkish border guards are no longer stopping refugees on their way to Europe. Indeed, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has even arranged for refugees to be bused to the Greek border, where they were pushed back by Greek border guards. Erdogan’s intention is to ratchet up the pressure on the European Union, with Brussels and Ankara currently trying to hammer out a new refugee deal.

The cynical game seen on the banks of the Maritsa River is now being repeated in the Aegean. The Turkish and Greek Coast Guards are pushing refugee boats into the territorial waters of the other, with the migrants themselves getting caught in the middle. In such a situation, those wanting to cross the Aegean need quite a bit of luck.

Omar, a young man from Afghanistan, had lost almost all hope for such luck on the morning of June 4, floating in a boat between the Greek island of Lesbos and the Turkish coast. Omar, whose name has been changed for this story, wasn’t alone: A total of 31 men, women and children were on board.

Turkish and Greek vessels had repeatedly pushed the migrants back. In one video, a dinghy can be seen that doubtlessly belongs to the Greek Coast Guard. Masked men, says Omar, had pushed their motor into the water, which is why to refugees were hanging off the back of the refugee boat and kicking, doing all they can to propel the boat to European soil. The scene was captured on video.

Omar is desperate. He makes a final video, posting it to a refugee group on Facebook. In the video, he speaks into the camera for a good six minutes. “Please help us,” he pleads. “We have a right to live.”

Perhaps it was this video that saved Omar’s life. Activists shared it on Facebook and just a short time later, a Turkish liaison officer on the supply ship Berlin told German soldiers of the vessel in distress. The ship is part of a NATO mission and was located off Lesbos. Using a tender, the Germans took the refugees ashore.

A subsequent press release from the Bundeswehr, as the German military is called, noted that the refugees’ lives had been in danger, which is why the commander intervened. A small boat unable to maneuver on its own: It must have seemed rather strange to the soldiers. The press release made no mention of an attack on the refugee boat.
German Officials Pulled Into the Chaos

The episode shows, though, just how deeply German officials have been pulled into the chaos on the Aegean. It also raises the question as to whether the Germans know of the assaults and of the lifeboats - and whether they tolerate the pushbacks or are perhaps even involved.

Around 600 border guards are helping the Greeks monitor activity on the Aegean, all part of the Frontex operation Poseidon. And the mission hasn’t always been free of conflict. In March, a Danish Frontex crew refused to carry out an illegal pushback.

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Behind closed doors, Frontex may already have admitted that it is aware of the brutal tactics involving the lifeboats. European Parliamentarian Dietmar Köster, a member of European Parliament from the German Social Democrats (SPD), says that Frontex head Fabrice Leggeri confirmed the incidents in a meeting with him. Though Köster is certain of his understanding of that meeting, Frontex says there was a misunderstanding, adding that Frontex headquarters has received no reports about pushbacks.

Luise Amtsberg, a Green Party spokesperson on migration policy, doesn’t believe it. The waters around Samos are not endless, she told Report Mainz and DER SPIEGEL. “Pushbacks cannot take place completely without the knowledge of the other units in the area.”

And there are indications that German officials might know of the pushbacks. In the port of Samos, the German Coast Guard ship Uckermark is anchored. On May 13, on the day that Amjad Naim was on his way to Samos, the Germans identified a refugee boat on their radar, according to information provided by the German Federal Police when contacted.

In all probability, it was Naim’s boat. There is no evidence that there were any other refugee boats heading for Samos on that day. The Greek Coast Guard also confirmed that a ship and a helicopter belonging to the Germans had spotted a boat that day. They say it was in Turkish waters when first seen.

The Germans alerted the Greek Coast Guard by radio, and the Greeks then took charge of the situation, according to a written statement. The statement notes that the Germans were “not involved” in any other measures related to the incident and insists that the Germans have no knowledge of the lifeboat episode.

The German Coast Guard has provided no comment as to why no refugees arrived on Samos that day or what happened to the refugee boat that was spotted. And they apparently aren’t particularly interested, either.

Even if Frontex was not actively involved in the operation, they bear some of the responsibility, says the lawyer Itamar Mann. Frontex, he believes, must draw a line and even withdraw from the mission if need be.

After the Germans apparently saw his boat and after the Greeks abandoned him to his fate on the high seas on May 13, Amjad Naim floated around for several hours. The sky was almost cloudless, and the sun was beating down, as can be seen in the videos. The refugees had nothing to eat or drink.

The lifeboat soon began to spin in circles, Naim says, with some of the passengers becoming nauseous and others fainting. Turkish and Greek ships, he says, simply ignored them. “It was awful,” Naim says.

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It was only after several hours that a Turkish Coast Guard vessel arrived to collect them. Men in white protective equipment helped the refugees off the lifeboat and took their temperatures. Naim then had to remain in quarantine for more than two weeks - in a nasty camp full of filth and mosquitoes, he says.

Naim is now allowed to move freely in Turkey, but still feels trapped. He says: “I can’t go forward and I can’t go back.”

▻https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/videos-and-eyewitness-accounts-greece-apparently-abandoning-refugees-at-sea-

Greece: Investigate Pushbacks, Collective Expulsions
►https://seenthis.net/messages/868362

‘Catastrophe for human rights’ as Greece steps up refugee ‘pushbacks’

Human rights groups condemn practice as evidence reviewed by the Guardian reveals systemic denial of entry to asylum seekers.

At about 1am on 24 August, Ahmed (not his real name) climbed into a rubber dinghy with 29 others and left Turkey’s north-western Çanakkale province. After 30 minutes, he said, they reached Greek waters near Lesbos and a panther boat from the Hellenic coastguard approached.

Eight officers in blue shorts and shirts, some wearing black masks and armed with rifles, forced the group – more than half women and including several minors and six small children – to come aboard at gunpoint. They punctured the dinghy with knives and it sank. “They said they would take us to a camp,” said Ahmed. “The children were happy and started laughing, but I knew they were lying.”

Through the course of the night, Ahmed, a 17-year-old refugee from Eritrea, alleges that Greek officers detained the group, confiscating possessions and denying them access to toilets and drinking water. By morning, they were dispatched into a liferaft in Turkish waters. It was too small, and videos taken by Ahmed, who hid his phone, show some people were forced to swim. The Turkish coastguard confirmed it intercepted the raft at 1:20pm.

The event described by Ahmed, who fled conflict in Eritrea after his father died, was one of seven times that he says he has been pushed back by the Hellenic coastguard. The use of these “pushbacks” has surged since March according to an investigation by the Guardian, and experts say it has become an overt policy of Greece’s rightwing New Democracy government, which came to power last year.

Interviews with five victims of pushbacks, 10 NGOs working across the Aegean Sea including Human Rights Watch, Josoor and the Aegean Boat Report, and a tranche of videos reviewed by the Guardian reveal an organised and systemic practice of denying entry to asylum seekers.

Next week a coalition of charities including Human Rights Watch and the Border Violence Monitoring Network will publish an open letter condemning the practice of pushbacks and calling for the Greek government and the European Commission to take action against those involved. A draft of the letter seen by the Guardian calls for “disciplinary and criminal sanctions” to be brought against those “found to have engaged in such illegal acts”.

International law experts say these activities are in breach of international law including the convention relating to the status of refugees and the European convention on human rights. “What you are seeing is the illegal collective expulsion of refugees from Greek territory,” said Satvinder Juss, a professor of human rights and international refugee law at King’s College London. “It’s a catastrophe for human rights.”

Often pushbacks involve teams of unidentified men in black uniforms who intercept boats of refugees that have arrived in Greek waters and forcibly return them to Turkish waters, either leaving them to drift after engines have been destroyed or in separate liferafts. In some cases, victims have arrived on Greek land before being returned by authorities to the open seas, after actively threatening them with beatings, gunshots and by creating large waves with fast boats. In one case, refugees were left on a tiny island between Greece and Turkey for two days without food before being rescued.

AlarmPhone, an NGO that operates a telephone line and social media network for refugees in distress, said it observed a substantial increase in reports of pushbacks since the pandemic, recording 55 cases between March and August. The Greek Helsinki Monitor said it submitted a report to the supreme court, naval court and military appeals court of Greece claiming nearly 1,400 people were pushed back between March and July, though the true number is believed to be far higher.

Minos Mouzourakis, legal officer at Refugee Support Aegean, is currently working on landmark legal cases at the European court of human rights that date back to 2014, when eight Afghan children and three women died after their vessel sank near the island of Farmakonisi during a reported pushback. “This is a regrettable resurgence of those older tactics,” said Mouzourakis.

In December 2019, Greece said it was predicting up to 100,000 asylum seekers to arrive on its islands from Turkey in 2020. But as of 31 August, there have been 8,860 sea arrivals, according to UNHCR. Stella Nanou, the agency’s Greek representative, acknowledged the “credible accounts” of pushbacks and called on Greece to “guarantee and safeguard the rights of those seeking international protection”.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister, has taken several official steps to ensure fewer refugees arrive, temporarily suspending the right to asylum, shortening the deadline for appeal in asylum cases, extending fences along the land border with Turkey and is considering installing floating barriers at sea. But the government has described accusations of illegal pushbacks as “fake news” from unreliable sources.

“Pushbacks are inherently violent, not only physically but mentally,” said Amelia Cooper, advocacy and communications officer for Lesbos Legal Centre, which is documenting pushbacks and providing legal support to survivors. “Survivors are aware that these expulsions, and the abuses that they entail, are constitutive of both the European border and the EU’s political context with Turkey.”

When contacted, the ministry of maritime affairs and insular policy said its operations were in accordance with international law and that the agency has been subject to “systematic targeting by a portion of the mainstream media, NGOs and other social networking platforms, which tend to promote the relevant actions in a single dimensional and fragmentary way”.

But documents seen by the Guardian reveal a German navy supply vessel called the Berlin, which heads Nato’s Standing Maritime Group 2 in the Aegean region, observed a boat with refugees being forced into Turkish sea territory by Greek authorities on 19 June and 15 August. The findings came in response to parliamentary questions by Left party MP Andrej Hunko.

After being detained in Turkey, Ahmed was released and has since slept in a park in the city of İzmir. “I don’t care if I die,” he said. “I don’t have a choice to go back. But I am losing hope.”

▻https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/sep/27/catastrophe-for-human-rights-as-greece-steps-up-refugee-pushbacks

Migrants accuse Greece of pushing them back out to sea

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Shortly after reaching the Greek island of Lesbos, a group of Afghan migrants say, their hopes for a new life in Europe were cut short when Greek authorities rounded them up, mistreated them, shoved them into life rafts and abandoned them at sea.

Associated Press journalists on a Turkish government-organized coast guard ride-along were aboard the patrol boat that picked up the 37 migrants, including 18 children, from two orange life rafts in the Aegean Sea on Sept. 12. Two other media organizations on similar government-organized trips in the same week witnessed similar scenes.

“They took our phones and said a bus will come and take you to the camp,” Omid Hussain Nabizada said in Turkish. “But they took us and put us on a ship. They left us on the water in a very bad way on these boats.”

Turkey, which hosts about 4 million refugees, accuses Greece of large-scale pushbacks — summary deportations without access to asylum procedures, in violation of international law. It also accuses the European Union of turning a blind eye to what it says is a blatant abuse of human rights.

The Turkish coast guard says it rescued over 300 migrants “pushed back by Greek elements to Turkish waters” this month alone. Citing what they say are credible reports, international rights groups have called repeatedly for investigations.

Greece, which lies on the EU’s southeastern border and has borne the brunt of migration flows from Turkey, denies the allegations and in turn accuses Ankara of weaponizing migrants.

In March, Turkey made good on threats to send migrants to Europe, declaring its borders with the EU open. In what appeared to be a government-organized campaign, thousands headed to the Greek border, leading to scenes of chaos and violence. Turkey’s border with EU member Bulgaria was largely unaffected. Greece shut its frontier and controversially suspended asylum applications for a month.

Greece’s coast guard says Turkey’s coast guard frequently escorts migrant smuggling boats toward Greece, and has provided videos to back its claims. It says under a 2016 EU-Turkey deal to stem migration flows, Turkey has an obligation to stop people clandestinely entering Greece.

Greek coast guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Nikolaos Kokkalas said its patrols regularly detect boats and dinghies carrying migrants trying to enter Greece illegally, and “among them many times there are also inflatable rafts such as those described” by the AP.

The life rafts are standard safety equipment on recreational boats, designed to keep passengers safe if they must abandon ship. They generally have no means of propulsion or steering.

“It must be underlined that in most of the cases, the presence of the Turkish coast guard has been observed-ascertained near the dinghies incoming from the Turkish coast, but without it intervening, while in some cases the dinghies are clearly being accompanied by (Turkish coast guard) vessels,” Kokkalas said in a written response to an AP query.

Uneasy neighbors Greece and Turkey have been at loggerheads for decades over several territorial issues, and asylum-seekers have found themselves caught up in the geopolitical conflict.

Tension between the two countries rose dramatically this summer over eastern Mediterranean maritime boundaries, leading to fears of war.

Both sides deployed warships as Turkish survey ships prospected for gas in waters where Greece and Cyprus claim exclusive economic rights. EU leaders are to discuss imposing sanctions on Turkey for its actions, in an Oct. 1-2 summit. Turkey has repeated its threat to send migrants into the EU if sanctions are imposed.

The persistent allegations of pushbacks of migrants are the latest manifestations of these tensions.

Human Rights Watch has accused Greece of summarily returning migrants across land and sea borders with Turkey, citing interviews with asylum-seekers.

Other rights groups and refugee organizations, including the U.N. refugee agency, have repeatedly called on Greece to investigate what they say are credible reports and testimony of such expulsions occurring.

“UNHCR is particularly concerned about the increasing reports, since March 2020, of alleged informal returns by sea of persons who, according to their own attestations or those of third persons, have disembarked on Greek shores and have thereafter been towed back to sea,” the agency said in August.

UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Gillian Triggs, reiterating the call for an investigation, said that “with our own eyes on Lesbos, it was quite clear no boats were coming through” recently.

Earlier this month, Greece’s Shipping Minister Giannis Plakiotakis said Greek authorities prevented more than 10,000 people from entering Greece by sea this year. He would not elaborate on how.

Former Migration Minister Ioannis Mouzalas pressed for details from the current minister, Notis Mitarachi, in parliament Sept. 21, saying this appeared to violate Greek and international law. He asked directly whether the government carries out pushbacks.

The four Afghans on the life rafts seen by AP said they reached Lesbos from Turkey’s western Canakkale province on the night of Sept. 11-12, and were caught by Greek law enforcement during daylight.

One of them, Nabizada, said police hit him while forcing him into the raft.

“They didn’t say, ‘there are children, there are families, there are women.’ … People don’t do this to animals. The Greek police did it to us,” said the 22-year-old. He said he left Kabul in 2017 and crossed to Turkey via Iran, aiming for Europe.

Zohra Alizada, 14, said police took their phones and money, put them in the rafts and left. She was traveling with her parents and two siblings after living in Kars, in eastern Turkey, for over four years. She said the migrants called the Turkish coast guard for help.

Her father, Mohammad Reza Alizada, said Greek authorities inflated the rafts “and they threw us like animals inside.”

The AP was not able to independently verify their accounts.

The Turkish coast guard, clad in protective equipment against COVID-19, took them aboard after checking them for fever. Another Turkish coast guard vessel was already in the area when the patrol boat carrying the AP crew arrived.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu raised the allegations against Greece in an August news conference with his German counterpart.

He said Turkey has shown through government and media reports that Greece is pushing back refugees at sea, adding that “there have been numerous articles published.”

“How do sinking boats in the middle of the Aegean Sea or sending them to Turkey by pushbacks fit international rights and universal values?” Cavusoglu said.

Greece denies sinking smuggling boats. Kokkalas noted the Greek coast guard had rescued 3,150 migrants in about 100 incidents this year.

An independent Norway-based watchdog says it has documented at least 50 cases since March of migrants being put into life rafts and left adrift.

“They are not going into these life rafts willingly. They are forced,” said Tommy Olsen of the Aegean Boat Report, which monitors arrivals and rights abuses in the Aegean.

He said his group had no information about the rafts the AP saw, but that it was consistent with similar reports.

“Usually you save people from life rafts,” Olsen said. “You don’t put them on life rafts and leave them.”

▻https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-turkey-aegean-sea-greece-europe-61c54ec57c121026f4891d567f31b

Les vrais crimes, ce sont les refoulements et les violations des droits humains par le gouvernement grec

Lundi, la police grecque a publié un communiqué de presse concernant l’enquête criminelle menée à l’encontre de 33 personnes appartenant à quatre ONG différentes et deux “ressortissants de pays tiers”. A la suite de cette enquête, une procédure pénale a été engagée pour délit de constitution et participation à une organisation criminelle, espionnage, violation des secrets d’Etat et facilitation de l’entrée sur le
territoire (1). Bien que le communiqué de presse ne nomme pas les ONG ou les individus, plusieurs médias ont déclaré qu’Alarm Phone faisait partie des groupes visés (2). Pour l’instant, nous nous abstenons de commenter publiquement l’enquête en cours. Nous voulons plutôt mettre en évidence les véritables crimes qui ont lieu en ce moment-même !

Les refoulements, les violences graves comme les coups, les vols et les coups de feu, la non-assistance, le fait de forcer les réfugié.e.s à monter dans des radeaux de sauvetage et de les laisser dériver en pleine mer. Ces crimes sont perpétrés par des corps qui appartiennent de manière manifeste à l’État grec. Nous ne sommes pas les seul.e.s témoins de cette évolution alarmante. Plusieurs acteurs ont publiquement fait état de ces actions illégales menées par les garde-côtes grecs en mer et les gardes-frontières sur terre : le HCR, le Conseil grec pour les réfugiés, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch et d’autres organisations de défense des droits humains, des ONG et des médias. (3)

Il en va de même pour la situation à Moria, qui est également mentionnée comme étant l’un des secrets d’État dans le communiqué de presse de la police grecque. Ce n’est pas un secret mais un fait public que, avec les fonds et le soutien européens, Moria est devenu le symbole de la politique migratoire de l’UE dont le but est la dissuasion, foulant aux pieds la dignité et les droits humains.

Les violations des droits humains ont atteint un niveau inédit en mer Égée depuis le début du mois de mars. Cette escalade en termes de violations s’est accompagnée d’actes de répression contre les ONG et
toutes sortes de structures de solidarité pour les réfugié.e.s et les migrant.e.s. Il est évident que l’État grec veut éliminer les témoins des crimes contre l’humanité qu’il commet quotidiennement. Il est évident qu’il est gêné par notre activité : rien que cette année, Alarm Phone a été témoin et a documenté de nombreux cas de refoulements et de graves violations des droits humains. (4)

Il faut noter que depuis la création d’Alarm Phone il y a six ans, notre relation avec les garde-côtes helléniques n’a jamais été aussi compliquée qu’elle ne l’est aujourd’hui. Depuis octobre 2014, nous avons
transmis environ 1 975 cas de personnes en détresse aux garde-côtes grecs et à d’autres autorités grecques. À plusieurs reprises, nous avions constaté que les garde-côtes faisaient de leur mieux pour porter secours le plus rapidement possible. Nous avions établi une communication rapide et efficace qui avait conduit à des opérations de sauvetage, ce qui était crucial à une époque où nous recevions jusqu’à
23 appels par jour de bateaux en détresse dans la mer Égée, et ce qui est toujours aussi crucial aujourd’hui.

Au tout début de notre projet, nous nous étions ouvertement adressé.e.s à tous les garde-côtes, leur expliquant le rôle et l’objectif d’Alarm Phone. Dans cette lettre d’octobre 2014, nous avions déclaré “Nous espérons que grâce à notre travail, nous pourrons vous soutenir dans votre tâche quotidienne qui consiste à sauver la vie des migrant.e.s. Dans le même temps, nous dénoncerons vigoureusement tout échec à mener à bien cette mission. Nous espérons que vos institutions accepteront à la fois notre contribution et la responsabilité que nous exigeons, qui est demandée à toutes les institutions publiques”. C’est ce que nous avons fait et continuerons à faire avec détermination.

L’augmentation des violations des humains et des refoulements n’est pas un phénomène isolé, concernant uniquement la route entre la Grèce et la Turquie. A Alarm Phone, nous constatons également une tendance à la multiplication des refoulements illégaux de Malte et de l’Italie vers la Libye et la Tunisie en Méditerranée centrale, ainsi que de l’Espagne vers le Maroc en Méditerranée occidentale.

Nous appelons celles et ceux qui sont solidaires avec les personnes en migration à sensibiliser et à protester contre les crimes contre l’humanité qui sont perpétrés quotidiennement en mer Égée. Chaque
réfugié.e qui est repoussé.e, chaque personne qui est laissée dans un bateau en mauvais état, chaque enfant qui n’est pas secouru dans une situation de détresse est une raison suffisante pour se lever et élever la voix. Nous ne nous laisserons pas réduire au silence !

