CAUGHT AT SEA In addition to summarily expelling migrants from inside Greek territory, Coast Guard personnel have also, at times, pushed migrants back from Greek territorial waters, in some cases puncturing inflatable boats or otherwise disabling them before setting them adrift near the Turkish coast. When intercepting migrants, Coast Guard forces usually make no effort to communicate with them or to do any screening to determine their possible needs for protection, according to migrant accounts. In some cases, migrants told Human Rights Watch they had been beaten and subjected to other forms of mistreatment before being pushed back to Turkey. Abdullah (all names are pseudonyms), 14-year-old Afghan boy, told Human Rights Watch how the Greek Coast Guard [he calls them police] interdicted his boat, beat some of the migrants, took off the engine and the oars, punctured the boat, and set it adrift to sink: “The police stripped us, except for our pants. They took all our possessions. When someone asked about his possessions, they kicked him. We were on the Coast Guard boat from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. The Coast Guard boat also carried our rubber boat. At 5 a.m., the police showed us the Turkish shore. The police put us back on our rubber boat. We had a small engine, but the police took the engine and the two oars. The police made a hole in the boat. When we were at sea before we were caught, the boat was okay, but when we were put back in the water, it was punctured. We tried to paddle with our hands.” CRACKING DOWN In the past, “pushbacks” involved migrants apprehended in the northern part of the country, close to the Turkish land border, or those intercepted at sea. In the summer of 2009, however, authorities expanded this practice, arresting hundreds of migrants, including unaccompanied children, in Greek cities and islands, moving them to the north, and expelling an unknown number to Turkey. Newly arrived migrants and asylum seekers, many from Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, are detained in the port of Mitilini after being intercepted by the Greek Coast Guard. HRW 8 In July, Human Rights Watch interviewed two migrants, one a 17-year-old boy, who, after arriving on Greek islands, were detained by the authorities, shipped north, and pushed back to Turkey with dozens of other migrants. Human Rights Watch also gathered accounts from migrants who saw detainees being taken away at night. Their accounts are strikingly similar to those of the 41 people who described their expulsion in Human Rights Watch’s 2008 report on Greece. The recent interviewees said that police would select 20 to 50 people from a large group of migrants. They would load the smaller group onto what appeared to be military vehicles and drive away into the night. The witnesses told Human Rights Watch that expulsions took place from the Fylakio detention center and the Tichero border police station. HRW 9