EU Border & Coast Guard agency get legal notice over migrant pushbacks in Greece

A human rights agency Front-Lex on Tuesday sent a legal notice to a European Border and Coast Guard Agency, also known as Frontex over human rights violations and its activities against the asylum seekers in the Aegean Sea, citing breach of  EU and international law. Turkey’s border with Greece has been a key transit point for migrants fleeing war and persecution, to enter Europe. But the refugees arriving from the Eastern Mediterranean route have suffered brute force from EU’s border protection in systematic ‘pushbacks’. Condemning EU’s migration policies, Front-Lex and Legal Center Lesvos, a non-profit organization that provides legal assistance to migrants in Greece issued notice against the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, seeking an explanation from EU for not upholding the 2016 refugee deal. 

Lawyers, namely Omer Shatz, Iftach Cohen, and Anastasia Ntailiani, in the legal notice against Frontex boss Fabrice Leggeri alleged that the EU border agency is “ complicit in the Greek policy of exposing vulnerable migrants to the sea,” according to the document accessed by SPIEGEL. The human rights agency accused EU border protection of "crimes against humanity"; noting that it is illegal to deport refugees, further making allegations of torture and potential murder by the European Border and Coast Guard corps. In a 32 page notice, the front-Lex threatened to drag EU border protection to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg, accusing it of humanitarian crime cover-ups by the Greek coast guards. 

[Afghan migrants rescued by Turkish border forces. Credit: AP]

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Greek coast guards' attempts to 'sink' migrant boat

The report also cited the incident, wherein, the Greek coast guards tried to sink a boat carrying Afghan migrants, repeatedly pushing it into the  Turkish territorial waters to deter them from entering the European Union's borders. Greek coast guards ran a dangerous manoeuvre of making holes in the dinghies with sharp iron sticks in an attempt to intimidate asylum seekers, who were later rescued by Turkish Coast Guard Command, the report said.

Greece, meanwhile defended its coast guards’ actions, saying that Turkey was conducting human trafficking at the Aegean Sea. Humans rights agency cited at least six such incidents where Frontex units were involved in trying to topple the migrant life rafts, and thrashing and abandoning them to die in the sea. An independent watchdog in Norway, the Aegean Boat Report, meanwhile, said it has documented at least 50 similar incidences since March 2020 where migrants were forced onto such life rafts and left adrift. The German military, meanwhile, claimed to the reporters on grounds on condition of anonymity that they had witnessed humanitarian crimes against migrants by EU coast guards in the Aegean Sea. 

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(Image Credit: AP)