(1)▻http://www.astynomia.gr/index.php?option=ozo_content&lang=%27..%27&perform=view&id=97610&Itemid=25

(2) par exemple
▻https://vimapress.gr/telos-sti-drasi-evropaikon-mko-pou-diefkolynan-tin-diakinisi-metanaston-ap

(3) Rapport sur les refoulements :
UNHCR :
▻https://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2020/6/5ee33a6f4/unhcr-calls-greece-investigate-pushbacks-sea-land-borders-turkey.html

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

Amnesty International :
▻https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur01/2077/2020/en

Human Rights Watch :
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/08/21/greece-still-denying-migrant-pushbacks

New York Times :
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/world/europe/greece-migrants-abandoning-sea.html

The Guardian :
▻https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/sep/27/catastrophe-for-human-rights-as-greece-steps-up-refugee-pushbacks

CNN :
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/17/europe/greece-migrants-turkey-intl/index.html

(4) Alarm Phone sur les refoulements en mer Egée en 2020 :
https://alarmphone.org/en/2020/03/04/escalating-violence-in-the-aegean-sea/?post_type_release_type=post

https://alarmphone.org/en/2020/05/14/push-backs-the-new-old-routine-in-the-aegean-sea/?post_type_release_type=post

https://alarmphone.org/fr/2020/10/01/les-vrais-crimes-ce-sont-les-refoulements-et-les-violations-des-droits-h

Migrants : Athènes lance une guerre en eaux troubles contre les ONG

Après une enquête policière grecque menée avec de faux exilés infiltrés, des humanitaires opérant à Lesbos sont menacés de graves poursuites pénales. A l’aide d’accusations les assimilant à des passeurs, les autorités tentent de contrer la dénonciation des refoulements secrets de réfugiés vers les côtes turques.

« Ne vous méprenez pas, ils veulent juste nous faire peur, pour nous forcer à nous taire », martèle Aegean Boat Report dans un long post publié en tête de sa page Facebook. Spécialisée dans les sauvetages en mer, l’ONG norvégienne n’a pas tardé à réagir aux accusations formulées la semaine dernière par la police grecque et confirmées ce week-end. Au moins 33 humanitaires (parmi lesquels figurerait une Française), tous membres de quatre ONG internationales opérant sur l’île de Lesbos, seraient menacés de poursuites pénales après une enquête menée pendant trois mois, non seulement par la police, mais aussi par les services de renseignement et le contre-terrorisme grec.Les noms des organisations et des humanitaires concernés n’ont pas été divulgués pour l’instant. Mais de nombreux indices, notamment une perquisition réalisée début septembre sur un bateau amarré à Lesbos, indiquent que les quatre ONG concernées ont toutes en commun de se consacrer au sauvetage en mer des migrants ou réfugiés qui tentent la traversée depuis les côtes turques.
Mère d’Hercule

Ce n’est pas la première fois que le gouvernement grec s’attaque à ceux qui tentent de secourir les naufragés, en les assimilant à des passeurs. Mais cette fois-ci les accusations sont particulièrement graves : les humanitaires ciblés sont non seulement accusés de « violation du code de l’immigration », mais également de « constitution d’organisation criminelle », d’« espionnage » et de « violation de secrets d’Etat ».

Bien plus, ils auraient été piégés, selon les révélations du ministre grec des Migrations, Notis Mitarakis, dimanche, sur la chaîne de télévision Skai. Les charges contre eux auraient ainsi été recueillies lors d’une opération secrète baptisée « Alcmène » (du nom de la mère du héros antique Hercule), qui aurait notamment permis aux services grecs d’envoyer deux faux migrants à Izmir en Turquie puis sur une plage d’où ils auraient contacté par la suite les lanceurs d’alerte des ONG vouées au sauvetage des embarcations en détresse.

En l’absence d’autres éléments concrets, l’ampleur de l’opération qui a monopolisé tant de services, passant même par une infiltration en Turquie alors que les relations entre les deux pays sont actuellement très tendues, révèle surtout combien les autorités grecques sont déterminées à faire la guerre aux humanitaires déployés sur les îles.

A la télévision, le ministre grec l’a d’ailleurs confirmé, accusant le gouvernement précédent d’avoir laissé « les lieux d’accueil des réfugiés sous le contrôle des ONG », alors que la droite conservatrice revenue au pouvoir en juillet 2019, s’est, elle, aussitôt employée à « surveiller le rôle des ONG dans les flux d’immigration clandestine ».

Depuis son élection, le gouvernement du Premier ministre, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, n’a eu de cesse de stigmatiser les ONG régulièrement accusées de profiter de la situation explosive créée sur les îles grecques où les flux de réfugiés venus des côtes turques n’ont jamais réellement cessé, malgré le deal conclu entre l’Europe et la Turquie en mars 2016. Seule différence notable : les candidats à l’asile sont désormais contraints d’attendre sur place l’examen de leurs dossiers, créant un goulot d’étranglement dans des camps insalubres et surpeuplés. Sans les ONG qui remédient aux carences de l’Etat grec et à l’indifférence de l’Europe, la situation serait bien pire. Mais elles sont une cible facile sur laquelle se défoulent mécontents et aigris, alimentés par un discours populiste. Il fait mouche auprès des populations locales des îles de plus en plus exaspérées par ces abcès de misère qui sont venus se greffer durablement dans leur voisinage.
Acteurs dubitatifs

A Lesbos, depuis un an, les humanitaires ont ainsi vu régulièrement leurs voitures vandalisées, des inscriptions hostiles peintes en rouge sur les murs des maisons où ils résident. Les révélations sur « l’opération Alcmène » n’ont fait qu’attiser ce climat d’hostilité notamment sur les réseaux sociaux. Mais à Lesbos, les humanitaires ont également entendu un autre message : la police n’a-t-elle pas affirmé avoir, dans le cadre de son enquête, piraté des conversations sur les applis régulièrement utilisées par les ONG ?

Il n’en fallait pas plus pour déclencher une certaine méfiance, le sentiment d’être surveillé en permanence. Sous couvert d’anonymat, nombreux sont pourtant les acteurs locaux qui restent dubitatifs face aux accusations de l’enquête policière. « On ne peut jamais exclure qu’un humanitaire ait fait une bêtise, en marge de la légalité mais toutes ces révélations ne tombent pas par hasard », estime ainsi l’un d’eux, pointant la coïncidence entre la divulgation de ces accusations et celles qui se multiplient contre le gouvernement lui-même. Et dont les humanitaires impliqués dans le sauvetage en mer seraient devenus les témoins gênants.

Depuis plusieurs mois, Athènes se contente en effet de qualifier de « fake news » l’inquiétante multiplication des refoulements (« push back ») observés notamment par les ONG qui scrutent les eaux séparant la Grèce et la Turquie et dénoncent régulièrement ces refoulements forcés, et secrets, vers les côtes turques. Des pratiques totalement illégales puisqu’elles concernent des candidats à l’asile repérés alors qu’ils se trouvent déjà dans les eaux grecques, voire après avoir accosté sur les îles.
Bateau perquisitionné

« Depuis mars, 7 300 réfugiés ont été victimes de push back orchestrés par les autorités grecques en mer Egée », tweetait jeudi le compte du navire Mare Liberum. Dédié aux sauvetages en mer et affrété par l’ONG allemande Sea-Watch, le Mare Liberum est justement ce bateau perquisitionné le 5 septembre par la police grecque. Laquelle affirme y avoir notamment trouvé des cartes avec des indications topographiques précises et des data concernant le profil et l’origine des candidats à l’exil. A priori, rien de très choquant s’agissant d’une ONG qui se donne pour mission de secourir des naufragés. Mais ces « preuves » seraient venues conforter les accusations selon lesquelles les humanitaires concernés auraient « au moins depuis début juin » contribué à faire passer « près de 3 000 personnes » en Grèce avec la complicité de « réseaux d’immigration clandestine ».

Pourtant, la plupart des ONG impliquées estiment n’avoir rien à se reprocher et refusent de se laisser intimider. « Nous ne resterons pas silencieux », souligne ainsi Alarm Phone dans un communiqué publié jeudi sur son site. L’ONG, qui serait elle aussi visée par l’enquête policière, rappelle également que depuis six ans, son central d’appels a toujours cherché à collaborer avec les gardes-côtes en leur indiquant la position des embarcations à la dérive. Mais ces derniers mois, cette collaboration est devenue « plus compliquée », constate également Alarm Phone qui s’inquiète de la « recrudescence des violations des droits de l’homme en mer Egée ». Face à ces dérives, l’Europe a pour l’instant réagi plutôt mollement. « La présidente de la Commission européenne, Ursula von der Leyen, affirme qu’elle n’a pas les moyens d’enquêter. Pourtant, l’équipage d’un navire allemand qui fait partie des forces de l’Otan a admis avoir assisté à trois push back en mer Egée », observe-t-on au Legal Center de Lesbos, une association qui apporte un appui juridique aux réfugiés, et a également publié en juillet un rapport sur ces refoulements forcés.

Dans l’immédiat, le silence de Bruxelles semble encourager Athènes à renforcer sur tous les fronts son offensive contre les humanitaires. La semaine dernière, les autorités locales annonçaient ainsi la fermeture du centre d’accueil de Pikpa, l’un des rares lieux décents pour les réfugiés à Lesbos, géré depuis 2012 par des bénévoles.
Ancien camp militaire

Sur les réseaux sociaux, un mouvement de solidarité s’est aussitôt créé autour du hashtag #SavePikpa. Mais si les autorités persistent, que deviendront la centaine de réfugiés accueillis à Pikpa, souvent des familles considérées comme vulnérables ? Iront-elles rejoindre les sinistrés du camp de Moria, entièrement réduit en cendres dans la nuit du 8 au 9 septembre, et qui tentent désormais de survivre dans un ancien camp militaire, où quelques milliers de tentes ont été installées à la va-vite ? « Trois semaines après l’ouverture de ce nouveau site, il n’y a toujours pas de douche », s’insurge un humanitaire, conscient qu’il faudra de plus en plus d’énergie pour résister à l’hostilité des autorités.

Les tentatives de blocage ne se limitent pas hélas à la Grèce. En mars, le navire Mare Liberum s’était vu privé de son pavillon de navigation par le ministère allemand de la Marine. Une façon un peu radicale de limiter ses opérations de sauvetage. Mais vendredi, l’équipage exultait sur Twitter : la justice allemande venait de lui donner raison contre le ministère, considérant que le retrait du pavillon « était contraire à la réglementation européenne ». Une première victoire, en attendant d’autres batailles.

▻https://www.liberation.fr/planete/2020/10/07/migrants-athenes-lance-une-guerre-en-eaux-troubles-contre-les-ong_1801701

HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS DEMAND THAT GREECE INVESTIGATE PUSHBACKS AND VIOLENCE AT ITS BORDERS

Members of Greece’s parliament should urgently establish an inquiry into all allegations of unlawful returns of migrants to Turkey by law enforcement officers and others, 29 human rights and humanitarian aid organizations said in an open letter released today. These returns are carried out mainly through pushbacks and collective expulsions and are often accompanied by violence.

Parliament should exercise its oversight authority to investigate the allegations of these illegal acts by state agents and proxies on Greece’s sea and land borders with Turkey. The parliament’s inquiry should examine whether any illegal acts identified are part of a de facto government policy at odds with international, European, and Greek law.

Over the years, nongovernmental groups and media outlets have consistently reported the unlawful return, including through pushbacks, of groups and individuals from Greece to Turkey by Greek law enforcement officers or unidentified masked men, who appear to be working in tandem with border enforcement officials.

Reports from 2020 recorded multiple incidents in which Greek Coast Guard personnel, sometimes accompanied by armed masked men in dark clothing, unlawfully abandoned migrants – including those who had reached Greek territory. They abandoned the migrants at sea, on inflatable vessels without motors; towed migrant boats to Turkish waters; or intercepted, attacked, and disabled boats carrying migrants.

Nongovernmental organizations and the media have also reported persistent allegations that Greek border guards have engaged in collective expulsions and pushbacks of asylum seekers through the Evros land border with Turkey.

On June 10, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said it was “closely monitoring” the situation at the Greek border and reported receiving “persistent reports” of migrants being arbitrarily arrested in Greece and pushed back to Turkey. The IOM said that Greece should investigate.

On August 21, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it was “deeply concerned by an increasing number of credible reports indicating that men, women, and children may have been informally returned to Turkey immediately after reaching Greek soil or territorial waters in recent months,” and urged Greece to refrain from such practices and to seriously investigate these reports. The agency had released a statement making similar calls on June 12.

On July 6, during a debate at the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) on fundamental rights at the Greek border, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, said those incidents should be investigated. In its new Pact on Migration and Asylum, presented on September 23, the European Commission recommended to member states to set up an independent monitoring mechanism, amid increased allegations of abuse at the EU’s external borders. But no such system has been instituted.

Confronted during a CNN interview with an August 14 New York Times article documenting pushbacks, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said: “It has not happened. We’ve been the victims of a significant misinformation campaign,” suggesting instead that Turkey was responsible.

Greek lawmakers should conduct a prompt, effective, transparent, and impartial investigation into allegations that Greek Coast Guard, Greek police, and Greek army personnel, sometimes in close coordination with uniformed masked men, have been involved in acts that not only violate the law but put the lives and safety of displaced people at risk.

Any officer found to have engaged in such illegal acts, as well as their commanding officers and officials who have command responsibility over such forces, should be subject to disciplinary and criminal sanctions, as applicable. The investigation should seek to establish the identity and relationship of the masked men and other unidentified officers to law enforcement and take steps to hold them to account. The investigation should cover events surfaced in 2019 and 2020, the groups said.

The following quotes may be attributed to members of the groups involved:

“Despite government denials, over the years many witnesses and victims have told us about pushbacks from land and sea that put migrants’ lives at risk,” said Eva Cossé, Greece researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Parliament should step up now and do all it can to put an end to this life-threatening practice.”

“The continued failure to address the serious allegations of pushbacks and violence against people on the move at Greece’s borders can no longer be tolerated,” said Adriana Tidona, migration researcher at Amnesty International. “We call on the Greek parliament to exercise its powers in the interest of all those who have been harmed by these actions and to ensure that there is no repetition.”

“Over the years, we have filed a score of complaints about or related to pushbacks at Greece’s borders, including deaths, that Greek prosecutors seem to ignore,” said Panayote Dimitras, spokesperson for the Greek Helsinki Monitor. “Greece needs to act quickly to set up an independent border monitoring mechanism to investigate violations, as proposed by the European Commission, and end these abuses once and for all.”

“The right to seek asylum must be upheld at all times,” said Josie Naughton, chief executive officer of Help Refugees. “The Greek parliament should urgently conduct an inquiry to examine the well-documented and illegal practices of pushbacks and mass expulsion, which endanger the lives of men, women, and children seeking asylum in Greece.”

“We have documented the pushback of more than 1,150 asylum seekers from Greek territory in the past three months alone,” said Natalie Gruber, spokesperson for Josoor. “These are not isolated incidents but systematic violations of national, EU, and international law that the parliament cannot shrug off as fake news anymore.”

“Greek authorities are systematically expelling migrants, including those who have reached Greek territory, and abandoning them in open water,” said Amelia Cooper from Legal Centre Lesvos. “The Greek parliament should not only open an investigation of these events, but must also decree and enforce – immediately – the cessation of illegal collective expulsions at all Greek borders.”

“In order to break with the current failures to hold member states like Greece accountable for their pushbacks and rights violations at borders, the European Commission must step up its efforts and quickly put in place an appropriate monitoring mechanism,” said Marta Welander, executive director at Refugee Rights Europe. “Such efforts must also involve civil society, NGOs, and national human rights institutions to ensure that available evidence is taken seriously and leads to timely investigation and redress.”

“The protection of the borders, of vital importance in itself, can be in compliance with international law and human rights standards,” said Antigone Lyberaki, SolidarityNow’s general manager. “The Greek parliament has both the means and a constitutional obligation to oversee and investigate the alleged infringement of international human rights obligations by the Greek state.”

“As a child protection organization, Tdh Hellas is particularly worried about the fact that among those reported to have been violently expelled across EU borders are children, including babies,” said Melina Spathari of Terre des hommes Hellas. “The Greek government should stop such acts and try instead to address the chronic gaps in the reception and protection system for families and unaccompanied children.”

▻https://legalcentrelesvos.org/2020/10/06/human-rights-groups-demand-that-greece-investigate-pushbacks-and-

On reparle des life rats dans cet article du Monde :
Refoulements en mer Egée : les recensements erronés ou mensongers de #Frontex

En croisant les données de JORA avec des rapports d’associations ou encore des comptes rendus des gardes-côtes turcs, il apparaît que, dans 22 cas au moins, qui représentent 957 migrants, ceux-ci ont été retrouvés dérivant en mer dans des canots de survie gonflables, sans moteur. D’après des photos que Le Monde et ses partenaires ont pu authentifier, ces canots, de couleur orange, correspondraient à des modèles achetés par le ministère de la marine grec, via un financement de la Commission européenne. Ce qui tendrait à prouver que les migrants ont accédé aux eaux grecques avant d’être refoulés illégalement.

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/958454

A Family With Several Small Children Left Drifting in a Life Raft Outside Lesvos

https://aegeanboatreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2xfgnxdrfthj-1536x1152.jpg

Friday night, November 4, a boat carrying approximately 25 people arrived close to #Kalo_Limani, #Lesvos north west.

After arriving people fled to the Woodson in several groups in the surrounding area to hide from Greek authorities, fearing that if they were found they would be illegally returned to Turkey.

Saturday morning at 07.00 Aegean Boat Report was contacted by several groups hiding in the hills around Kalo Limani, they all asked for assistance so that they could be taken to camp and be able to apply for asylum.

They provided documentation on their presence on the island, pictures, videos and location data left no doubt that the groups was on Lesvos.

We tried to provide them with the necessary means, so that they themselves could act, this to try to prevent them from being pushed back. The groups explained that they were part of a bigger group, but the total number of people in the boat they arrived with seemed unclear. From pictures and videos provided we were able to identify approximately 25 people.

Due to the fact that it’s weekend, the newly arrived refugees had problems finding an organization who responded on the phone, even do they were given numbers who usually works, but then mostly only on weekdays.

After 10 hours one of the groups was able to get response, and late on Saturday night, 7 people was located, 3 woman (2 pragment) 3 men and 1 child was eventually found and taken to the quarantine camp in Megala Thermi, Lesvos north.

During the time organizations was not responding, several cars without license plates was observed in the area, and later driving from the area, if there were refugees inside these cars is unknown, but after now knowing that over half the group is missing, it’s highly likely.

Sunday morning, November 6, 3 more people from this group made contact, and was in the afternoon taken to camp in Megala Thermi. A total of 10 people had been found, but as many as 15 more people seemed to be missing from this group.

On Saturday night, November 5, a life raft was found drifting outside Dikili, Turkey carrying 9 people.

From pictures and videos that they had sent while still on Lesvos the previous day, there is no doubt, these 9 people was from the group that arrived the previous day in Kalo Limani, Lesvos north west.

So the question is how did they end up drifting in a Greek manufactured life rafts outside Dikili, Turkey?

By now everyone knows the answer to this, but still Greek authorities continues to deny any involvement, as if these people suddenly had decided to go back, found a life raft and paddled back to Turkey. Not a very plausible explanation but this is what the Greek authorities wants you to believe.

Since March 2020, we have registered 1.807 pushback cases in the Aegean Sea, performed by the Hellenic coast guard, involving 48.083 men, women and children: 636 of these cases was performed by using rescue equipment/life rafts, 16,620 people have so far been left drifting in 986 life rafts in the Aegean Sea

https://i0.wp.com/aegeanboatreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2vcgkm-1024x768.jpg

We understand that organizations working on the islands is working under extremely difficult conditions, and that they are doing their best, in a very difficult situation to try to prevent people from being pushed back after they arrive on the island.

When that is said, we can’t help stressing the fact that to have phones only operational on weekdays within office hours, puts vulnerable people, who usually arrives after dark, also on weekends, in an extremely dangerous situation.

When people arrive it’s usually only a matter of time before they are located by authorities, so time is of the essence. When these vulnerable people are trying to make contact with organizations on the ground for over 10 hours, without getting any response, anyone understand that there is a huge potential for improvements.

When these organizations do not want to cooperate with organizations not working locally on these issues, we must urge them to at least give vulnerable people arriving, who are in grave danger of being beaten, robbed and illegally deported, a way on reaching them, and not only on weekdays within working hours.

We must also add that people on the move are extremely grateful for the assistance these individuals and organizations have provided, and we know that things are more difficult and complicated than it might seem standing on the outside looking in. We try to fend for those who contact us as a last cry for help, when something seems to be not working properly, or at times not at all, it’s our responsibility to point this out. We can’t tell desperate people who contact us that we can’t help them, because we can, and we will.

▻https://aegeanboatreport.com/2022/11/16/a-family-with-several-small-children-left-drifting-in-a-life-raft-
#Lesbos

Another Magic Trick, This Time 104 People “Disappeard”

https://aegeanboatreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/IMG-20221101-WA0008-1536x1152.jpg https://aegeanboatreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Skjermbilde-2022-11-04-093451.png

After hours drifting due to lack of fuel and engine failure, they were finally rescued by a vessel from the Greek coast guard. The Greek coast guard vessel, a Lambro Halmatic 60, started to tow the boat toward Kalamata, over 800 nautical miles away. This is well documented by videos and pictures taken by the refugees while being towed.

https://videos.files.wordpress.com/dSxmzXLa/foinikounta-1_mp4_hd.original.jpg

At this point, in any normal situation, one should assume that the people onboard were safe, and that they would be taken to the nearest port of safety in accordance to international laws and the law of the sea, but the situation in Greece these days is nothing but normal. After being towed for more than 20 hours, they closed in on the port in Foinikounta.

At this point this large vessel carrying 104 people (not 110 as we initially reported), a broken engine and without fuel, magically disappeared.

According to a statement from the Hellenic coast guard’s press office, people onboard cut the rope and ‘eloped’, ‘probably heading for Italy’. This was, of course, not their initial response when asked about this “rescue operation”. At that point, they said there was no incident in this area, a strange answer when asked about a rescue operation that had been going on for more than 20 hours, involving more than 100 people.

The following day, when we reported on this case, and it was obvious to everyone that it had in fact had been a rescue operation, their story changed.

When a journalist from Efsyn contacted them asking questions they cooked up an alternative explanation: the people had run away. This was not the brightest explanation but for some reason – maybe desperation or stupidity – the coast guard seemed to believe it was plausible.

I don’t know what is worse, that they were stupid enough to put out such ridiculous explanations, or that they thought people were so stupid that they would believe them.

Let us just say one more time: the boat had no more fuel. Its engine was broken. And the captain – the only one who knew how to drive the boat – had taken off the previous night.

They had willingly been towed for more than 20 hours, almost 70 nautical miles, but when they were nine km from safety of the port in Foinikounta, they magically fixed the engine, produced fuel from sea water, trained a new captain, and ran for Italy…

This is what we wrote on Monday 31 October:

“A boat carrying approximately 104 people, mostly Afghan families, on its way from Turkey to Italy, ended up in disaster in Ionian Sea, inside Greek waters, 80 nautical miles from Kalamata.

The group contacted the Italian coast guard, after giving them their location the group was told to contact Greek coast guard, since they were in Greek waters.

Saturday afternoon, 29 October at 18.00, they connected with Greek rescue services, and around midnight a vessel from the Greek coast guard, a Lambro Halmatic 60 N/Γ SAR-516 arrived at their location.

Shortly after the vessel from the Hellenic coast guard started towing the boat with all passengers onboard, towards Greek mainland, no food or water was provided, even though they asked since they had run out the previous day, and there were many small children onboard.

https://i2.wp.com/aegeanboatreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/WhatsApp-Image-2022-11-03-at-11.24.04-1-547x1024.jpeg?strip=info&w=828&ssl=1

The boat was towed for more than 20 hours, people onboard was hungry and thirsty, nothing was provided from the coast guard, no food, no water and no information.

People onboard was very concerned on where the coast guard was towing them, scared that they would be pushed back to Turkey. No information was provided, but from locations received we reassured them that they were being towed towards mainland Greece.

At 20.00 the boat was closing in on the port of Foinikounta, and they told us that the rope had been cut, and that three boats were approaching. Through live location we could follow movement towards land, moving up from the port to the main road and moving west at the roundabout, after 550 metres, the movement stopped.

After this point all connection was lost with the group, from Google Maps we can see a building above the road, what structure this is we do not know. Last location received from the phone was from a small shed down from the road, a place that under no circumstances could house more than 100 people.

People rescued in this area are usually taken to Kalamata, why this group was not taken there and instead taken to port in Foinikounta, we don’t know.

We usually get a bit suspicious when all of a sudden connection is lost, and when we try to get information from the Hellenic Coast Guard, they say they have no information. This could of course only be a coincidence, lack of information sharing within HCG, we will try to follow up on this in the coming days.

Information received from the boat carrying more than 100 people can’t be mistaken. We can clearly see the vessel from HCG towing the boat, new locations received every 30 minutes from the boat shows without any doubt that they were in Greek waters, and they were taken to Foinikounta.

So far HCG haven’t confirmed any rescue operation in this area, and there is no information in Greek press, even do this rescue operation has been ongoing for over 20 hours.”

This was all we knew at this point, and yes we were worried. Several things didn’t add up, so what really happened to this large group of people, men, women and children, who had by all accounts been rescued by the Greek coast guard?

On Tuesday 1 November, the Greek newspaper Efsyn published an article about the disappearance of this boat. In their article they cover many questions related to this case.

https://aegeanboatreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Skjermbilde-2022-11-04-095310.png

One of the stranger things in this case is the movement of the mobile phone sending out live location on WhatsApp to Aegean Boat Report.

This phone sent out location data over one hour after last communication with its owner, and the last thing he said was ‘three boats are here, they cut the rope that connected with our boat’. The time was 20.05(EET) and there have been no more messages sent from this phone since then.

According to the press office of the Hellenic coast guard there was no contact between the coast guard and the people onboard before they allegedly cut the rope and drove off.

So how can we explain that the location signal, sending out relatively accurate location data, moved towards land? We follow the movement over approximately 30 minutes, while the phone moved 9km towards land, someone had to have taken this phone to the port, but who, if not the owner himself?

Let’s just pretend, for argument’s sake, that the geolocation signal sent from the phone was corrupted somehow, bad reception or disturbance of some kind sending out wrong location data. it’s then strange that this corrupted location signal would move through the streets of Foinikounta like it was driving a car, not jumping all over the place but only exactly where the streets were, and ending up in an old shed close to the main road.

We could suggest that someone, not the owner himself, took the phone from the owner, 10km from land, transported the phone to land and hid it in this old shed, but why? Why would anyone do such a thing?

What really happened is actually quite obvious, especially when we have proof that without a doubt shows that the Hellenic coast guard press office deliberately lied to a member of the Greek press, in an futile attempt to cover up crimes committed by the coast guard, on direct orders from the Greek authorities.

The Greek coast guard vessel, a Lambro Halmatic 60, N/Γ SAR-516, which had towed the rescued boat carrying 104 people for more than 20 hours, 70 nautical miles, stopped towing 9km from port in Foinikounta, between the islands of Sapientza and Schiza, at 19.49 on Sunday 31 October.

This location was not an accident. It’s a perfect location, protected by the elements between the islands, hidden from the eyes of the public behind the island of Ag.Marina. From land, people couldn’t see anything, even lights.

This operation was well planned, they had more than 20 hours to set everything in motion, a large coast guard vessel was sent to the area to execute orders from the authorities: remove everyone by all means possible.

From information provided by the refugees, we know that three boats approached them after they had stopped 9km from port in Foinikounta, from pictures taken by the refugees onboard, we can see headlights from the boats approaching in the dark.

At this point masked men entered the boat, people onboard were told they would be transported to port by smaller vessels in groups. The refugees understood what was going to happen, some of the men resisted, and were severely beaten. At this point all hell broke loose. The masked men were screaming and shouting, children were crying out of fear, seeing their parents being beaten by commandos in front of them, threatened at gunpoint. No-one was spared, even elderly women were beaten.

Everyone was forced to give up all their belongings, also money and phones, before they were forced onto the smaller boats, the only thing they had left in life were the clothes on their backs.

Their belongings were taken to port by a boat from the local coast guard, and this is why the phones geolocation data showed the phone moving towards port: the phones were not turned off. The phone we received data from continued to send out information until it was turned off, or destroyed, in a small shed on land.

The group of 104 people, families, men, women and children, was forced onto a larger coast guard vessel, placed outside in the cold in the dark. They were told to shut up and look down, anyone disobeying was immediately beaten with batons.

Close to midnight, the large vessel from the Greek coast guard headed back out to sea, toward Turkey, there was no doubt about what was going to happen. For the next 24 hours these people were held captive on a Greek coast guard vessel, against their will, while they were transported almost 600km towards Turkey.

The vessel stopped several times out at sea during the day, as if waiting for something. They waited so they could carry out their crimes under cover of darkness. Close to midnight, the vessel slowed down and eventually stopped

There had been little activity on the lower deck during the day, but now officers started to inflate life rafts on the side of the boat. They inflated the rafts and removed the orange cover that usually protects people inside them from the elements in the open sea.

Why this was done might have something to do with the fact that the manufacturers name is printed on the outside of the cover, and the manufacturer doesn’t see this as good advertisement.

Lalizas, which manufactures these rafts, is a Greek company from Piraeus, and has a contract to provide the Greek coast guard with rescue equipment.

This could explain why people are left in these rafts without the usual protection from the elements: to protect the reputation of their Greek supplier, not the people whom these rafts was made to protect.

Since March 2020, we have registered 1,742 pushback cases in the Aegean Sea, performed by the Hellenic coast guard, involving 46,443 men, women and children: 615 of these cases was performed by using rescue equipment/life rafts, 16,092 people have so far been left drifting in 952 life rafts in the Aegean Sea, and most of these rafts are found without the protective cover.

In the dark, people were forced to climb down and into these rafts. Those who refused, or were scared, were beaten until they complied, thrown down into the raft, or both.

People were terrified, children screaming, but there was no mercy. Eventually everyone had been forced into the rafts, five in total, and the Greek coast guard vessel left and headed back toward Greek waters. 104 people, families, men, woman and small children, were left helplessly drifting in the dark in five life rafts outside Datça, Turkey.

They had no means to call for help, all their phones had been taken by the Greek coast guard. After several hours, at 04.10, the Turkish coast guard found and rescued 104 people from five life rafts drifting outside Datça, Turkey.

From pictures and videos received while onboard the boat towed towards Greece by the Greek coast guard, compared to pictures and videos from the time they were rescued by Turkish coast guard outside Datça, there is absolutely no doubt: it is the same group.

We later received pictures allegedly showing bruises after people had been beaten by Greek officers onboard the coast guard vessel, or after being thrown down in the rafts.

In most countries in Europe an incident like this would have made a national and international outcry. A huge investigation would have been carried out. Not in Greece.

There is no longer any rule of law in Greece, any investigations into similar incidents, even obvious cases like this, would always have the same outcome: no proof of any wrongdoing whatsoever.

So why has this madness been allowed to continue for years in Greece? Why have Europe and the EU looked the other way, while a European country, an EU member, has systematically, in an industrial scale, violated international law, European law and international human rights?

The Greek government refers to what it is doing as ‘border management’, to protect the European border from ‘invaders’. But invasions are carried out by people with weapons, not by families, men, women and children seeking protection from war and persecution.

The Greek authorities assure everyone that they follow international laws, and are not pushing back refugees in the Aegean Sea, when it’s obvious for anyone to see that they are.

But still, the EU is sitting on its hands, letting this continue, even supporting the Greek government in its crimes.

European values and human rights seem only to apply to European, white Christian people. Must we conclude that the EU feels that the rest are expendable, and have no human value?

Push-backs are happening every single day in the Aegean Sea, and the Greek government will continue this inhuman practice, systematically violating people’s human rights, until Europe once again decides to put human rights on the agenda.

If the EU were serious about the values for which it claims to stand, it would immediately launch infringement proceedings against Greece. The fact that they have done nothing at all, makes it appear that those values mean nothing, and that the laws and rights it claims to promote and protect are only for the white: the rest can be cast to the waves.

And people wonder why refugees takes these extremely dangerous journeys from Turkey to Italy in overcrowded boats, in stead of going to Greece. The result of the Greek war on refugees, blessed and financed by EU, are drowning people, not because they are drowning on their way to Greece, but because they are trying to avoid Greece.

▻https://aegeanboatreport.com/2022/11/04/another-magic-trick-this-time-104-people-magically-disappeard

« Ελευθερία » ζητούν οι πρόσφυγες στη Μόρια
Πρωτοφανή επεισόδια σημειώθηκαν σήμερα στη Μυτιλήνη,

μετά τη μαζική πορεία προσφύγων που ξεκίνησαν το πρωί από τον καταυλισμό ζητώντας να σταματήσει ο εγκλεισμός τους και να επιταχυνθούν οι διαδικασίες χορήγησης ασύλου. Η λέξη « ελευθερία » κυριαρχεί στα αυτοσχέδια πλακάτ.

Ακολουθεί φωτορεπορτάζ από τη δυναμική κινητοποίηση τουλάχιστον 2.000 προσφύγων, μεταξύ των οποίων πολλές γυναίκες και παιδιά, και τα επεισόδια με τις αστυνομικές δυνάμεις που προχώρησαν επανειλημμένα στη χρήση χημικών.

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« Λάδι στη φωτιά » οι σημερινές διαδηλώσεις

Η διαμαρτυρία Αφγανών και τα επεισόδια της Δευτέρας με την αστυνομία.

Στις 4 το απόγευμα έληξε η διαμαρτυρία των Αφγανών προσφύγων έξω από το Δημοτικό Θέατρο Μυτιλήνης ενάντια στο νέο νόμο για το Άσυλο, που σύμφωνα με τα λεγόμενά τους, τους υποχρεώνει σε νέο εγκλωβισμό- καθώς πλέον έχουν προτεραιότητα οι νεοεισερχόμενοι αιτούντες άσυλο.

Ειδικότερα, συγκρούσεις μεταξύ Αφγανών που διαμένουν στο ΚΥΤ ης Μόριας, ανδρών και γυναικών κάθε ηλικίας και της Αστυνομίας σημάδεψαν τις σημερινές κινητοποιήσεις, οι οποίες είναι από τις λίγες φορές που έλαβαν χώρα εκτός του ΚΥΤ.

Η διαδήλωση έφτασε περίπου στις 10.30 το πρωί, σχεδόν στην είσοδο της πόλης της Μυτιλήνης, λίγο μετά το δημοτικό καταυλισμό του Καρά Τεπέ. Εκεί τους περίμενε ισχυρή Αστυνομική δύναμη που δεν τους επέτρεψε να συνεχίζουν. Μια ομάδα περίπου 1000 από τους διαδηλωτές τότε έφυγε μέσω γειτονικών χωραφιών με σκοπό να φτάσουν πίσω από το εργοστάσιο της ΔΕΗ στο δρόμο της βόρειας παράκαμψης και από εκεί να μπουν για να διαμαρτυρηθούν στην πόλη. Στην πορεία τους άναψαν φωτιές για αντιπερισπασμό. Ας σημειωθεί εδώ ότι προς στιγμή η φωτιά έκαιγε και σε κτήματα που γειτνιάζουν με τις εγκαταστάσεις του εργοστασίου της ΔΕΗ. Οι φωτιές επεκτάθηκαν και τότε άρχισαν οδομαχίες προκειμένου να μην ενισχυθεί ο αριθμός όσων προσπαθούσαν να φτάσουν στην πόλη.

https://cdn.stonisi.gr/repository/2019/prokymaia-metanastes5.jpg https://cdn.stonisi.gr/repository/2019/prokymaia-metanastes6.jpg

Με ρίψη δακρυγόνων απωθήθηκε ο μεγάλος αριθμός των νεαρών κυρίων Αφγανών που είχαν μείνει στο δρόμο και πίεζαν τις Αστυνομικές δυνάμεις να περάσουν. Ενώ το κλείσιμο του δρόμου δεν επέτρεπε και την έξοδο των οχημάτων της Πυροσβεστικής από τις εγκαταστάσεις της υπηρεσίας που βρίσκονται στην περιοχή.

Την ίδια ώρα περίπου 500 άτομα που κατάφεραν και μπήκαν στην πόλη από τη βόρεια συνοικία της ενισχυμένη με νεαρούς Αφγανούς πάντα που βρισκόταν στην πόλη κατάλαβαν το δρόμο της Προκυμαίας μπροστά στο Δημοτικό Θέατρο της πόλης ενώ κάποιοι έστησαν και σκηνές.

Σύμφωνα με επιβεβαιωμένες πληροφορίες του ΑΠΕ η κινητοποίηση ήταν γνωστή στις Αστυνομικές αρχές από την Παρασκευή για αυτό και το Σαββατοκύριακο υπήρξε ενίσχυση της αστυνομικής δύναμης με προσωπικό από την Αθήνα.

Εδώ η συνεχής ενημέρωση του « Ν », με έξτρα φωτογραφίες και βίντεο.

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▻https://www.stonisi.gr/post/6677/ladi-sth-fwtia-oi-shmerines-diadhlwseis-pics

Manifestation à Lesbos : incidents entre forces de l’ordre et migrants

Les forces anti-émeutes ont fait usage de gaz lacrymogènes lundi sur l’île grecque de Lesbos contre des migrants qui manifestaient contre une nouvelle loi durcissant les procédures d’asile en Grèce, a-t-on appris de source policière.

Brandissant des banderoles sur lesquelles on pouvait lire en anglais « Freedom » (liberté), quelque 2.000 migrants réclamaient l’examen de leur demande d’asile, que certains attendent depuis des mois voire des années, et protestaient contre les conditions de vie à proximité et à l’intérieur du camp de Moria, le plus grand des camps de Grèce.

Ils avaient parcouru une distance d’environ 7 km entre le camp de Moria et le port de Mytilène, quand des policiers anti-émeutes leur ont barré la route en lançant des gaz lacrymogènes, selon la même source.

Toutefois, des centaines de demandeurs d’asile ont réussi à atteindre le port pour y manifester, a constaté une correspondante de l’AFP.

Le Haut commissariat des réfugiés de l’ONU (HCR) en Grèce souligne les « retards significatifs » pris par les services grecs de l’asile, avec près de 90.000 demandes en souffrance dans un pays qui compte actuellement 112.300 migrants sur les îles et sur le continent, selon les chiffres du HCR.

« L’accumulation significative des candidatures à l’asile et les graves retards pris dans les procédures d’asile contribuent de manière importante aux conditions dangereuses de surpopulation observée sur les îles », a déclaré à l’AFP Boris Cheshirkov, porte-parole de la section grecque du HCR.

Face au nombre constant d’arrivées de demandeurs d’asile sur les îles grecques en provenance de la Turquie voisine, le gouvernement de droite a fait voter une loi, entrée en vigueur en janvier, prévoyant des délais brefs pour examiner les demandes d’asile, en vue de renvoyer les demandeurs non éligibles ou déboutés dans leurs pays d’origine ou vers la Turquie voisine.

Dans les camps, des dizaines de milliers de migrants, arrivés avant janvier, protestent contre les retards importants dans le traitement de leurs demandes d’asile, les empêchant de quitter les îles.

« Les autorités donnent la priorité à ceux qui sont arrivés récemment » et non pas aux demandeurs d’asile qui attendent depuis longtemps, a souligné Boris Cheshirkov.

La majorité des 19.000 migrants attendant au camp de Moria, dont la capacité est de 2.700 personnes, « vivent dans des conditions terribles, sans accès à l’eau ou l’électricité », a-t-il rappelé.

Le HCR-Grèce a appelé « les autorités à mettre en place des procédures justes et efficaces pour identifier ceux qui ont besoin d’une protection internationale en respectant les normes et les garanties adéquates ».

La situation est devenue explosive à Lesbos, Samos, Kos, Chios et Leros, sur la mer Egée, où vivent 42.000 demandeurs d’asile pour 6.200 places.

Les bagarres entre demandeurs d’asile y sont en outre fréquentes, et au moins quatre personnes ont perdu la vie ces derniers mois.

▻https://information.tv5monde.com/info/manifestation-lesbos-incidents-entre-forces-de-l-ordre-et-migr

Réfugiés : à Lesbos, une situation explosive et une #chasse_à_l'homme

Après une montée de tensions aux relents xénophobes et une manifestation violemment réprimée, l’île grecque a été le théâtre de #heurts les habitants et les migrants, qui s’entassent en nombre dans des camps insalubres.

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« Allez, allez ! Courez ! » hurlent des voix en anglais. Puis aussitôt, en grec : « Cassez-vous d’ici ! » Les images qui circulent sur les réseaux sociaux, où l’on voit des hommes en colère à la poursuite de migrants, sont aussi glaçantes que le ciel gris qui enveloppe Lesbos. Après deux jours de fortes tensions, cette île située à l’extrémité orientale de la Grèce a été le théâtre d’une véritable chasse à l’homme en ce début de semaine.

Tout a commencé lundi, avec une manifestation de migrants très durement réprimée par les forces de l’ordre. Puis mardi soir, des habitants excédés sont à leur tour sortis dans la rue, revendiquant leur droit de « prendre la situation en main ». Ce n’est pas la première fois que des tensions explosent sur l’île, devenue depuis quatre ans une prison à ciel ouvert pour les réfugiés, coincés sur ce bout de terre européen en attendant le résultat de leur demande d’asile. Mais les événements de ce début de semaine constituent une dérive inédite et inquiétante.
« Plus de toilettes ni d’électricité »

Comme toutes les îles grecques qui font face à la Turquie, Lesbos se retrouve en première ligne de l’afflux migratoire vers l’Europe. Et malgré un deal controversé conclu entre Bruxelles et Ankara en 2016, les arrivées n’ont jamais cessé. Elles sont même reparties à la hausse : en 2019, la Grèce est redevenue la première porte d’entrée en Europe, avec 74 000 arrivées en un an.

Sur les îles, la surpopulation tourne au cauchemar : les nouveaux venus se retrouvent « entassés dans des camps insalubres où il faut faire à chaque fois la queue pendant plusieurs heures pour manger, puis pour prendre une douche ou même aller aux toilettes », rappelle Tommaso Santo, chef de mission à Médecins sans frontières (MSF), joint par téléphone à Athènes.

A Lesbos, le camp de Moria, prévu pour 3 000 places, accueille désormais plus de 20 000 personnes, abritées tant bien que mal sous des tentes qui grignotent les champs d’olives environnants. « Dans l’extension la plus récente, il n’y a même plus de toilettes ni d’électricité », souligne le responsable de MSF. L’ONG gère une clinique de santé mentale sur l’île. Parmi les patients, on y croise notamment des enfants qui ne parlent plus, refusent de se nourrir. Parfois ils s’automutilent ou ont tenté de se suicider. C’est d’ailleurs pour protester contre cette précarité inhumaine que les réfugiés ont, une fois de plus, manifesté lundi à Lesbos.
« Climat de peur »

La colère des habitants n’est pas non plus surprenante. Eux aussi subissent la présence de ces camps insalubres, qui croulent sous les ordures, et autour desquels errent des désespérés condamnés à une attente qui semble sans fin. Mais pour certains observateurs, la montée de tension récente est aussi le résultat de la nouvelle donne politique : « Le retour au pouvoir des conservateurs de Nouvelle Démocratie, en juillet, a implicitement encouragé les pulsions les plus xénophobes. Ils ont fait campagne sur le durcissement des lois migratoires, ils ont promis de se montrer plus durs, et nous y voilà. Aujourd’hui, ce ne sont pas seulement les migrants qui sont ciblés, mais aussi les ONG qui les soutiennent et les habitants qui refusent de les chasser. Certains ont vu leurs maisons caillassées mardi soir », soupire Petros (1), volontaire pour une ONG locale qui dénonce « l’instauration d’un climat de peur ».

A partir de 2015, les Grecs avaient pourtant fait preuve d’une générosité exemplaire, en accueillant à bras ouverts les premières vagues de réfugiés malgré leurs propres difficultés économiques. Certes, le temps a joué dans la montée du ras-le-bol alors même que les partenaires européens de la Grèce n’ont pas tenu leurs promesses d’offres de relocalisations. Mais la nouvelle politique imposée par la droite grecque s’est effectivement traduite par une stigmatisation des candidats à l’asile dont les conditions d’admission ont été récemment durcies. En outre, ils se trouvent désormais privés de la carte sociale qui leur donnait accès aux soins gratuits. Malgré les demandes pressantes de MSF, le gouvernement de Kyriákos Mitsotákis refuse toujours d’évacuer de Moria 140 enfants qui ont besoin de soins médicaux urgents, indisponibles à Lesbos. Et la promesse de désengorger les îles en transférant des réfugiés en Grèce continentale s’effectue à un rythme ralenti.

Pendant ce temps, certains relèvent peu à peu la tête : les néonazis d’Aube dorée, qui avaient quasiment disparu de la scène publique ces dernières années, sont de retour depuis quelques mois. A Lesbos, leurs partisans recruteraient notamment parmi de jeunes hommes de « 18 ou 20 ans » : « Ils sont souvent vêtus de passe-montagnes et porteurs de bâton », décrit Petros, le volontaire grec. Des « pitsirikia », de très jeunes garçons, comme les a désignés un journal local. Ils étaient eux aussi dans les rues de Lesbos mardi soir.

▻https://www.liberation.fr/planete/2020/02/05/refugies-a-lesbos-une-situation-explosive-et-une-chasse-a-l-homme_1777401

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Commentaire reçu via la mailing-list Migreurop :

Climat explosif à Lesbos, retour en force de l’#Aube_Dorée
A Mytilène et à #Moria des milices d’extrêmes droite, font la chasse aux ONG et aux migrants -une camionnette appartenant à une ONG a été attaquée dans le village de Moria, tandis qu’un groupe de jeunes cagoulés et armés de bâtons faisait irruption dans les maisons pour vérifier la présence éventuelle de réfugiés, solidaires et des membres des ONG. Le soir du 4 février une maison abandonnée, toujours dans le village de Moria fut incendiée, heureusement les trois réfugiés qui s’y abritaient étaient partis à temps
A #Mytilène, chef-lieu de Lesbos, après la dispersion d’une manifestation anti-fasciste organisée principalement par des étudiants, un café fréquenté par ceux-ci, fut encerclé par un groupe portant des casques armé de bâtes qui ne se sont éloignés qu’après l’arrivée d’autres étudiants solidaires.

#extrême_droite #xénophobie #racisme

Refugee children amid crowds of protesters tear gassed on Lesbos

Tensions mount as asylum seekers living in Moria, a notoriously overcrowded Greek camp, rally against poor conditions.

Greek police have fired tear gas at thousands of refugees and migrants trapped on the overcrowded island of Lesbos, from where they are not allowed to travel to the mainland under a 2016 EU-Turkey deal aimed at curbing migratory flows.

In tense scenes on Monday, children and babies were caught up in plumes of tear gas during protests by about 2,000 people.

The clashes broke out around Moria, a notoriously cramped camp which was never designed to hold more than 3,000. Currently, there are nearly 20,000 people in and around the camp.

Protesters rallied against the continued containment of people on Lesbos island and the unbearable living conditions inside the camp.

In footage seen by Al Jazeera, children can be seen recovering from being hit with tear gas fired by riot police. Some wore face masks to protect themselves from inhalation.

Riot police fired the tear gas to try and quell protesters and prevent them from marching on foot to Mytilene, Lesbos’s capital more than four miles away.

But many Moria residents did reach the port city and continued protesting there on Tuesday.

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Abdul (not his real name), an Afghan refugee, told Al Jazeera: “I participated because people are dying in Moria and nobody cares. We feel like we don’t have a future here, if we wanted to die then we could have stayed in Afghanistan. We came here to look for a good future and to be safe, this is not a place for living.”

At least two people have died in Moria so far this year in stabbing attacks, according to local media.

In previous years, refugees at the camp have died in fires, because of extreme weather and as some - including babies - lack access to proper medical facilities.
Tense mood

The mood in the centre of Mytilene on Tuesday was tense as nearly 200 people, mainly men and women from Afghanistan, congregated in the central square.

“Freedom, Freedom,” they chanted, as well as “Lesbos people, we are sorry,” - an apparent apology to Greek residents for the highly charged atmosphere.

Franziska Grillmeier, a German journalist, told Al Jazeera that she witnessed families being tear gassed on Monday.

"Yesterday, as the people were trying to move the protest from Moria to Mytilene, the police tried to deter them by using roadblocks. Some families, however, broke through using the olive grove fields next to the camp and tried to find an alternative way to get to Mytilene. The police then started using heavy tear gas, throwing it into the fields by the olive grove, which also set some of the olive trees on fire.

“There were men holding their kids up, kids who were foaming at the mouth, kids having panic attacks and babies unable to breathe and dehydrating through the gas.”

She claimed the police reaction appeared to be excessive.

“There weren’t really any threats to the police at that point, it was just really a tactic of the police to immediately throw tear gas at people who were peacefully trying to make their way to Mytilene.”

Police reportedly detained dozens of protesters. Al Jazeera contacted the Ministry of Citizen Protection but had not received a response by the time of publication.

“I saw serious attacks on people, beatings with sticks. I also saw people screaming, holding their kids in the air and saying: ’Look what you’ve done’,” Grillmeier said.

Paolo Amadei, a freelance photographer from Italy, said: "There were police throwing gas, women and kids and infants got gassed and there were many kids crying.

“They (refugees) came in peace, that’s what I saw: they weren’t looking for a clash.”

Boris Cheshirkov, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told Al Jazeera he was concerned by the escalation, which has been “exacerbated by the dire conditions and long wait”.

He said UNHCR has urged the Greek government to transfer people to the mainland and explained that European solidarity and responsibility-sharing was now crucial.

https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2020/2/4/86aaa03a1bc343369d063af0a1a59019_18.jpg

À Lesbos, des migrants manifestent et se heurtent aux forces anti-émeutes

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Les forces anti-émeutes ont fait usage de gaz lacrymogènes lundi sur l’île grecque de Lesbos contre des migrants, qui manifestaient contre une nouvelle loi durcissant les procédures d’asile en Grèce.

Brandissant des banderoles sur lesquelles on pouvait lire en anglais « Freedom », quelque 2 000 migrants ont manifesté ce lundi 3 février à Lesbos. Ils réclamaient l’examen de leur demande d’asile, que certaines attendent depuis des mois, voire des années, et protestaient contre les conditions de vie à proximité et à l’intérieur du camp de Moria, le plus grand de Grèce.

Les manifestants avaient parcouru environ 7 km entre le camp de Moria et le port de Mytilène, quand des policiers anti-émeutes leur ont barré la route en lançant des gaz lacrymogènes, rapporte une source policière citée par l’AFP. Des centaines de demandeurs d’asile ont toutefois réussi à atteindre le port pour y manifester.

Le Haut Commissariat des réfugiés de l’ONU (HCR) en Grèce souligne les « retards significatifs » pris par les services grecs de l’asile, avec près de 90 000 demandes en souffrance dans un pays qui compte actuellement 112 300 migrants sur les îles et sur le continent, selon les chiffres de l’organisation. Des retards qui participent aux conditions de vie désastreuses des exilés sur les îles grecques.

Situation explosive

La situation est devenue explosive à Lesbos, Samos, Kos, Chios et Leros, sur la mer Égée, où vivent 42 000 demandeurs d’asile pour 6 200 places. « À Lesbos on a des milliers de gens qui vivent hors des structures du camp de Moria, sous les arbres, sous de petites tentes », rapporte Boris Cheshirkov, porte-parole de la section grecque du HCR, joint par RFI. Sur ces îles, les bagarres entre demandeurs d’asile sont en outre fréquentes, et au moins quatre personnes ont perdu la vie ces derniers mois.

« La première chose à faire est de transférer plusieurs milliers de personnes sur le continent dans de meilleures conditions de vie, parce que si on ne réduit pas sérieusement le nombre de personnes sur les îles, il n’y aura pas de solution. En parallèle, il faut plus de personnel, plus de services, plus d’hygiène et des procédures administratives plus rapides. Dans le même temps, les pays européens peuvent faire beaucoup plus en ouvrant des places de relocalisation. Le HCR a notamment demandé à des États de prendre en charge une partie des enfants seuls. Il y a eu un programme de relocalisation, mais il a pris fin en 2017 », déplore Boris Cheshirkov.

Face au nombre constant d’arrivées depuis la Turquie voisine, le gouvernement grec de droite a fait voter une loi, entrée en vigueur en janvier, prévoyant des délais brefs pour examiner les demandes d’asile, en vue de renvoyer les demandeurs non éligibles ou déboutés dans leurs pays d’origine ou vers la Turquie.

Le HCR-Grèce a appelé « les autorités à mettre en place des procédures justes et efficaces pour identifier ceux qui ont besoin d’une protection internationale en respectant les normes et les garanties adéquates ».

▻http://www.rfi.fr/fr/europe/20200203-gr%C3%A8ce-lesbos-migrants-manifestent-heurtent-forces-anti-%C3%A9meute

Police arrests Greek extremists acting like “raid battalion” in Moria village (UPD)

Police on the island of Lesvos has arrested seven Greek extremists who were conducting street and house to Greeks and foreign nationals in the village of Moria. All members of the so-called “control squad” or “raid battalion” were wearing helmets and holding bats when they arrested on Thursday night.

All arrestees are men, police is looking for two more.

Authorities investigate illegal acts conducted by the extremists both in Moria and the wide area of Mytilini in recent days.

According to local media stonisi and lesvosnews.net, they are to appear before the prosecutor and face charges for violating gun laws and for setting up a criminal group acting like a “raid battalion.” Later it was reported that they will be charged also for violating “anti-racism laws. Authorities reportedly investigate also whether they were involved in criminal acts in the past, ANT1 reported.

UPDATE: According to latest information for the island, five of the arrestees are Greeks, one is Bulgarian national and one Albanian, all aged 17-24. The two still sought by the police are a Greek and a foreigner, both minors.

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Seized have been 5 wooden bats and one metal stick as well as full face mask, reports, levsosnews.net.

Although authorities have been denying the existence of such groups, a exclusive video captured them as they terrorized customers of a bar in downtown Mytilini two days ago. They men wear masks, black jackets and threaten the bar’s customers they “do not like.”

According to eyewitnesses, these young men were also checking Greeks and foreign nationals passing by the main commercial Ermou street.

The “squad” has also “raided” a cafeteria on the same street, where students, workers and volunteers of non-governmental organizations involved in the refugee crisis hang out.

These reports were also confirmed by police, local media stonisi stresses.

The same group of people, always with masks and bats, had reportedly conducted controls in the village of Moria on Tuesday night.

They checked in homes and shops for foreign nationals, asylum seekers, volunteers and NGO-workers. According to confirmed reports, they broke the car of an Italian NGO worker with two asylum-seekers on board. Police intervened following locals’ phone calls.

The atmosphere on the island is tense not only due to the asylum-seekers’ protest beginning of the week but also due to the objection of local authorities and residents to the government plans for closed accommodation centers.

Far-right extremists try to take advantage of the situation, fake news against refugees, migrants and asylum seekers are spread on daily basis.

A local group has reportedly also posted on internet calling on “armed violence” against the refugees.

Police on Lesvos has not been famous for its intervention against far-right extremists.

The last think the government wants, though, is a spark to provoke unprecedented situations on the island.

▻https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2020/02/07/lesvos-moria-extremists-greeks-arrests

Greece tightens rules for refugee NGOs

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The parliament in Athens has pushed through a law aimed at restoring order on the Aegean islands. The laws puts restrictions on non-government organizations, which have been accused of inciting migrants to stage violent protests.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday that NGOs will no longer be allowed to “operate unchecked” and in future they would be “strictly vetted,” the Greek newspaper, Proto Thema, reports.

Speaking at a celebration for the centenary of the Hellenic Coast Guard, Mitsotakis said “Most NGOs do a great job. They are helpful in tackling the problem. But we know, we know it, beyond any doubt, that there are some who do not fulfill the role they are claiming. We will not tolerate this anymore.”

NGOs providing medical, legal and other assistance to migrants on the Greek Aegean islands include Oxfam, the Danish Refugee Council, Doctors of the World, European Lawyers in Lesbos, Terre des Hommes, Refugee Support Aegean, Medecins Sans Frontieres and others.

The prime minister’s remarks came after the deputy migration minister, Giorgos Koumoutsakos, told Proto Thema Radio that the NGOs had sprung up “like mushrooms after the rain.” "Some behave like bloodsuckers," he said.

Inciting migrant protests

Koumoutsakos accused some of the organizations operating on the islands, where tens of thousands of migrants are stranded after arriving from Turkey, of abusing the volatile situation to get money directly from the European Union.

The deputy migration minister also suggested that some NGOs had incited thousands of migrants on Lesbos to hold a protest, which ended with police firing tear gas to disperse the people occupying the island capital Mytilini.

The government began transferring refugees from the overcrowded islands to the Greek mainland last year, but an estimated 42,000 people continue to suffer in squalid and unsafe conditions in and around the island camps.

Last week, the Greek government opened a tender for the construction of a floating barrier off Lesbos aimed at deterring migrants from crossing from the Turkish coast, which is about 10-12 kilometers away.

▻https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/22606/greece-tightens-rules-for-refugee-ngos
#ONG #associations #NGOs

New request for state of emergency on #Lesvos, #Chios, #Samos

The regional governor of the Northern Aegean, Kostas Moutzouris submitted a new call on Wednesday to declare a state of emergency on three islands, following two days of protest marches by asylum seekers demanding better living conditions and a quicker asylum procedure, and attacks by extremists in Lesvos.

“The government was wrong to reject our request to declare a state of emergency on Lesvos, Chios and Samos. If the current situation is not an emergency, then what is?” he asked.

“The government is imposing the creation of new migrant camps that will cost hundreds of millions and which, based on simple arithmetics, will not solve any problem – on the contrary, they will deteriorate it,” he added.

On Tuesday, a group of about 250 asylum seekers, mostly Afghan residents of Moria, rallied outside the Municipal Theater in the island’s capital Mytilene demanding “freedom” and shouting, “Lesvos people, we are sorry.” The police intervened to prevent protesters from blocking traffic. One woman was injured in a stampede as demonstrators fled the scene to avoid possible arrest.

On Monday riot police clashed with about 2,000 Afghan asylum seekers who tried to march to Mytilene. Reacting to the incident, residents of the village of Moria Tuesday barged into the Mytilene offices of the General Secretariat for Aegean and Island Policy demanding the closure of Moria, intensified sea patrols, and stricter monitoring of NGOs.

Despite the tension, the government on Tuesday rejected Moutzouris’ request.

Meanwhile, a group of about 20 youths wearing helmets and holding clubs attacked regulars at a bar in Mytilene where students and NGO employees were gathered.

The same group roamed the town of Mytilene after midnight asking locals and foreigners to identify themselves, according to eye witnesses who talked to the police.

Authorities believe the same individuals were in the village of Moria earlier in the afternoon checking if foreigners, asylum seekers or employees in NGOs lived or worked there.

The masked group smashed the car of an Italian national who works for an NGO. Two asylum seekers were passengers when the incident happened.

Police was alerted after the attacks.

▻http://www.ekathimerini.com/249223/article/ekathimerini/news/new-request-for-state-of-emergency-on-lesvos-chios-samos
#état_d'urgence

Crisis in Lesbos as more refugees arrive

Greek island a ‘powder keg ready to explode’ as boat landings lead to tensions with local people.

Greek authorities are struggling to cope with rising tension on islands where pressure from a new influx of refugees and migrants has reached a critical point.

Friction is growing between local people and asylum seekers landing in boats from Turkey. Last week the region’s most senior official likened the situation on Lesbos to a “powder keg ready to explode”. Kostas Moutzouris, governor of the north Aegean, said: “It’s crucial that a state of emergency is called.”

More than 42,000 men, women and children are estimated to be on Lesbos, Samos, Chios, Leros and Kos. Unable to leave because of a containment policy determined by the EU, they are forced to remain on the islands until their asylum requests are processed by a system both understaffed and overstretched.

Aid groups have repeatedly called for the islands to be evacuated. On Friday an estimated 20,000 refugees were on Lesbos, forced to endure the grim reality of Moria, a camp designed to host 3,000 at most.

“They are living in squalid, medieval-like conditions … with barely any access to basic services, including clean and hot water, electricity, sanitation and healthcare,” said Sophie McCann, Médecins Sans Frontières’ advocacy officer. “On a daily basis our medical teams are treating the consequential deterioration of health and wellbeing.”

But she added that the local people had also been given short shrift. “The Lesbos community has been abandoned by its own government for almost five years to deal with the consequences of a failed reception system. Like the refugee community, it is tired.”

As anti-immigrant sentiment has surged, vigilante groups believed to be infiltrated by supporters of the far-right Golden Dawn party have surfaced. On Friday seven men armed with wooden clubs were arrested in the hilltop village of Moria on suspicion of being members of a gang apparently linked to Golden Dawn.

“People have seen their properties destroyed, their sheep and goats have been slaughtered, their homes broken into,” said Nikos Trakellis, a community leader. “A few years back, when there were 5,000 on the island, things seemed bad enough. Now there’s a sense that the situation has really got out of hand.”

NGOs have also been targeted. In recent weeks cars have been vandalised. Foreigners perceived to be helping refugees have spoken of intimidation. Ciaran Carney, a volunteer filmmaker teaching refugees on the island, said: “There was a week when no one [in the NGOs] wanted to leave their flats. It definitely feels like it could explode and that no one knows what will come next.”

▻https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/09/tensions-refugees-and-islanders-crisis-on-lesbos?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_G

Fin février...
Migrations : #affrontements à Lesbos et Chios entre policiers et habitants
►https://seenthis.net/messages/827607

Non solo Lesbos. L’estrema destra sbarca a #Chios

«Questo è solo l’inizio». A Chios non fanno che ripeterlo dopo l’incendio della scorsa notte. Doveva essere pirotecnico lo sbarco dei neonazisti sull’isola di Chios e così è stato, la notte del 3 marzo, intorno alle due, qualcuno ha appiccato il fuoco al deposito di Stay Human Odv, la Onlus che da aprile 2018 dà servizi e beni di prima necessità ai profughi del campo di Vial. A fronte di una capienza di 1.500 persone, il campo ne ospita oltre 6mila. Quattordici bagni in tutto, 7 per sesso. Come quasi tutti gli hotspot greci, sta in mezzo a un uliveto in rovina, per 30 km tutt’intorno il nulla. Gli episodi di autolesionismo e di tentato suicidio non mancano, specie tra i minori non accompagnati.

«Ieri stavamo smistando le scarpe» dice Musli Alievski, il fondatore della Onlus nata nel 2016. È un giovane macedone di origini rom, suo padre, in odore di pulizia etnica, prese la famiglia e scappò in Italia prima della guerra. Dopo la minaccia di Erdogan di «aprire i rubinetti», da circa una settimana sull’isola sono arrivati «quelli di Alba Dorata e i celerini». «Questo era il posto di partenza di tutto, dove portavamo le donazioni, dove prendevamo quello che serviva da portare al centro, sopra c’erano gli appartamenti dei volontari, tutto distrutto». L’incendio è doloso a detta della stessa polizia, che però ora ha altri problemi: gli isolani sono esasperati, la settimana scorsa hanno aggredito i militari che trasportavano i materiali per allestire un altro hotspot, più grande, in vista di un esodo dato ormai per imminente.

Sporgerete denuncia per l’incendio?

Per ora no, il clima è teso e vogliamo evitare ritorsioni e vendette sugli isolani che ci aiutano. In più sull’isola sono arrivati squadroni di celerini e di cosiddetti «volontari a difesa delle isole». Hanno già aggredito la polizia.

Come mai la destra aggredisce la polizia?

Perché a differenza di Lesbo, qui non ci sono grandi Ong. Non c’è Msf, l’Unhcr non opera direttamente, tutto è amministrato dai militari. E il malcontento degli isolani, eccitati dall’arrivo degli squadroni da fuori, si riversa anche su di loro. Ma non mi sento di incolpare la gente di qui, non è che si sono svegliati all’improvviso neonazisti, sono solo esasperati. Il problema è della politica europea, non della popolazione greca.

Perché c’è bisogno di voi volontari?

Tanto per cominciare i migranti non hanno più accesso gratuito alle visite mediche specialistiche. Un bambino iracheno ha scoperto di essere praticamente cieco solo dopo che lo abbiamo fatto visitare da un oculista. I bambini qui hanno tutti i denti neri per carenza di vitamine. Nei centri viene dato cibo precotto scaduto, senza tracciabilità, né lista di ingredienti. La stessa aggressività degli adulti spesso è causata banalmente dall’assenza di vitamine nel loro organismo.

Avete paura?

Più che impauriti dall’aggressione della destra, siamo delusi dalla reazione dell’Europa ai ricatti di Erdogan. L’Europa deve agire non perché impaurita o minacciata, ma perché consapevole che chi sbarca a Lampedusa non sbarca in Italia, chi sbarca a Chios non sbarca in Grecia: sbarca in Europa.

Si parla molto degli scafisti libici, poco di quelli turchi.

Sono criminali quanto i libici. C’è un disegno chiaro: quelli che scappano dal Medio Oriente prima finiscono nelle mani degli imprenditori turchi del tessile, lavorano nelle fabbriche, anche delle catene di abbigliamento low cost, poi raggiungono il distretto di Çeşme. Lì, chi non ha soldi per la traversata, lascia i familiari in pegno ai trafficanti. Una traversata di 15 minuti in motoscafo costa circa 2mila euro, i ricatti durano anni.

E dall’Africa i migranti come finiscono nella rete dei trafficanti turchi?

Gli africani che arrivano in Grecia sono per lo più nigeriani e somali. Quelli che non passano dalla Libia di solito sono quelli con più disponibilità economica. Una volta arrivati in Tunisia, Algeria e Marocco, prendono un visto di 70 euro, poi un volo per Istanbul, si trasferiscono a Çeşme o a Smirne, e da lì partono insieme agli altri che scappano dal Medio Oriente, chi da guerre, chi da persecuzioni. Selezionare i rifugiati, distinguere tra chi ha diritto a migrare e chi no, non può ridursi a una mera questione di leggi.

Come racimolano il denaro necessario?

Spesso dietro la traversata di un giovane c’è l’investimento dell’intero villaggio, una sorta di crowdfunding, si investe sul ragazzo più giovane e robusto, sperando che arrivi, trovi lavoro, e mandi soldi con MoneyGram o Western Union. Come nelle corse dei cavalli, si punta su quello che può farcela.

▻https://ilmanifesto.it/non-solo-lesbo-lestrema-destra-sbarca-a-chios-e-brucia-le-scorte-per-i-r
#extrême_droite

Refugees trapped on Kos: An unspeakable crisis in reception conditions

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Hundreds of refugees are forced to live in boxes made out of cardboard and reed or makeshift sheds inside and outside of the Kos hotspot, in the utmost precarious and unsuitable conditions, without access to adequate medical and legal assistance. Since last April, the Kos hotspot, located on a hill at the village of Pyli, 15km outside of the city, is overcrowded, while the number of transfers of vulnerable refugees from the island to the mainland is significantly lower[1] compared to other islands, therefore creating an unbearable sense of entrapment for the refugees. RSA staff visited the island recently, spoke with refugees[2] living at the hotspot and visited the surrounding area. The images and testimonies cited in this document point out an unspeakable crisis in reception conditions.

A former military camp in the village of Pyli serves as the Kos hotspot, despite intense protests residents; it started operating in March 2016 following the implementation of the toxic EU – Turkey Deal. According to official data, a place designed for a maximum occupancy of 816 people and 116 containers is now accommodating 3.734 people. Given the lack of any other accommodation structure on the island, the above number includes those living in makeshift sheds inside the hotspot as well as in crumbling abandoned buildings and tents outside of it. This severe overcrowding has led the authorities to use the Pre-removal Centre as an area for the stay for asylum-seekers– who are under restriction of their freedom of movement – including vulnerable individuals, women and families.

According to UNHCR, the majority of asylum-seekers come from Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Palestine and Iraq, while children make up for 27% of the entire population. This data points out that, despite the dominant opposite and unfounded rhetoric, most of the newcomers are refugees, coming from countries with high asylum recognition rates.

“We are living like mice”

Two large abandoned buildings stand outside the hotspot; they are accessible only through debris, trash and a “stream” of sewage. RSA met with refugees who live there and who described their wretched living conditions. “Here, we are living like mice. We are looking for cardboard boxes and reeds to make ourselves a place to sleep. At night, there is no electricity. You look for an empty space between others, you lay down and try to sleep”, says an English-speaking man from Cameroon, who has been living in one of these abandoned buildings for two months. It is an open space full of holes in the walls and a weathered roof of rusty iron[3].

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Cardboard rooms

African refugees, men and women have found shelter in this utterly dangerous setting. They have made a slum with big cardboard rooms, one next to the other, where the entrance is not visible. As the refugees sleeping in this area mention, there is cement and plaster falling off of the roof all the time. A vulnerable female refugee from Africa described to us her justified fear that her living conditions expose her to further danger.

“The police told us to go find somewhere to sleep, there is no room at the hotspot. I am scared in here among so many men, because there is no electricity and it gets dark at night. But, what can I do? There was no room for me inside”.

A blanket for each person

The situation for Afghan families living in rooms of the other abandoned building, a few meters away, is similar. “When we take our children to the doctor, he writes prescriptions and tells us to buy them by ourselves. No one has helped us. When we arrived, they gave only one blanket to each one of us. Us women, we don’t even have the basics for personal hygiene”, says a young Afghan who has been living here for a month with her daughter and her husband. “They give us 1.5lt of water every day and pasta or potatoes almost daily”, says a young Afghan.

In that space we met with refugees who complain about snakes getting indoors, where people sleep. Many try to shut the holes in the abandoned buildings to deter serpents from entering and to protect themselves from the cold. “We shut the holes but it is impossible to protect ourselves, this building is falling apart, it is really dangerous”, says a man from Afghanistan.

There are no toilets outside of the hotspot; a cement trough is used as a shower for men, women and children, along with a hose from the fields nearby. There, they collect water in buckets and take it to their sheds. Alongside the road leading to the hotspot, refugees are carrying on their shoulders mattresses they have found in the trash, to put them in their tents and sheds.

According to UNHCR, following a request by the Reception and Identification Authority, 200 tents were donated to the hotspot. This said, the Authorities have yet to find an appropriate space to set them up.

Unbearable conditions inside the hotspot

At the moment, there is not really a “safe zone” for unaccompanied minors, despite the fact that there is a space that was designed for this purpose, as families seem to be living in UNHCR tents in that space. The area is not completely protected and according to reports adults, who use the hygiene facilities, can enter there.

Due to the overcrowding, lodgings have been set up in almost every available space, whereas, according to testimonies, there are serious problems with electricity, water supply, sewage disposal and cleanliness. The refugees mention that there is only one public toilet for those not living in a container, lack of clothing, shoes and hygiene products. Some told us that they left the hotspot because of the conditions there, in search of a living space outside of it. Such is the case of a Syrian refugee with his son, who are sleeping in a small construction near the hotspot entrance. “I found two mattresses in the trash. It was so filthy inside and the smell was so unbearable that I couldn’t stand it. I was suffering of skin problems, both me and the child”, he says. Tens of other refugees are sleeping in parks and streets downtown and depend upon solidarity groups in order to attend to their basic needs.

Several refugees told us that they are in search of ways to work, even for free, in order to be of use. “I want to do something, I can’t just sit around doing nothing, it is driving me crazy. Would you happen to know where I could be of help? They say they don’t need me at the hotspot, is there anything I could do for the town of Kos? Clean, help somehow?”, a young Palestinian asks.

Inadequate access to medical care

Refugees living in the hotspot point out the inadequate or non-existent medical care. “We queue up and, if we manage to get to a doctor, they tell us to drink water, a lot of water, and sometimes they give paracetamol. There is no doctor at night, not even for emergencies. If someone is sick, the police won’t even call an ambulance. Take a taxi, they tell us. The other day, my friend was sick with a high fever, we called a taxi, but because the taxi wouldn’t come to the hotspot entrance, we carried him down the road for the taxi to pick us up”, says a young refugee.

According to reports, at this moment there is only one doctor at the hotspot and only one Arab-speaking interpreter among the National Public Health Organization (NPHO) staff; during the summer, because of the limited NHPO staff, there were serious delays in medical tests and vulnerability screenings. Also, Kos hospital is understaffed, with whatever the consequences might be for the locals and the refugees in need of medical care[4].

Not having a Social Security Number makes things even worse for those in need of medication, as they have to pay the entire price to buy it. The amount of 90 EURO that they receive as asylum-seekers from the cash program (cash card), especially when they have a health issue, is not enough. Such is the testimony of a woman from Africa, living in one of the abandoned buildings outside the hotspot. “It is dangerous here, we are suffering. It is difficult in these conditions, with our health, if you go to the hospital, they won’t give you medication. They will write you a prescription and you will have to buy it with your own money”, she tells us.

Problems with free access to medical care for the thousands of newcomers increased sharply since July 2019 because the Foreigner Health Card system did not work and the Minister of Labor revoked[5] the circular on granting a Social Security Number to asylum-seekers, since the matter has yet to be regulated.

Under these circumstances, survivors of a shipwreck (caused by the Coast Guard ramming a refugee boat near Kos resulting in the death of a 3-year old boy and a man) were transferred last week. According to the press, the 19-year old mother of the child, a few hours after the shipwreck and while still in shock, grave mourning and exhaustion, was transferred to the Reception and Identification Centre in order to be registered.

Repression and police brutality

According to the testimonies of at least four refugees, their protests are mostly dealt with repression, while there are reports on use of police violence in these situations. “Every time there is an issue, we go to the police and tell them do something, you have to protect us. They tell us to go away and if we insist, they start yelling and, if we don’t leave, they beat us”, says a minor Afghan who is living in the hotspot with his family. “If we complain, no one listens to you. It is a waste of time and you risk getting in trouble”, a 41-year old man from Africa, who has been living for the past six months inside the hotspot in a shed made of cardboard boxes, explains to us. ”A month ago, when we had the first rain, people were complaining, but it did nothing other than the riot police coming over”, they are telling us.

Huge delays in the asylum process

Many of those we met have yet to receive the threefold document and still have no access to the cash program. Newcomers have only received their “Restriction of Freedom Decision”, valid for 25 days; several have told us that the information on the asylum process is incomplete and they are having difficulty understanding it. At the end of the 25 days, they usually receive a document titled “Service Note of Release” where there is mention of the geographical restriction on the island of Kos. Lately, a notification for the intention to claim asylum is required.

According to reports, at the moment there is a large number of people whose asylum process has not advanced (backlog). “Some of us have been here for 4-6 months and we haven’t even had a pre-interview[6] or an interview yet”, says a woman from Cameroon who is living in the hotspot.

Arrivals have particularly increased in the past months, while refugees arriving in smaller islands, such as Kalymnos, Symi, are transferred to the Kos and Leros hotspots. According to UNHCR, a recent transfer of refugees from Kos to the mainland took place on 6 October and concerned 16 individuals. [7]. Due to the fact that in Kos the geographic restriction was not usually lifted in the past months, hundreds of people are trapped in these extremely precarious conditions. This appears to be happening because of the delays in the asylum process and the lack of medical staff, resulting to vulnerable individuals not being identified, combined with the lack of available space in the mainland structures and the prioritization of other islands that have hotspots.

In Kos, there is free legal aid by four lawyers in total (a Registry lawyer, Metadrasi, Greek Refugee Council, Arsis), while there is great lack of interpreters both in the hotspot and the local hospital.

Lack of access to education

With regard to the refugees children’s education, evening classes in the Refugee Reception and Education Centres (RREC) have yet to start. According to UNHCR data, more than 438 children of school and pre-school age – aged 5 to 17-years old – are living in the hotspot[8] .

In total, 108 children attend the Centre of non-typical education (KEDU) of Arsis Organization near the hotspot, funded by UNHCR. Any educational activity inside the hotspot, take place as part of an unemployment program by the Manpower Employment Organization. According to reports, the kindergarten providing formal education that operated in the previous two years inside the hotspot under the Ministry of Education is now closed as safety reasons were invoked.

Detention: bad conditions and detention of vulnerable individuals

The Pre-removal Centre next to the hotspot, with a capacity of 474 people, is currently detaining 325 people. According to UNHCR observations, the main nationalities are Iraq, Cameroon, Egypt, Syria and Pakistan.

According to reports, newcomers in nearby islands that are transferred to Kos are also detained there until they submit their asylum claim. Also, people who have violated the geographic restriction are also held there. Among the detainees, there are people who have not been subjected to reception procedures process due to shortcomings of the Reception and Identification Authority[9]. Characteristically, following his visit to Kos in August 2019, Philippe Leclerc, the UNHCR Representative in Greece, reported: “I also visited the pre-removal centre on Kos, which since May 2019 has broadly been used as a place for direct placement in detention, instead of reception, of asylum-seekers, including women and those with specific needs, some of whom without prior and sufficient medical or psychosocial screening, due to lack of enough personnel”.

In the context of the pilot project implemented in Lesvos, even extremely vulnerable individuals are being detained, despite the fact that there is no doctor in the Pre-removal Centre. An African refugee with a serious condition told us “I was in the Pre-removal Centre for three and a half months. I almost collapsed. I showed them a document from my country’s hospital, where my condition is mentioned, I asked them for a doctor, but they brought a nurse. Now I sleep in a room made of cardboard and reed outside of the hotspot”.

According to complaints by at least two people who have been detained at the Pre-removal Centre, the police broke the camera of their mobile phones, that resulted in the phones not functioning and them losing their contacts and the only means of communication with their families. “Inside the Pre-removal Centre we didn’t have access to a doctor nor to medication. There was a nurse, but we were receiving no help. Also, we didn’t have access to a lawyer. When we complained, they transferred us to another wing, but all the wings were in an equally bad condition. Many times those who complained were being taken to the police station”, says a 30-year old man from Gambia.

►https://rsaegean.org/en/refugees-trapped-on-kos

800 migrants arrive in Greece within 48 hours, living conditions described as ’horrible’

Migrant arrivals to Greece continue unabated: Nearly 800 migrants crossed from Turkey to Greece in just 48 hours this week, marking the highest pace of arrivals in 40 months. The Council of Europe during a visit to migrant camps on the Greek islands warned of an explosive situation and described living conditions there as ’horrible.’

On Wednesday, the Greek coastguard registered the arrival of 790 migrants in just 48 hours. As state media reported, the migrants arrived by land and by sea on boats at Alexandropouli on the mainland and the islands of Samos and Farmakonisi.

The country has not seen this many arrivals of migrants via sea since the EU-Turkey deal came into effect in March 2016. The number of migrants arriving in Greece in the first ten months of this year has already overshot last year’s figure of around 50,500.

According to the latest UNHCR figures, 55,348 migrants have arrived, 43,683 of them by sea, between the start of 2019 and Sunday.

Dramatic situation

The surge has led to dramatic overcrowding in camps on the Greek Aegean islands, where the migrant population has more than doubled over the past six months, according to the German press agency dpa. Even before, the camps were packed at more than twice their capacity. Outbreaks of violence and fires at the EU-funded island camps have further escalated the situation.

During a visit to Greek island camps on Wednesday, Dunja Mijatovic, the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, said she had witnessed people queuing for food or to use a bathroom for more than three hours at refugee camps for asylum seekers on the Greek islands of Lesbos, Samos and Corinth.

“The people I have met are living in horrible conditions and in an unbearable limbo,” she said at a news briefing on Thursday; adding the migrants were struggling to cope with overcrowding, lack of shelter, poor hygiene conditions and substandard access to medical care.

“I saw children with skin diseases not treated. I heard about no medications or drugs at all available to these people. No access to health, no proper access to health and many other things that are really quite shocking for Europe in the 21st century,” Mijatovic continued.

Relocation

To ease the overcrowding, the Greek government has already started relocating people to the mainland. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced that 20,000 migrants would be moved by the end of the year. With the current resurgence of arrivals, however, decongestion is not in sight. Mijatovic urged the authorities to transfer asylum seekers from islands to the mainland as soon as possible. “It is an explosive situation”, she said. “This no longer has anything to do with the reception of asylum-seekers,” she said. “This has become a struggle for survival,” she concluded at the end of her visit.

▻https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/20526/800-migrants-arrive-in-greece-within-48-hours-living-conditions-descri

Sur l’île de #Samos, une poudrière pour des milliers d’exilés confinés à l’entrée de l’UE

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Avec 6 000 migrants pour 650 places, le camp grec de Samos est une poudrière ravagée par un incendie à la mi-octobre. Alors que la Grèce redevient la première porte d’entrée dans l’UE, autorités comme réfugiés alertent sur la catastrophe en cours. Reportage sur cette île, symptôme de la crise européenne de l’accueil.

La ligne d’horizon se fond dans le ciel d’encre de Samos. L’île grecque des confins de l’Europe est isolée dans la nuit d’automne. Sur le flanc de la montagne qui surplombe la ville côtière de Vathy, des lumières blanches et orange illuminent un amas de blocs blancs d’où s’élèvent des voix. Elles résonnent loin dans les hauteurs de cyprès et d’oliviers, où s’égarent des centaines de tentes. Ces voix sont celles d’Afghans et de Syriens en majorité, d’Irakiens, de Camerounais, de Congolais, de Ghanéens… Pour moitié d’entre eux, ce sont des femmes et des enfants. Un monde au-dehors qui peine à s’endormir malgré l’heure tardive.

À deux kilomètres des côtes turques, l’île de Samos (Grèce) est rejointe en Zodiac par les exilés. © Dessin Elisa Perrigueur

Ils sont 6 000 à se serrer dans les conteneurs prévus pour 648 personnes, et la « jungle » alentour, dit-on ici. Ce camp est devenu une ville dans la ville. On y compte autant de migrants que d’habitants. « Samos est un petit paradis avec ce point cauchemardesque au milieu », résume Mohammed, Afghan qui foule ces pentes depuis un an. Les exilés sont arrivés illégalement au fil des mois en Zodiac, depuis la Turquie, à deux kilomètres. Surpeuplé, Vathy continue de se remplir de nouveaux venus débarqués avec des rêves d’Europe, peu à peu gagnés par la désillusion.

À l’origine lieu de transit, le camp fut transformé en 2016 en « hotspot », l’un des cinq centres d’identification des îles Égéennes gérés par l’État grec et l’UE. Les migrants, invisibles sur le reste de l’île de Samos, sont désormais tous bloqués là le temps de leur demande d’asile, faute de places d’hébergement sur le continent grec, où le dispositif est débordé par 73 000 requêtes. Ils attendent leur premier entretien, parfois calé en 2022, coincés sur ce bout de terre de 35 000 habitants.

Naveed Majedi, Afghan de 27 ans rencontré à Vathy. © Elisa Perrigueur
Naveed Majedi, un Afghan de 27 ans, physique menu et yeux verts, évoque la sensation d’être enlisé dans un « piège » depuis sept mois qu’il s’est enregistré ici. « On est bloqués au milieu de l’eau. Je ne peux pas repartir en Afghanistan, avec les retours volontaires [proposés par l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations de l’ONU – ndlr], c’est trop dangereux pour ma vie », déplore l’ancien traducteur pour la Force internationale d’assistance à la sécurité à Kaboul.

Le camp implose, les « habitations » se négocient au noir. Naveed a payé sa tente 150 euros à un autre migrant en partance. Il peste contre « ces tranchées de déchets, ces toilettes peu nombreuses et immondes. La nourriture mauvaise et insuffisante ». Le jeune homme prend des photos en rafale, les partage avec ses proches pour montrer sa condition « inhumaine », dit-il. De même que l’organisation Médecins sans frontières (MSF) alerte : « On compte aujourd’hui le plus grand nombre de personnes dans le camp depuis 2016. La situation se détériore très vite. Le lieu est dangereux pour la santé physique et mentale. »

Il n’existe qu’une échappatoire : un transfert pour Athènes en ferry avec un relogement à la clef, conditionné à l’obtention d’une « carte ouverte » (en fonction des disponibilités, de la nationalité, etc.). Depuis l’arrivée en juillet d’un premier ministre de droite, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, celles-ci sont octroyées en petit nombre.

Se rêvant dans le prochain bateau, Naveed scrute avec obsession les rumeurs de transferts sur Facebook. « Il y a des nationalités prioritaires, comme les Syriens », croit-il. Les tensions entre communautés marquent le camp, qui s’est naturellement divisé par pays d’origine. « Il y a constamment des rixes, surtout entre des Afghans et des Syriens, admet Naveed. Les Africains souvent ne s’en mêlent pas. Nous, les Afghans, sommes mal perçus à cause de certains qui sont agressifs, on nous met dans le même sac. » Querelles politiques à propos du conflit syrien, embrouilles dans les files d’attente de repas, promiscuité trop intense… Nul ne sait précisément ce qui entraîne les flambées de colère. La dernière, sanglante, a traumatisé Samos.

Le camp était une poudrière, alertaient ces derniers mois les acteurs de l’île dans l’indifférence. Le 14 octobre, Vathy a explosé. Dans la soirée, deux jeunes exilés ont été poignardés dans le centre-ville, vengeance d’une précédente rixe entre Syriens et Afghans au motif inconnu. En représailles, un incendie volontaire a ravagé 700 « habitations » du camp. L’état d’urgence a été déclaré. Les écoles ont fermé. Des centaines de migrants ont déserté le camp.

L’Afghan Abdul Fatah, 43 ans, sa femme de 34 ans et leurs sept enfants ont quitté « par peur » leur conteneur pour dormir sur la promenade du front de mer. Les manifestations de migrants se sont multipliées devant les bureaux de l’asile. Des policiers sont arrivés en renfort et de nouvelles évacuations de migrants vers Athènes ont été programmées.

Dans l’attente de ces transferts qui ne viennent pas, les migrants s’échappent quand ils le peuvent du camp infernal. Le jour, ils errent entre les maisons pâles du petit centre-ville, déambulent sur la baie, patientent dans les squares publics.

« Nous ne sommes pas acceptés par tous. Un jour, j’ai voulu commander à dîner dans une taverne. La femme m’a répondu que je pouvais seulement prendre à emporter », relate Naveed, assis sur une place où trône le noble Lion de Samos. Un homme du camp à l’air triste sirote à côté une canette de bière. Une famille de réfugiés sort d’un supermarché les bras chargés : ils viennent de dépenser les 90 euros mensuels donnés par le Haut-Commissariat pour les réfugiés (HCR) dans l’échoppe où se mêlent les langues grecque, dari, arabe et français.

D’autres migrants entament une longue marche vers les hauteurs de l’île. Ils se rendent à l’autre point de convergence des réfugiés : l’hôpital de Samos. Situé entre les villas silencieuses, l’établissement est pris d’assaut. Chaque jour entre 100 et 150 demandeurs s’y pressent espérant rencontrer un docteur, de ceux qui peuvent rédiger un rapport aidant à l’octroi d’un statut de « vulnérabilité » permettant d’obtenir plus facilement une « carte ouverte ».

Samuel et Alice, un couple de Ghanéens ont mis des semaines à obtenir un rendez-vous avec le gynécologue de l’hôpital. © Elisa Perrigueur

La « vulnérabilité » est théoriquement octroyée aux femmes enceintes, aux personnes atteintes de maladies graves, de problèmes psychiques. Le panel est flou, il y a des failles. Tous le savent, rappelle le Dr Fabio Giardina, le responsable des médecins. Certains exilés désespérés tentent de simuler des pathologies pour partir. « Un jour, on a transféré plusieurs personnes pour des cas de tuberculose ; les jours suivants, d’autres sont venues ici, nombreuses, en prétextant des symptômes, relate le médecin stoïque. On a également eu beaucoup de cas de simulations d’épilepsie. C’est très fatigant pour les médecins, stressés, qui perdent du temps et de l’argent pour traiter au détriment des vrais malades. Avec la nouvelle loi en préparation, plus sévère, ce système pourrait changer. »

En neuf mois, l’établissement de 123 lits a comptabilisé quelque 12 000 consultations ambulatoires. Les pathologies graves constatées : quelques cas de tuberculose et de VIH. L’unique psychiatre a démissionné il y a quelques mois. Depuis un an et demi, deux postes de pédiatres sont vacants. « Le camp est une bombe à retardement, lâche le Dr Fabio Giardina. Si la population continue d’augmenter, on franchira la ligne rouge. »

Dans le couloir où résonnent les plaintes, Samuel Kwabena Opoku, Ghanéen de 42 ans, est venu pour sa femme Alice enceinte de huit mois. Ils ont mis longtemps à obtenir ce rendez-vous, qui doit être pris avec le médecin du camp. « Nous, les Noirs, passons toujours au dernier plan, accuse-t-il. Une policière m’a lancé un jour : vous, les Africains [souvent venus de l’ouest du continent – ndlr], vous êtes des migrants économiques, vous n’avez rien à faire là. » Ils sont les plus nombreux parmi les déboutés.
Le maire : « L’Europe doit nous aider »

Samuel, lui, raconte être « menacé de mort au Ghana. Je devais reprendre la place de mon père, chef de tribu important. Pour cela, je devais sacrifier le premier de mes fils, eu avec mon autre femme. J’ai refusé ce crime rituel ». Son avocate française a déposé pour le couple une requête d’urgence, acceptée, devant la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme. Arrivés à Samos en août, Samuel et Alice ont vu le gynécologue, débordé, en octobre pour la première fois. L’hôpital a enregistré 213 naissances sur l’île en 2019, dont 88 parmi la population migrante.

Des ONG internationales suisses, françaises, allemandes sillonnent l’institution, aident aux traductions, mais ne sont qu’une quinzaine sur l’île. « Nous sommes déconnectées des autorités locales qui communiquent peu et sommes sans arrêt contrôlées, déplore Domitille Nicolet, de l’association Avocats sans frontières. Une situation que nous voulons dénoncer mais peu de médias s’intéressent à ce qui se passe ici. »

Une partie de la « jungle » du camp de Vathy, non accessible aux journalistes ni aux ONG. © Elisa Perrigueur

Chryssa Solomonidou, habitante de l’île depuis 1986 qui donne des cours de grec aux exilés, est en lien avec ces groupes humanitaires souvent arrivés ces dernières années. « Les migrants et ONG ont rajeuni la ville, les 15-35 ans étaient partis à cause de la crise », relate-t-elle. Se tenant droite dans son chemisier colorée au comptoir d’un bar cossu, elle remarque des policiers anti-émeute attablés devant leurs cafés frappés. Eux aussi sont les nouveaux visages de cette ville « où tout le monde se connaissait », souligne Chryssa Solomonidou. En grand nombre, ils remplissent tous les hôtels aux façades en travaux après une saison estivale.

« J’ai le cœur toujours serré devant cette situation de misère où ces gens vivent dehors et nous dans nos maisons. C’est devenu ici le premier sujet de conversation », angoisse Chryssa. Cette maman a assisté, désemparée, à la rapide montée des ressentiments, de l’apparition de deux univers étrangers qui se croisent sans se parler. « Il y a des rumeurs sur les agressions, les maladies, etc. Une commerçante vendait des tee-shirts en promotion pour 20 euros. À trois hommes noirs qui sont arrivés, elle a menti : “Désolée, on ferme.” Elle ne voulait pas qu’ils les essayent par peur des microbes », se souvient Chryssa.

Il y a aussi eu cette professeure, ajoute-t-elle, « poursuivie en justice par des parents d’élèves » parce qu’elle voulait faire venir des migrants dans sa classe, ce que ces derniers refusaient. L’enseignante s’est retrouvée au tribunal pour avoir appelé les enfants à ignorer « la xénophobie » de leurs aînés. « Ce n’est pas aux migrants qu’il faut en vouloir, mais aux autorités, à l’Europe, qui nous a oubliés », déplore Chryssa.

« L’UE doit nous aider, nous devons rouvrir les frontières [européennes – ndlr] comme en 2015 et répartir les réfugiés », prône Giorgos Stantzos, le nouveau maire de Vathy (sans étiquette). Mais le gouvernement de Mitsotakis prépare une nouvelle loi sur l’immigration et a annoncé des mesures plus sévères que son prédécesseur de gauche Syriza, comme le renvoi de 10 000 migrants en Turquie.

Des centaines de migrants ont embarqué sur un ferry le 21 octobre, direction Athènes. © Elisa Perrigueur

Les termes de l’accord controversé signé en mars 2016 entre Ankara et l’UE ne s’appliquent pas dans les faits. Alors que les arrivées en Grèce se poursuivent, la Turquie affirme que seuls 3 des 6 milliards d’euros dus par l’Europe en échange de la limitation des départs illégaux de ses côtes auraient été versés. Le président turc Erdogan a de nouveau menacé au cours d’un discours le 24 octobre « d’envoyer 3,6 millions de migrants en Europe » si celle-ci essayait « de présenter [son] opération [offensive contre les Kurdes en Syrie – ndlr] comme une invasion ».

À Samos, où les avions militaires turcs fendent régulièrement le ciel, ce chantage résonne plus qu’ailleurs. « Le moment est très critique. Le problème, ce n’est pas l’arrivée des familles qui sont réfugiées et n’ont pas le choix, mais les hommes seuls. Il n’y a pas de problèmes avec les habitants mais entre eux », estime la municipalité. Celle-ci « n’intervient pas dans le camp, nous ne logeons pas les réfugiés même après les incendies, ce n’est pas notre job ».

L’édile Giorgos Stantzos multiplie les déclarations sur Samos, trop éclipsée médiatiquement, selon les locaux, par la médiatisation, légitime, de l’île de Lesbos et de son camp bondé, avec 13 000 migrants. Au cours d’un rassemblement appelé le 21 octobre, Giorgos Stantzos a pris la parole avec les popes sur le parvis de la mairie de Samos. « Nous sommes trop d’êtres humains ici […], notre santé publique est en danger », a-t-il martelé sous les applaudissements de quelques milliers d’habitants.

La municipalité attend toujours la « solution d’urgence » proposée par l’État grec et l’UE. Bientôt, un nouveau camp devrait naître, loin des villes et des regards. Un mastodonte de 300 conteneurs, d’une capacité de 1 000 à 1 500 places, cernés de grillages de l’OTAN, avec « toutes les facilités à l’intérieur : médecins, supermarchés, électricité, etc. », décrypte une source gouvernementale. Les conteneurs doivent être livrés mi-novembre et le camp devrait être effectif à la fin de l’année. « Et le gouvernement nous a assuré qu’il organiserait des transferts de migrants vers le continent toutes les semaines d’ici la fin novembre pour désengorger Samos », précise le maire Giorgos Stantzos.

Sur les quais du port, le soir du 21 octobre, près de 700 Afghans, Syriens, Camerounais, Irakiens… ont souri dans le noir à l’arrivée du ferry de l’État aux lumières aveuglantes. Après s’y être engouffrés sans regret, ils ont fait escale au port du Pirée et voulu rejoindre des hébergements réquisitionnés aux quatre coins du continent. Quelque 380 passagers de ce convoi ont été conduits en bus dans le nord de la Grèce. Eux qui espéraient tant de cette nouvelle étape ont dû faire demi-tour sous les huées de villageois grecs : « Fermez les frontières », « Chassez les clandestins ».

Boîte noire :

L’actuel camp de conteneurs de Vathy, entouré de barbelés, n’est accessible qu’avec l’autorisation du gouvernement, et il est donc uniquement possible de se rendre dans la « jungle » de tentes alentour.

Dès le 10 octobre, nous avons formulé des demandes d’interviews avec le secrétaire de la politique migratoire, Giorgos Koumoutsakos (ou un représentant de son cabinet), la responsable du « hotspot » de Samos et/ou un représentant de l’EASO, bureau européen de l’asile. Le 15 octobre, nous avons reçu une réponse négative, après les « graves incidents » de la veille. Nous avons réitéré cette demande les 20 et 23 octobre, au cours de notre reportage à Samos. Avec un nouveau refus des autorités grecques à la clef, qui évoquent une « situation trop tendue » sur les îles.

▻https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/311019/sur-l-ile-de-samos-une-poudriere-pour-des-milliers-d-exiles-confines-l-ent

Διαμαρτυρία εκατοντάδων ανηλίκων για τις απάνθρωπες συνθήκες διαβίωσης στη Μόρια

Ένταση επικράτησε το μεσημέρι της Τετάρτης στο Κέντρο Υποδοχής και Ταυτοποίησης Προσφύγων στην Μόρια, καθώς περίπου 300 ανήλικοι πρόσφυγες και μετανάστες διαμαρτυρήθηκαν για τις απάνθρωπες συνθήκες διαβίωσης στο κέντρο, που έχουν γίνει ακόμα χειρότερες τις τελευταίες μέρες λόγω της άφιξης εκατοντάδων νέων ανθρώπων.

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Όπως αναφέρουν πληροφορίες της ιστοσελίδας stonisi.gr, περίπου 300 ανήλικοι πρόσφυγες και μετανάστες προχώρησαν σε συγκέντρωση διαμαρτυρίας έξω από το κέντρο της Μόριας, θέλοντας να διαμαρτυρηθούν για τις απάνθρωπες συνθήκες διαβίωσης.

Οι ίδιες πληροφορίες αναφέρουν ότι πάρθηκε απόφαση να εκκενωθεί η πτέρυγα των ανηλίκων ενώ έγινε και περιορισμένη χρήση χημικών από την αστυνομία. Σημειώνεται ότι τη Δευτέρα έφτασαν στο νησί εκατοντάδες άνθρωποι, που πλέον κατευθύνθηκαν σε δομές της Βόρειας Ελλάδας, όπου είναι ήδη αδύνατη η στέγαση περισσότερων ανθρώπων.

▻https://thepressproject.gr/diamartyria-ekatontadon-anilikon-gia-tis-apanthropes-synthikes-diavi

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Avec ce commentaire de Vicky Skoumbi (05.09.2019) :

Des centaines de mineurs protestent contre les conditions de vie inhumaines en Moria
La tension a monté d’un cran mercredi à midi au centre de réception et d’identification des réfugiés de Moria. Environ 300 réfugiés et immigrants ont protesté contre les conditions de vie inhumaines dans le centre, qui se sont encore aggravées ces derniers jours avec l’arrivée de centaines de personnes.

Selon des informations du site Internet stonisi.gr , quelque 300 réfugiés et migrants mineurs se sont rassemblés hors du centre de la Moria, dans le but de protester contre ces conditions de vie inhumaines.

La même source d’’information indique qu’une décision a été prise d’évacuer l’aile des mineurs tandis que la police a fait un usage moderé de gaz chimiques. Il est à noter que lundi, des centaines de personnes sont arrivées sur l’île, se dirigeant maintenant vers des structures situées dans le nord de la Grèce, où il est déjà impossible d’accueillir plus de personnes.

Ajouté à la métaliste : ►https://seenthis.net/messages/804316

Grèce : Plus de 1 000 migrants transférés de l’île de Lesbos vers le continent

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Un premier groupe de 600 migrants ont été transférés lundi matin du camp de Moria, à Lesbos, vers le continent. Un deuxième contingent de 700 personnes devraient aussi être acheminé vers le continent grec dans l’après-midi. Ce week-end, le gouvernement avait annoncé une série de mesure pour faire face à l’afflux de migrants, notamment le transfert rapide des mineurs non accompagnés et des personnes les plus vulnérables des îles vers le continent.

Les premières évacuations de l’île grecque de Lesbos vers le continent ont débuté lundi 2 septembre. Un premier contingent de 600 migrants installés dans le camp saturé de Moria ont été évacués lundi matin.

Six cent trente-cinq Afghans, transportant des bagages encombrants, se sont précipités pour monter dans les bus de la police, sous la supervision du Haut-commissariat des Nations unies aux réfugiés (#HCR).

Dans la cohue générale, ils ont ensuite embarqué sur le navire « Caldera Vista » vers le port de Thessalonique, où ils doivent être acheminés vers le camp de réfugiés de Nea Kavala, dans la ville de Kilkis situé dans le nord de la Grèce.

Un autre groupe de 700 migrants devaient également être transférés dans l’après-midi vers le même lieu, dans le cadre de la décision du gouvernement grec de désengorger le camp de Moria.

« 3 000 arrivées rien qu’au mois d’août »

Samedi 31 août, le gouvernement grec a annoncé une série de mesure pour faire face à l’afflux de migrants, notamment le transfert rapide des mineurs non accompagnés et des personnes les plus vulnérables des îles vers le continent mais aussi la suppression des procédure d’appels aux demandes d’asile pour faciliter les retours des réfugiés en Turquie.

Le camp de Moria, centre d’enregistrement et d’identification de Lesbos, héberge déjà près de 11 000 personnes, soit quatre fois la capacité évaluée par le HCR.

Le nombre de migrants n’a cessé de grossir cet été. L’agence onusienne parle de « plus de 3 000 arrivées rien qu’au mois d’août ». Jeudi soir, 13 bateaux sont arrivés à Lesbos avec plus de 540 personnes dont 240 enfants, une hausse sans précédent qui inquiète le gouvernement conservateur arrivé au pouvoir le 7 juillet dernier.

Ce week-end, 280 autres migrants sont arrivés en Grèce, souvent interceptés en pleine mer par les garde-côtes de l’Union européenne et de la Grèce.

Sur la côte nord de l’île où les canots pneumatiques chargés de migrants débarquent le plus souvent, la surveillance a été renforcée dimanche. Une équipe de l’AFP a pu constater les allers et venues des patrouilleurs en mer, et la vigilance accrue des policiers sur les rives grecques.
Depuis l’accord UE-Turquie signé en mars 2016, le contrôle aux frontières a été renforcé, rendant l’accès à l’île depuis la Turquie de plus en plus difficile. Mais, ces derniers mois près de 100 personnes en moyenne parviennent chaque jour à effectuer cette traversée.

▻https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/19227/grece-plus-de-1-000-migrants-transferes-de-l-ile-de-lesbos-vers-le-con

Message de Vicky Skoumbi reçu via la mailing-list de Migreurop, 03.09.2019:

Des scènes qui rappellent l’été 2015 se passent actuellement à Lesbos.

Le nombre particulièrement élevé d’arrivées récentes à Lesbos (Grèce) – plus que 3.600 pour le seul mois d’août- a obligé le nouveau gouvernement de transférer 1.300 personnes vulnérables vers le continent et notamment vers la commune Nouvelle Kavalla à Kilkis, au nord-ouest du pays. Il s’agit juste d’un tiers de réfugiés reconnus comme vulnérables qui restent bloqués dans l’île, malgré la levée de leur confinement géographique. Jusqu’à ce jour le gouvernement Mitsotakis avait bloqué tout transfert vers le continent, même au moment où la population de Moria avait dépassé les 10.000 dont 4.000 étaient obligés de vivre en dehors du camp, dans des abris de fortune sur les champs d’alentours. Le service médical à Moria y est désormais quasi-inexistant, dans la mesure où des 40 médecins qui y travaillaient, il ne reste actuellement que deux qui ne peuvent s’occuper que des urgences – et encore-, tandis qu’il n’y a plus aucune ambulance disponible sur place. Ceci a comme résultant que les personnes qui arrivent ne passent plus de contrôle médical avec tous les risques sanitaires que cela puisse créer dans un camp si surpeuplé.

Le nouveau président de la Région de l’Egée du Nord, M. Costas Moutzouris, de droite sans affiliation, avait déclaré que toutes les régions de la Grèce doivent partager le ‘fardeau’, car « les îles ne doivent pas subir une déformation, une altération raciale, religieuse, et ethnique ».

Source (en grec) Efimerida tôn Syntaktôn (▻https://www.efsyn.gr/ellada/dikaiomata/209204_sti-moria-kai-sti-sykamnia-i-lesbos-anastenazei)

C’est sans doute l’arrivée de 13 bateaux avec 550 personnes à Sykamia (Lesbos) samedi dernier, qui a obligé le gouvernement de céder et d’organiser un convoi vers le continent. Mais l’endroit choisi pour l’installation de personnes transférées est un campement déjà surchargé – pour une capacité d’accueil de 700 personnes, 924 y sont installés dans de containers et 450 dans des tentes. Avec l’arrivée de 1.300 de plus ni le réseau d’eau potable, ni les deux générateurs électriques ne sauraient tenir. La situation risque de devenir totalement chaotique, d’autant plus que le centre d’accueil en question est géré sans aucune structure administrative par une ONG, le Conseil danois pour les Réfugiés. En même temps, l’endroit est exposé aux vents et les tentes qui y sont montés pour les nouveaux arrivants risquent de s’envoler à la première rafale. D’après le quotidien grec Efimerida tôn Syntktôn (▻https://www.efsyn.gr/ellada/dikaiomata/209222_giati-i-boreia-ellada-kathistatai-afiloxeni-sto-neo-kyma-prosfygon) toutes les structures du Nord de la Grèce ont déjà dépassé la limite de leurs capacités d’accueil.

Greece to increase border patrols and deportations to curb migrant influx

Greece is to step up border patrols, move asylum-seekers from its islands to the mainland and speed up deportations in an effort to deal with a resurgence in migrant flows from neighboring Turkey.

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

The government’s Council for Foreign Affairs and Defence convened on Saturday for an emergency session after the arrival on Thursday of more than a dozen migrant boats carrying around 600 people, the first simultaneous arrival of its kind in three years.

The increase in arrivals has piled additional pressure on Greece’s overcrowded island camps, all of which are operating at least twice their capacity.

Arrivals - mostly of Afghan families - have picked up over the summer, and August saw the highest number of monthly landings in three years.

Greece’s Moria camp on the island of Lesbos - a sprawling facility where conditions have been described by aid organizations as inhumane - is also holding the largest number of people since the deal was agreed.

On Saturday, the government said it would move asylum-seekers to mainland facilities, increase border surveillance together with the European Union’s border patrol agency Frontex and NATO, and boost police patrols across Greece to identify rejected asylum seekers who have remained in the country.

It also plans to cut back a lengthy asylum process, which can take several months to conclude, by abolishing the second stage of appeals when an application is rejected, and deporting the applicant either to Turkey or to their country of origin.

“The asylum process in our country was the longest, the most time consuming and, in the end, the most ineffective in Europe,” Greece’s deputy citizen protection minister responsible for migration policy, Giorgos Koumoutsakos, told state television.

Responding to criticism from the opposition that the move was unfair and unlawful, Koumoutsakos said:

“Asylum must move quickly so that those who are entitled to international protection are vindicated ... and for us to know who should not stay in Greece.”

The government was “determined to push ahead with a robust returns policy because that is what the law and the country’s best interest impose, in accordance with human rights,” he said.

Greece was the main gateway to northern Europe in 2015 for nearly a million migrants and refugees from war-torn and poverty-stricken countries in the Middle East and Africa.

A deal between the EU and Turkey in March 2016 reduced the influx to a trickle, but closures of borders across the Balkans resulted in tens of thousands of people stranded in Greece.

Humanitarian organizations have criticized Greece for not doing enough to improve living conditions at its camps, which they have described as “shameful”.

▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-greece/greece-to-increase-border-patrols-and-deportations-to-curb-migrant-influx-i

Grèce : les migrants de Lesbos désemparés dans leur nouveau camp

https://img.aws.la-croix.com/2019/09/04/1301045157/migrant-passe-devant-telephones-publics-Nea-Kavala-Grece-3-septembre-2019_0_729_486.jpg

« Nous avons quitté Moria en espérant quelque chose de mieux et finalement, c’est pire » : Sazan, un Afghan de 20 ans, vient d’être transféré, avec mille compatriotes, de l’île grecque de Lesbos saturée, dans le camp de #Nea_Kavala, dans le nord de la Grèce.

Après six mois dans « l’enfer » de Moria sur l’île de Lesbos, Sazan se sent désemparé à son arrivée à Nea Kavala, où il constate « la difficulté d’accès à l’eau courante et à l’électricité ».

A côté de lui, Mohamed Nour, 28 ans, entouré de ses trois enfants, creuse la terre devant sa tente de fortune pour fabriquer une rigole « pour protéger la famille en cas de pluie ».

Mille réfugiés et migrants sont installés dans 200 tentes, les autres seront transférés « dans d’autres camps dans le nord du pays », a indiqué une source du ministère de la Protection du citoyen, sans plus de détails.

L’arrivée massive de centaines de migrants et réfugiés la semaine dernière à Lesbos, principale porte d’entrée migratoire en Europe, a pris de court les autorités grecques, qui ont décidé leur transfert sur des camps du continent.

https://img.aws.la-croix.com/2019/09/04/1301045157/Nea-Kavala-Grece-Quelque-1-400-refugies-debarque-2-3-septembre-2019-Thessaloniqueetre-masses-capacite-peine-700-personnes_1_729_486.jpg

Car le camp de Moria, le principal de Lesbos, l’un des plus importants et insalubres d’Europe, a dépassé de quatre fois sa capacité ces derniers mois.

En juillet seulement, plus de 5.520 personnes ont débarqué à Lesbos - un record depuis le début de l’année - auxquelles se sont ajoutés 3.250 migrants au cours de quinze premiers jours d’août, selon l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM).

– Tensions à Moria -

Quelque 300 mineurs non accompagnés ont protesté mercredi contre leurs conditions de vie dans le camp de Moria et demandé leur transfert immédiat à Athènes. De jeunes réfugiés ont mis le feu à des poubelles et la police a dispersé la foule avec des gaz lacrymogènes, a rapporté l’agence de presse grecque ANA.

« Nous pensions que Moria était la pire chose qui pourrait nous arriver », explique Mohamed, qui s’efforce d’installer sa famille sous une tente de Nea Kavala.

« On nous a dit que notre séjour serait temporaire mais nous y sommes déjà depuis deux jours et les conditions ne sont pas bonnes, j’espère partir d’ici très vite », assène-t-il.

Des équipes du camp œuvrent depuis lundi à installer des tentes supplémentaires, mais les toilettes et les infrastructures d’hygiène ne suffisent pas.

https://img.aws.la-croix.com/2019/09/04/1301045157/enfants-jouent-migrants-Nea-Kavala-Grece-3-septembre-2019_2_729_486.jpg

Le ministère a promis qu’avant la fin du mois, les migrants seraient transférés dans d’autres camps.

Mais Tamim, 15 ans, séjourne à Nea Kavala depuis trois mois : « On nous a dit la même chose (que nous serions transférés) quand nous sommes arrivés (...). A Moria, c’était mieux, au moins on avait des cours d’anglais, ici on ne fait rien », confie-t-il à l’AFP.

Pour Angelos, 35 ans, employé du camp, « il faut plus de médecins et des infrastructures pour répondre aux besoins de centaines d’enfants ».

– « Garder espoir » -

Plus de 70.000 migrants et réfugiés sont actuellement bloqués en Grèce depuis la fermeture des frontières en Europe après la déclaration UE-Turquie de mars 2016 destinée à freiner la route migratoire vers les îles grecques.

Le Premier ministre de droite Kyriakos Mitsotakis, élu début juillet, a supprimé le ministère de la Politique migratoire, créé lors de la crise migratoire de 2015, et ce dossier est désormais confié au ministère de la Protection du citoyen.

Face à la recrudescence des arrivées en Grèce via les frontières terrestre et maritime gréco-turques depuis janvier 2019, le gouvernement a annoncé samedi un train de mesures allant du renforcement du contrôle des frontières et des sans-papiers à la suppression du droit d’appel pour les demandes d’asile rejetées en première instance.

Des ONG de défense des réfugiés ont critiqué ces mesures, dénonçant « le durcissement » de la politique migratoire.

La majorité des migrants arrivés en Grèce espère, comme destination « finale », un pays d’Europe centrale ou occidentale.

« Je suis avec ma famille ici, nous souhaitons aller vivre en Autriche », confirme Korban, 19 ans, arrivé mardi à Nea Kavala.

« A Moria, les rixes et la bousculade étaient quotidiennes, c’était l’enfer. La seule chose qui nous reste maintenant, c’est d’être patients et de garder espoir », confie-t-il.

▻https://www.la-croix.com/Monde/Migrants-transferes-Grece-Ici-pire-Lesbos-2019-09-04-1301045157

Cet article du HCR, m’a fait pensé à la #forme_camps telle qu’elle est illustrée dans l’article... j’ai partagé cette réflexion avec mes collègues du comité scientifique du Centre du patrimoine arménien de Valence.

Je la reproduis ici :

Je vous avais parlé du film documentaire « #Refugistan » (►https://seenthis.net/messages/502311), que beaucoup d’entre vous ont vu.

Je vous disais, lors de la dernière réunion, qu’une des choses qui m’avait le plus frappé dans ce film, c’est ce rapprochement géographique du « camp de réfugié tel que l’on se l’imagine avec des #tentes blanches avec estampillons HCR »... cet #idéal-type de #camp on le voit dans le film avant tout en Afrique centrale, puis dans les pays d’Afrique du Nord et puis, à la fin... en Macédoine. Chez nous, donc.

J’ai repensé à cela, ce matin, en voyant cette triste nouvelle annoncée par le HCR du décès d’un jeune dans le camps de Moria à Lesbos suite à une bagarre entre jeunes qui a lieu dans le camp.

Regardez l’image qui accompagne l’article :

https://i.imgur.com/AoG3qPp.png

Des tentes blanches avec l’estampillons « UNHCR »... en Grèce, encore plus proche, en Grèce, pays de l’Union européenne...

Des pensées... que je voulais partager avec vous.

#altérité #cpa_camps #altérisation

ping @reka @isskein @karine4

Greek refugee camp unable to house new arrivals

http://www.ekathimerini.com/resources/2019-09/moria_web--3-thumb-large.jpg

Authorities on the Greek island of Lesvos say they can’t house more newly arrived migrants at a perpetually overcrowded refugee camp that now is 400 percent overcapacity.

Two officials told AP the Moria camp has a population of 12,000 and no way to accommodate additional occupants.

The officials say newcomers are sleeping in the open or in tents outside the camp, which was built to hold 3,000 refugees.

Some were taken to a small transit camp run by the United Nations’ refugee agency on the north coast of Lesvos.

The island authorities said at least 410 migrants coming in boats from Turkey reached Lesvos on Friday.

The officials asked not to be identified pending official announcements about the camp.

▻http://www.ekathimerini.com/244771/article/ekathimerini/news/greek-refugee-camp-unable-to-house-new-arrivals

Et Polly Pallister-Wilkins a répondu:

it’s on a par with #Susan_Sarandon ’s #Lesvos trip in 2015, that also was ‘not political’. Some of her tweets from that time ‘we are agents of deliverance’ yadda yadda blah blah were

https://i.imgur.com/NWkkLl0.png

▻https://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/818915/george-clooney-visits-sudan

Just when we thought George Clooney couldn’t get any dreamier, he proves, once again, that Clooney is more of a studly saint than a mere mortal.

https://www.sheknows.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/clooney-in-sudan_aor3dw.jpeg

“Entertainment” dit le codage de l’article qui date de 2010.

Commentaire de #Marta_Esperti sur Richard Gere... :

C’est la position spécifique de Open Arms qui n’est pourtant pas apolitique comme on dirait de sa nouvelle stratégie de comm. J’en parlerai dans les détails dans ma thèse et ailleurs. J’espère pouvoir apporter une analyse plus approfondie sur le sujet en m’appuyant sur mon terrain qui couvre les évolutions des positionnements des ONG en mer entre fin 2016 et fin 2018..

▻https://www.facebook.com/maurice.stierl/posts/10158192322667079?comment_id=10158192391987079&reply_comment_id=1015819405

J’ajoute ici des tag pour l’article signalé par @gonzo :
#George_Clooney #saint #Entertainment #sainteté

Sulle isole greche si va verso il disastro umanitario

Gli hotspot di #Samos, #Lesbos e #Chios sono a più del doppio della capienza regolare e in vista dei mesi freddi si temono ulteriori tragedie dopo i tre morti dello scorso inverno. A Mytilini decine di profughi sono in piazza da giorni in sciopero della fame, mentre le associazioni lanciano l’appello Open the islands per fare arrivare le persone almeno sulla terraferma

▻http://www.vita.it/it/article/2017/10/31/sulle-isole-greche-e-disastro-umanitario/144957

Samos, refugee camp, 30.12.2017

The night before New Year, people in Samos, who are living in the overcrowded camp, some of them sleeping in tents, do not have water and electricity. After they came out to protest, police came and start beating them up. One of the refugees who wrote to AYS left a comment on police violence saying: “The police came and hit us As usual.”

▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=yOU7ZfVzU_8&app=desktop

EU/Greece: Asylum Seekers’ Silent Mental Health Crisis

In research conducted in May and June 2017 on the island of Lesbos, Human Rights Watch documented the deteriorating mental health of asylum seekers and migrants – including incidents of self-harm, suicide attempts, aggression, anxiety, and depression – caused by the Greek policy of “containing” them on islands, often in horrifying conditions, to facilitate speedy processing and return to Turkey.

▻https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/07/12/eu/greece-asylum-seekers-silent-mental-health-crisis

L’accordo UE-Turchia porta i rifugiati intrappolati nei campi greci al suicidio e all’autolesionismo

L’accordo per rallentare i passaggi di rifugiati dalla Turchia alla Grecia, dice Human Rights Watch (HRW), sta aumentando i tassi di suicidio e di autolesionismo nei campi di accoglienza, fatiscenti.

▻http://www.zeroviolenza.it/component/k2/item/74592-laccordo-ue-turchia-porta-i-rifugiati-intrappolati-nei-campi-grec

Unnecessary Suffering for Asylum-Seekers on the Greek Islands

As a human rights researcher and advocate for many years, I have sadly become accustomed to listening to painful stories and to witnessing people’s despair. But on the Greek islands, there is an added layer of cruelty: this pain is avoidable.

▻https://www.refugeesinternational.org/blog/2017/greekislands

Greece : A dramatic deterioration for asylum seekers on Lesbos

The report, A dramatic deterioration for asylum seekers on Lesbos – based on MSF medical data and the testimonies of patients – describes the recent drastic cuts in providing health care on the island, along with reductions in legal aid, and the closure of shelters and other essential services.

https://media.msf.org/Docs/MSF/Media/CMS3/9/f/7/5/MSF185836.jpg

▻http://www.msf.org/en/article/greece-dramatic-deterioration-asylum-seekers-lesbos
#santé #rapport #santé_mentale #statistiques #chiffres #vulnérabilité

Dans le rapport :

http://i.imgur.com/Hjk8uOW.png

Politics Trumps Health to Confine Asylum Seekers to Greek Islands

Pressure from the E.U. to cap the number of refugees and migrants allowed to leave the islands has broken the system meant to identify torture victims and other vulnerable cases.

▻https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/articles/2017/07/21/politics-trumps-health-to-confine-asylum-seekers-to-greek-islands
#torture #vulnérabilité

Moria, il laboratorio della brutale intolleranza anti-migrante

L’estate, si sa, le retate si accelerano, la repressione va avanti in silenzio. Ma Moria, sull’isola di Lesbo, costituisce forse un punto di non ritorno: il palesamento della brutalità anti-profughi, cristallizzata da mesi negli hotspot, nei campi e sui confini, ora dilagante e impunita. Calais, Ventimiglia, Moria. Non è nuovo che il campo greco dove sono intrappolati, persino da più di un anno, richiedenti asilo, vada in fiamme per la giusta ribellione di persone parcheggiate in container, tra sterpaglie, senza cure né accesso ai legali. A queste persone in fuga, l’Europa riserva, infatti, detenzione infinita e sistematica in attesa del rimpatrio in Turchia, in base all’accordo UE-Turchia, o verso i rispettivi Paesi di origine.

▻http://www.huffingtonpost.it/amp/flore-murardyovanovitch/lisola-di-moria-e-il-laboratorio-della-brutale-intolleranza-an_a_2305

Lesvos: urla dal silenzio. Detenzione arbitraria e respingimenti illegali. Gli accordi con gli stati di transito cancellano il diritto alla vita.

I sistemi di controllo delle frontiere si sono dimostrati in tensione sempre più forte con i doveri di soccorso e assistenza, come è apparso più evidente nelle isole greche di fronte alla costa turca e nelle acque antistanti la Tripolitania. Nell’opinione pubblica, soprattutto per effetto della campagna diffamatoria nei confronti delle ONG, portata avanti dagli organi di informazione più seguiti, si è quasi annullata la distinzione tra scafisti, intermediari, trafficanti ed organizzazioni non governative indipendenti (o presunte tali) che praticano attività di soccorso in mare e di assistenza a terra. Attività che andrebbero tutelate, e non attaccate, per difendere i diritti fondamentali della persona, a partire dal diritto alla vita.

▻http://www.a-dif.org/2017/08/01/lesvos-urla-dal-silenzio-detenzione-arbitraria-e-respingimenti-illegali-gli-a

Asylum seekers clash with police in Moria frustrated about living conditions and asylum delays

Migrants clashed with police in and around the hot spot Moria on the island of Lesvos on Tuesday after they staged a protest about the poor living conditions and delays in asylum procedures.

►http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2017/07/18/asylum-seekers-moria-lesvos-protest

Refugees held at Lesvos detention centre resorting to self-harm to escape ‘poor living conditions’

‘They deal with humans like they’re animals,’ claims a man who was detained for 12 months.

https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/article_large/public/thumbnails/image/2017/09/22/16/moria-6-janice-0.jpg https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_medium/public/thumbnails/image/2017/09/23/11/detention-above-0.jpg

Greece : EU border policies fuel mental health crisis for asylum seekers

MSF calls on authorities to immediately relocate asylum seekers on Greek islands to the Greek mainland

▻http://www.msf.org/en/article/greece-eu-border-policies-fuel-mental-health-crisis-asylum-seekers

Trapped. Asylum Seekers in Greece

Emina Ćerimović and photographer Zalmaï investigate the mental health crisis facing asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos.

The psychological impact of conflict, exacerbated by harsh conditions, uncertainty and inhumane policies, is not as visible as physical injury. But it’s just as life-threatening.

https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/943709169303121920/OAwqapeV?format=jpg&name=600x314#.jpg

▻https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/interactive/2017/12/21/trapped

Les femmes et les enfants réfugiés sont davantage exposés aux agressions sexuelles dans le climat de tensions et de surpopulation régnant dans les centres d’accueil des îles grecques

Le HCR, l’Agence des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés, est très préoccupé par les déclarations de certains demandeurs d’asile dénonçant harcèlement et violences sexuels dans les centres d’accueil situés sur les îles grecques qui ne respectent pas les normes d’accueil requises. Le HCR se félicite toutefois des mesures prises par le gouvernement en vue de régler la question de la surpopulation et des conditions de vie désastreuses dans ces centres.

En 2017, le HCR a reçu des informations émanant de 622 survivants de violences sexuelles et de genre sur les îles grecques de la mer Egée, dont 28% ont été subies après leur arrivée en Grèce. Les formes les plus courantes de violences dénoncées par les femmes concernaient des comportements incorrects, du harcèlement sexuel et des tentatives d’agression sexuelle.

La situation est particulièrement inquiétante dans les centres d’accueil et d’identification de Moria (#Lesbos) et de #Vathy (#Samos) où des milliers de réfugiés continuent d’être abrités dans des hébergements inadéquats sans sécurité suffisante. Quelque 5 500 personnes séjournent dans ces centres, soit le double de la capacité prévue. Les informations faisant état de harcèlement sexuel sont particulièrement nombreuses à #Moria.

▻http://www.unhcr.org/fr/news/briefing/2018/2/5a81a898a/femmes-enfants-refugies-davantage-exposes-agressions-sexuelles-climat-tension

Exclusive: Violence breaks out between residents of refugee camp and police on Greek island of #Samos

Police clashed with residents from a refugee camp on the Greek island of Samos on Saturday morning, an NGO has told Euronews.

The refugees and asylum seekers were staging a protest march about living conditions in the camp but had their route blocked by police at around 7.30 am local time, a member of the NGO said.

“There were no more than 60 to 70 people there, they were one-on-one with police,” they added.

https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/03/91/59/84/534x954_cmsv2_4b814f81-5f42-505c-900a-f6cd81af0a18-3915984.jpg

Police fired warning shots and used tear gas and “beat up” some of those demonstrating, according to the NGO.

One refugee sent an image to Euronews that showed his back with two marks across it (pictured in the main image of this article).

“Things in Samos aren’t working well, that’s why we went on the march,” he said.

“I saw police charge at the protesters,” Jerome Fourcade, an independent photo journalist based in Samos, told Euronews.

Around 10 NGO workers were taken in by police at the scene of the clashes at 8.30am and held for a number of hours: “They said they were verifying our ID cards,” one said.

Fourcade was also detained by police when he tried to photograph those demonstrating.

Authorities asked to look at his photographs, but he refused arguing that he had not been arrested so they did not have the right.

He was released around 10.30 am once all the residents had returned to the refugee camp.

https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/03/91/59/84/808x454_cmsv2_639d3e59-ac76-5290-8eeb-2710455a7a60-3915984.jpg

Overcrowding is a serious issue in the Samos camp, which is designed to host a maximum of around 650 people, while there are roughly 4,000 people living there and in the “jungle” surrounding it.

Most people have no direct access to sanitation and live in flimsy tents or shelters they built themselves, the NGO worker said.

“They are surrounded by pests — barely a day goes by when I’m not sent a photo of someone who has found a snake in their tent or been bitten by a scorpion or a rat,” they added.

“The camp is overflowing with garbage, it’s 26 degrees today, so it’s festering ... these are extremely inhumane conditions.”

https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/03/89/16/16/808x454_cmsv2_4dd82358-8075-5c02-b816-c21ad14543ec-3891616.jpg https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/03/91/59/84/808x454_cmsv2_0323c64d-6771-5396-980e-775cc8b8b004-3915984.jpg

Police clashed with residents from a refugee camp on the Greek island of Samos on Saturday morning, an NGO has told Euronews.

The refugees and asylum seekers were staging a protest march about living conditions in the camp but had their route blocked by police at around 7.30 am local time, a member of the NGO said.

“There were no more than 60 to 70 people there, they were one-on-one with police,” they added.
Police stand in front of refugees and asylum seekers from Samos camp

Police fired warning shots and used tear gas and “beat up” some of those demonstrating, according to the NGO.

One refugee sent an image to Euronews that showed his back with two marks across it (pictured in the main image of this article).

“Things in Samos aren’t working well, that’s why we went on the march,” he said.

“I saw police charge at the protesters,” Jerome Fourcade, an independent photo journalist based in Samos, told Euronews.

Around 10 NGO workers were taken in by police at the scene of the clashes at 8.30am and held for a number of hours: “They said they were verifying our ID cards,” one said.

Fourcade was also detained by police when he tried to photograph those demonstrating.

Authorities asked to look at his photographs, but he refused arguing that he had not been arrested so they did not have the right.

He was released around 10.30 am once all the residents had returned to the refugee camp.
Police stand in front of refugees and asylum seekers from Samos camp

Overcrowding is a serious issue in the Samos camp, which is designed to host a maximum of around 650 people, while there are roughly 4,000 people living there and in the “jungle” surrounding it.

READ MORE: Refugees on Samos live in “a huge camp of lost souls”

Most people have no direct access to sanitation and live in flimsy tents or shelters they built themselves, the NGO worker said.

“They are surrounded by pests — barely a day goes by when I’m not sent a photo of someone who has found a snake in their tent or been bitten by a scorpion or a rat,” they added.

“The camp is overflowing with garbage, it’s 26 degrees today, so it’s festering ... these are extremely inhumane conditions.”
Valerie Gauriat
Inside Samos refugee campValerie Gauriat
Valerie Gauriat
Inside Samos refugee campValerie Gauriat

This is not the first time the inhabitants of the camp have demonstrated, with three peaceful protests taking place in January along with another that turned violent, although “nothing as bad as this,” according to the NGO.

Saturday marked the first time police used tear gas on the asylum seekers and refugees, it said.

A police spokesman for the North Aegean islands told Euronews that a group of 100 migrants attempted to march into the city to protest about living conditions in and around the camp.

“They were stopped by the police and there was some tension,” he added. The spokesperson is based in Lesbos and said he did not know anything about the use of tear gas or the police detentions.

The clashes came a day before Greeks were set to vote in both the European Parliamentary elections and the first round of the municipal elections, when mayors and regional governors are appointed.

▻https://www.euronews.com/2019/05/25/exclusive-violence-breaks-out-between-residents-of-refugee-camp-and-police

MSF: 3 migrant children attempted suicide, 17 had injured themselves

Children are the real victims of the Migration policy, many of them are not in position to comply with the harsh realities. According to a press release by Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Greece, in the summer months of July and August, three children attempted suicide and 17 had injured themselves. Ten of a total of 73 children referred to MSF were under the age of six, the youngest being just two.

Vulnerable people trapped in islands pay for inhumane policies of EU-Turkey Agreement. About 24,000 men, women and children seeking protection in Europe are trapped in tragic living conditions on Greek islands, while Greek and Greek European authorities have deliberately abandoned them, the MSF said in the press release:

The devastating crisis that affects the health of thousands of vulnerable people is the result of a problematic reception system, lack of protection mechanisms and inadequate service provision. This shows that the European Union’s policy of restricting and deterring migration management has failed.

For over four years, Doctors Without Borders has been working in several Greek islands, but today humanitarian and medical intervention is largely a matter for voluntary organizations that replace state responsibilities. Today, Doctors Without Borders has once again been forced to scale up its activities: hundreds of medical sessions are held daily in Lesvos, Samos and Chios, while in coordination with other voluntary and non-governmental organizations Doctors Without Borders is increasing for the immigrant population and distribute basic essentials on a regular basis.

“The situation in the Greek islands is not new. The overcrowding in refugee camps is a crisis caused by European policies and has had a huge negative impact on men, women and children for years, ”says Vassilis Stravaridis, Director General of Médecins Sans Frontières. “More than 3 years have passed since the EU-Turkey Agreement and should we consider that the Greek and European authorities are using this embarrassing failure to host refugees as a means of deterring new arrivals to Europe?”

As arrivals from the sea have reached their highest point since 2016, Doctors Without Borders pediatric mental health teams in Lesbos have seen child referrals double in July compared to previous months. In July and August, 73 children were referred to our teams: three had attempted suicide and 17 had committed suicide. Ten of the 73 children were under the age of six, the youngest being just two.

“More and more of these kids stop playing, see nightmares, are afraid to get out of their tent and start retiring from life,” says Kathryn Bruback, a mental health officer in Lesvos. “Some of them just stop talking. With overcrowding, violence and lack of security in the camp increasing, the situation for children is getting worse day by day. In order to prevent permanent damage, these children must leave the Moria camp immediately. “

At the Doctors Without Borders pediatric clinic we have nearly 100 children with complex or chronic health problems, including young children with severe heart disease, diabetes, epilepsy and war injuries. They are all waiting to move to the mainland to access the specialized care they need.

In the camp in Vathi, Samos, the situation is unbearable, according to Doctors Without Borders, where 5,000 people crowd into a place designed for 650. Most live in the “jungle”, an area outside the camp. The lack of protection and basic services raises the risk of people being subjected to new psychological trauma, with reports of incidents of harassment, sexual assault and other forms of violence increasing.

The Greek government recently transferred nearly 1,500 vulnerable people from Lesvos. However, Doctors Without Borders believes that moving people to scenes in the mainland is not a safe or effective solution to the chronic overcrowding and its effects on human health. At least 2,500 people who are officially identified as vulnerable remain in Lesvos despite being entitled to move to a safe place for specialized care. This number does not include thousands of possibly others who have not yet been identified as vulnerable.

Doctors Without Borders appeals to the Greek Government, the European Union and the Member States to assume their responsibilities and put an end to this unacceptable and devastating crisis, and in particular demand:

Immediately remove children and vulnerable people from the islands and transport them to safe and appropriate accommodation in mainland Greece and / or other European countries.
Immediately increase the number of medical staff in reception centers so that people can receive physical and mental health care.

▻https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2019/09/13/msf-migrants-children-suicides

Refugees riot as tensions in Greek camps boil over

Refugees clashed with police and security at Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesvos on Monday night as frustration and anger spread turned into open clashes.

https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/884767823205195778/a4CFdkd-?format=jpg&name=800x419#.jpg

Asylum seekers clash with police in Moria frustrated about living conditions and asylum delays

Migrants clashed with police in and around the hot spot Moria on the island of Lesvos on Tuesday after they staged a protest about the poor living conditions and delays in asylum procedures.

►http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2017/07/18/asylum-seekers-moria-lesvos-protest

Μόρια : « σκούπα » για πρόσφυγες που έχουν δύο « όχι » από την Υπηρεσία Ασύλου
▻http://www.efsyn.gr/arthro/moria-skoypa-gia-prosfyges-poy-ehoyn-dyo-ohi-apo-tin-ypiresia-asyloy

Commentaire reçu via la mailing-list de Migreurop :

Une #opération_policière d’une grande envergure s’est déroulé hier matin à Moria, le hot-spot de Lesbos. Au moins 200 policiers ont passé au peigne fin le camp avec des contrôles d’identité systématiques afin de repérer les demandeurs d’asile déboutés dont les appels à la Commission de Recours ont été rejetés. L’opération a duré six heures et s’est conclu par l’interpellation d’une cinquantaine de personnes qui ont été amenés au commissariat de Lesbos pour contrôle d’identité. Ceux qui ont vu leur deuxième appel rejeté, seront conduits à un centre spécial pour les personnes en instance d’expulsion- une sorte de prison qui fonctionne au sein du camp de Moria-, pour être ensuite expulsés vers la Turquie.

#police

#Violence becoming commonplace in Moria refugee camp

Once again, riots broke out at the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos this week. Local politicians and migration experts are striving for solutions.

▻http://www.dw.com/en/violence-becoming-commonplace-in-moria-refugee-camp/a-39793594?maca=en-EMail-sharing

Reçu via la mailing-list de Migreurop :

Déchaînements de violences policières contre les réfugiés à Moria (Lesbos, Grèce) (English below)

Plusieurs plaintes contre la police ont été déposées pour des mauvais traitements, des coups et des blessures sur des hommes déjà immobilisé voire menottés et pour des tortures pratiqués dans les commissariats. Au moins 11 parmi les 35 hommes arrêtés lors de la répression de la révolte à Moria la semaine dernière, ont déjà déposé ou sont sur le point de déposer de plaintes contre des policiers pour coups et blessures pouvant entraîner des lésions corporelles graves. Parmi eux, un Sénégalais âgé de 37 ans qui n’avait pas participé aux incidents avait reçu de coups de pied à la tête par un groupe de 4 policiers jusqu’à perdre connaissance et a dû être hospitalisé dans un état préoccupant.

14 organisations humanitaires et défense de droit de l’homme ont faire part de leur très vive inquiétude et ont lancé un appel à la justice grecque pour qu’une enquête soit immédiatement ouverte afin de déterminer les responsables de cette violation flagrante des droits les plus élémentaires de migrants et de toute notion d’Etat de Droit.

Au Parlement,19 députés de Syriza ont déposé une question adressée au Ministre de l’Immigration et à celui de l’Intérieur, en exigeant des explications sur cet « flagrant abus de pouvoir et sur les tortures pratiqués sur des hommes déjà arrêtés et menottés ». Ils veulent savoir qui a donné l’ordre pour ce type d’interventions policières et comment se fait-il que des hommes en civile ont été autorisés à participer à la répression brutale de la révolte.

Un autre élément extrêmement préoccupant est le fait que les charges qui pèsent sur les 35 hommes arrêtés sont absolument identiques pour tous sans qu’aucune distinction personnalisée soit faite entre les supposés responsables de la révolte.

Voir la vidéo qui montre des groupes de policiers et des civils qui s’acharnent contre des hommes immobilisés par terre où quiconque qui a le malheur de croiser le chemin de la police est violement brutalisé.

Ci-dessous le communiqué de presse des 14 organisations (in English)
▻http://www.solidaritynow.org/en/joint-press-release-violent-incidents-moria-lesvos

Greece: Authorities must investigate allegations of excessive use of force and ill-treatment of asylum-seekers in Lesvos

Amnesty International calls on the Greek authorities to urgently investigate allegations that police used excessive force against asylum-seekers in the Moria camp near Mytilene during a protest on 18 July 2017 and ill-treated some of those who were arrested and detained in the Mytilene police station following the clashes that ensued. Testimonies the organisation collected from victims and witnesses about excessive use of force in the Moria camp are also supported by audio-visual material that was made public in the media in the days after the protest.

▻https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur25/6845/2017/en

Report on Rights Violations and Resistance in Lesvos

In the months since our last update on rights violations and resistance in Lesvos, our advocacy and campaigning resources were almost exclusively focused on the two trials for the Moria 35 and Moria 10 that took place in Chios in late April and early May 2018.

The situation has predictably worsened in Lesvos. On the 17 April 2018, the Greek Council of State (the highest administrative court in Greece) ruled that geographic restrictions imposed by the Asylum Service for asylum seekers arriving to the Greek islands was illegal. However, within a week, new legislation was proposed, which further limits the rights of asylum seekers and continues the practice of containing asylum seekers to the Greek islands. Moria Camp is now at three times its capacity, holding approximately 7000 individuals. Between 500 and 1000 Kurdish asylum seekers are still living outside Moria in temporary shelter provided by Lesvos Solidarity – Pikpa, and Humans 4 Humanity, as they fear for their safety in Moria. Procedures are now so delayed that even individuals who are recognized as vulnerable, and whose cases should be prioritized under Article 51 of Greek Law 4375, are being scheduled for their interviews nearly a year after their arrival. This means that they are prohibited from leaving the island of Lesvos, and are denied freedom of movement during this entire time.

In one case we are following, an eleven year old child has a serious, undiagnosed digestive condition that causes her constant pain and seizures. Because they have been unable to diagnose her illness, the hospital in Mytilene has referred her for testing and treatment in Athens. Even the Mytilene police department has recommended that geographic restrictions be temporarily lifted so that she can travel to Athens for further tests and treatment, but the Regional Asylum Office has denied this request without an appointment in the Athens hospital. Her family is now in a constant state of fear that given her critical condition, their daughter will be unable to receive emergency medical care when needed, given the lack of testing and treatment for her on the island. Already once, when she had seizures and attempted to get treatment at the hospital in Lesvos, she was not admitted because they do not have means to treat her.

The Green Party published a report on 6 June 2018 exposing the inhumane conditions that systematically violate refugee rights in the Greek hotspots. On the 1 June 2018 the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) also published preliminary observations of its visit to detention facilities in Greece from 10 to 19 April 2018, with damning findings.
Treatment of Moria35 defendants highlights lack of procedural safeguards for detained asylum seekers in Lesvos

In the last month and a half since the conclusion of the Moria 35 trial, we have been closely following the administrative process related to the detention and processing of the asylum claims of these individuals. It has become a near full time job of our Greek attorney based in Mytilene to ensure that Greek authorities comply by their own laws and respect the rights of these asylum seekers. Despite the fact that the UNHCR, the Ombudsman’s Office, and the Legal Centre have been closely monitoring their cases, there have been rampant violation of their rights at every step of their procedures. Unfortunately despite this close monitoring, two individuals were deported to Turkey on the morning of 13 June 2018. The violations we have observed in the individual cases of these 35 men highlight the lack of procedural safeguards to protect the rights of asylum seekers, particularly those who are being detained.

Below we outline some of the observed violations of Moria 35 defendants’ rights as asylum seekers:

Two individuals whose cases were rejected were denied the representation of a lawyer on appeal. The appeal of a rejected asylum claim is the one stage in the asylum procedure where asylum seekers have the right to a lawyer, under Article 44(3) of Law 4375. Although both requested the representation of a lawyer, the examination of their case on appeal occurred without them having been assigned an attorney.

Another individual signed for voluntary departure, but then changed his mind and decided to continue his claim for international protection. He requested that his case be reopened. While that request was being processed, he was placed by police on the list to be deported on the 1 June 2018. It was only after advocacy from the Legal Centre that he was removed from the deportation list. He remains in detention, despite the lack of legal grounds to hold him there.

Another individual was held for over a month in detention, after transfer to Lesvos following the trial in Chios. There was no recommendation for his continued detention either from the Regional Asylum Office, as required by Article 46(3) of Law 4375. After daily follow up from the Legal Centre, eventually the police admitted that they were holding him by mistake and he was released.

Two additional individuals had their asylum cases rejected, but were unable to appeal because they were detained. With advocacy from UNHCR and Legal Centre lawyers, one of the individuals was able to lodge his appeal. However, he remains in detention, and it is not clear if the Appeals Committee will review his case on the merits or deny the appeal as untimely filed.

The second individual was deported on the morning of 13 June 2018. This was despite the fact that for days he had been expressing to the police his desire to appeal the rejection of his asylum claim. Lawyers from HIAS and the Legal Centre also spoke with the Mytilene police department the day before he was deported and informed the police that they would be filing an appeal on his behalf. On the morning of 13 June 2018, he was deported to Turkey. This individual, a Guinean national, claims that he was a victim of torture, and will be subject to persecution if returned to his country. Regardless of whether his claim is credible, he has the right to appeal the rejection of his claim. Even though untimely, it is not the police who have the authority to accept or reject his appeal, but the Asylum Service. His right to appeal was clearly denied, and his deportation was illegal as police were aware that he would be appealing the denial of his claim and they proceeded with the deportation in any case.

A second Moria 35 defendant was also deported on the 13 June 2018. His case had been rejected in the second instance. In 2017 this Ghanean national had been rejected and scheduled for deportation, but he lodged a subsequent application. It was the denial of this subsequent application that led to his deportation. While the Regional Asylum Service again scheduled for him to file a subsequent application on 14 June 2018, on 11 June 2018, we were informed that they would not accept a second subsequent application, since he had already submitted a subsequent application in 2017. However, he still had the option of appealing the denial of his claim in administrative court. Less than two days after being informed that he could not file a subsequent application, he was deported to Turkey. This individual has recently received original documents from Ghana that were not previously submitted to the Asylum Office. These documents corroborate his claim that he will be imprisoned 10-15 years if returned to Ghana. Prison conditions in Ghana according to human rights reports are “generally harsh and sometimes life threatening due to physical abuse, food shortages, overcrowding, and inadequate sanitary conditions and medical care” meaning he should be eligible for subsidiary protection, if not refugee status. Both individuals that were deported on the 13 June 2018 are also eligible for humanitarian protection as important witnesses to a serious crime that is still being investigated in Greece (the brutal police attack against the 35 arrestees on 18 July 2017). The swift move of the police to deport these individuals show that while procedures to grant protection and ensure that refugee rights are respected are constantly delayed, the State is able to mobilize and act swiftly to deny these same rights.

The trampling of the rights of these individuals by the police has followed their brutally violent arrest, their unjust prosecution, and lengthy imprisonment in the case of the Moria 35. It is not clear if the police have targeted these individuals precisely because they were part of the Moria35 case, or if the violation of detained asylum seekers rights is systematic. What is clear is that there is a lack of sufficient transparency, oversight, and monitoring of detention and deportation practices.
Legal Centre Successes

Despite this hostile environment, we continue providing legal aid and individual consultation to all foreign nationals who seek our counsel. We conduct approximately 10 individual consultations daily, and through the assistance of our volunteer lawyers and interpreters, hundreds of individuals have been granted international protection in Greece, or have successfully had geographic restrictions lifted so they can legally travel to mainland Europe.

We also continue to have success in assisting individuals in reuniting with family members in second European States under the Dublin III Regulation. In one case, a single young man from Haiti who is seriously ill was approved to be reunited with his family in France. While in Haiti, he had attempted to apply for a visa to join his parents and younger siblings in France, but was denied because he was over 18. France finally admitted, through our advocacy, that he was dependent on the care of his family, and that he should be able to join them in France. The fact that this individual was forced to take a lengthy, expensive, and dangerous journey to Europe through Turkey and the use of smugglers, only to be later admitted as an asylum seeker in France, shows that European immigration policies are broken.

We will continue our work to assist and help navigate individuals through this broken system, and to monitor and expose the violations of these individuals’ rights when they occur.

▻http://www.legalcentrelesbos.org/2018/06/14/report-on-rights-violations-and-resistance

Grèce : accusés d’avoir manifesté dans la violence, plus de 100 demandeurs d’asile ont finalement été acquittés

Un tribunal de l’île de Lesbos en mer Égée a acquitté jeudi soir une centaine de demandeurs d’asile accusés d’avoir protesté contre leurs conditions de vie.

Ils étaient plus d’une centaine sur le banc des accusés : un groupe de demandeurs d’asile, en majorité Afghans, a été acquitté jeudi 9 mai par un tribunal de l’île de Lesbos, en Grèce. Ils avaient été accusés d’avoir occupé en avril 2018 une place publique du centre de #Mytilène, le chef-lieu de l’île, pour protester contre leurs conditions de vie dans le camp surpeuplé et insalubre de Moria. Ils avaient également été accusés d’avoir fait usage de la force physique et de résistance.

Des chefs d’accusation “dénués de tout fondement”, a commenté dans la presse locale l’une des avocates de la défense, Me Elli Kriona-Sarantou, en se félicitant du jugement du tribunal. "Nous n’avons rien fait. Nous avons été attaqués par des extrémistes. Nous sommes innocents", a, pour sa part, déclaré à l’AFP Hadisse Hosseini, l’une des personnes acquittées.

Cet Afghan faisait partie des quelque 200 migrants rassemblés sur la place Sappho le 22 avril 2018 pour dénoncer leurs conditions de vie après la mort d’un autre Afghan souffrant de manque de soins de santé. Leur rassemblement avait été pris à partie par environ 150 militants d’extrême droite, qui leur avaient jeté des pierres et des fusées éclairantes. Des affrontements avaient suivi, entraînant l’intervention de la police.

"Une situation qui nourrit l’impunité"

Me Elli Kriona-Sarantou s’est dit préoccupée du fait que les militants d’extrême droite n’aient pas encore été jugés, "une situation qui nourrit l’impunité sur l’île". Seuls 26 agresseurs ont été identifiés par la police et doivent comparaître à une date qui n’a pas encore été fixée.

Du même avis, Vassilis Kerasiotis, le directeur de la branche grecque de l’ONG HIAS, estime que cette décision de justice “n’appelle à aucune célébration”. L’organisme a défendu plus d’une trentaine des migrants accusés. “Le simple fait que 110 participants à une manifestation pacifique aient été jugés par un tribunal, après avoir subi une attaque raciste et un recours disproportionné à la violence par la police, est extrêmement préoccupant”, a-t-il commenté sur la page Facebook de HIAS.

La Grèce accueille actuellement plus de 70 000 réfugiés dont près de 15 000 sur les îles de la mer Égée. Avec près de 9 000 arrivées depuis le début de l’année 2019, le nombre des réfugiés a de nouveau augmenté, après avoir chuté en 2017 et 2018.

La situation est explosive en particulier sur les îles de Lesbos et de Samos où les camps sont surpeuplés. À Lesbos, le nombre des migrants et des demandeurs d’asile s’élève à environ 7 000 personnes alors qu’il n’y a que 4 200 places disponibles pour eux dans les camps et les logements de l’île.

Dans le camp de Samos la situation est pire : 3 175 personnes y vivent actuellement contre une capacité de 648 personnes, selon les chiffres publiés jeudi par le ministère de la Protection du citoyen.

https://scd.infomigrants.net/media/resize/my_image_big/11ec4d0819cbe18fa6af3a4681f9bb4740084651.jpeg

▻https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/16820/grece-accuses-d-avoir-manifeste-dans-la-violence-plus-de-100-demandeur

Ajouté à la métaliste : ►https://seenthis.net/messages/804316

cc @kaparia

Esperimento Grecia: un’idea di Europa. Il sistema di asilo greco ad un anno dall’accordo/dichiarazione Ue-Turchia

A un anno dall’ ”accordo” tra l’Unione europea e la Turchia, un report fa il punto sulle procedure messe in atto nel Paese per fermare i flussi di migranti. Un sistema che ha come obiettivo quello di rivoluzionare il diritto d’asilo attraverso una riduzione dei diritti storicamente riconosciuti ai profughi.

“Quello che è stato fatto in Grecia è la messa a punto e la sperimentazione di un sistema normativo che ha come obiettivo quello di rivoluzionare il diritto d’asilo, permettendo una riduzione dei diritti storicamente riconosciuti ai richiedenti asilo. Alla Grecia si è chiesto di forzare alcune normative o di emanare alcuni istituti e renderli sistemici per sperimentarli”, spiega l’avv. Salvatore Fachile dell’ASGI in un’intervista alla rivista Altreconomia.

▻http://www.meltingpot.org/Esperimento-Grecia-un-idea-di-Europa.html

Le #rapport peut être téléchargé ici:
▻http://www.meltingpot.org/IMG/pdf/unidea-di-europa-it.pdf
#vulnérabilité #Dublin #renvois_Dublin #Lesbos #Lesvos #détention_administrative #rétention #procédure_d'asile #accord_UE-Turquie #EASO #recours

Refugee arrivals drop in Greece a year after Turkey-EU deal

A new report published by the Italian association of juridical studies (ASGI) says that the number of migrant arrivals has reduced in Greek islands. Detentions had gone up and some asylum seekers were not being readmitted in Turkey.

▻http://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/3931/refugee-arrivals-drop-in-greece-a-year-after-turkey-eu-deal
#accord_UE-Turquie
cc @i_s_

EU to scale back Greek asylum aid

Athens is set to nationalise services over the summer that were previously funded by the EU amid concerns that it won’t be able to deliver, as some 60 people continue to arrive from Turkey to the islands on a daily basis.

https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/euobs-media/4631859ae64f23b1526a70aae712e557-800x.jpg

▻https://euobserver.com/migration/138520

#beau

Vagues de détresse en #Méditerranée

http://i.imgur.com/WcIgFSR.png http://i.imgur.com/6iBeS04.png

Greece denies voluntary return incentives to asylum seekers appealing negative decisions

The Greek authorities have adopted a policy which excludes asylum applicants in the so-called refugee hotspots who appeal a rejection from the possibility of participating in IOM’s #Assisted_Voluntary_Return_and_Reintegration (#AVRR) programme in a later stage.

This policy forces applicants to choose between appealing a negative decision or benefiting from voluntary return programmes, which includes material support for reintegration in the country of origin. The Greek minister of asylum, Mr. Mouzalas, said that highlighting the financial bait by choosing for assisted return was needed to prevent bogus claimants from abusing the asylum system.

Applicants have just five days to make this vital decision and incidents of applicants being forced to make a decision on the spot without being able to consult a lawyer are reported by leading civil society organisations in a statement calling for a reversal of the policy. The statement further argues that the rushed decision process results in a high risk of refoulement, jeopardizes the right to a fair asylum process and the right to appeal. The policy further contradicts IOM’s guidelines for the AVRR stating that voluntariness is a precondition.

The fact that the AVRR used as incentive to give up the right to appeal is financed mainly by the European Commission and that German authorities seem prepared to copy the principle of the Greek policy as reported ECRE member ProAsyl, suggests that it could be a new tool to push for return at national and European level.

▻https://www.ecre.org/greece-denies-voluntary-return-incentives-to-asylum-seekers-appealing-negative

Chios authorities vote in favor of pre-departure migrant center

Municipal authorities on Chios on Friday voted in favor of creating a pre-departure detention facility on the eastern Aegean island with the aim of accelerating the return to Turkey of migrants who are not eligible for asylum.

▻http://www.ekathimerini.com/218563/article/ekathimerini/news/chios-authorities-vote-in-favor-of-pre-departure-migrant-center

#Lesbos #Lesvos #Grèce #solidarité #asile #migrations #réfugiés

#sauver_l'honneur c’est exactement ça.