ENTER AT YOUR PERIL Lives put at risk at the gate of europe One of the main entry routes for migrants and refugees trying to find safety or a better life in the European Union (EU) is the border between Turkey and Greece: on land in the Evros region in the north and across the Aegean Sea in the south. In 2012, more people crossed this border irregularly than any of the EU’s other external borders. Many of them came from conflict-torn countries like Afghanistan and Syria. In the last few years, Greece, with backing from the EU, has invested millions of euros to keep migrants out. In 2012, it completed a 10.5km fence along the most transited part of its land border with Turkey and deployed almost 2,000 additional border guards. Detention – often in appalling conditions – is the routine fate of those who arrive in Greece irregularly. © Amnesty International However, not everyone who sets out for Greece will arrive there. Since August 2012, at least 101 men, women and children, mostly Syrians and Afghans, have died attempting to cross the sea to reach the Greek islands. Reports of push-backs (the unlawful and often dangerous practice of B U L G A R I A returning intercepted migrants to Turkey) are frequent. The Greek government has the prerogative to control the entry into and stay of non-nationals in Greek territory, and the EU can support member states in carrying out legitimate border control activities. But the methods used on Greece’s border with Turkey have led to serious human rights violations. Other EU member states appear only too happy for Greece to act as their gatekeeper. But the policies and practices along the Greek border do not just shame Greece. They shame the European Union as a whole. They expose the bitter irony of European countries pressing for peace abroad while denying asylum to and risking the lives of those who seek refuge in Europe from conflicts in their homelands. Migrants and refugees interviewed by Amnesty International described at least 39 separate instances of push-backs from Greece to Turkey, which they claimed to have experienced themselves between BLACK SEA Edirne Orestiada Evros Region G R E E C E River Evros Istanbul Alexandroupoli Samothraki T U R K E Y Çanakkale In this area, the border between Greece and Turkey does not follow the course of the River Evros. A 10.5km long fence now shields this part of Greece’s border with Turkey, which used to be one of the busiest transit points for irregular migration to Europe. Limnos AEGEAN SEA Lesvos Izmir Chios Athens Samos Aydin index: eur 25/007/2013 August 2012 and May 2013. They reported that they were never given an opportunity to explain their situation or challenge their deportation. These people had already travelled a long way to reach the border: from Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Palestine, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Somalia and Cameroon. The alarming number of testimonies collected by Amnesty International concerning push-backs suggests that these practices are regularly employed by the Greek border and coastguards and that many refugees and asylum-seekers are being indiscriminately denied entry to Greece and access to protection. In April 2013, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, also reported that “[s]ome testimonies of Syrians received by UNHCR, make reference to informal forced returns (push-backs) or attempted informal returns to Turkey.” push-backs and internationaL Law Refoulement is the forcible return of an individual to a country where they would be at risk of serious human rights violations. it is prohibited by international and european law to return refugees and asylum-seekers to the country they fled or to push them back at the border. states have an obligation to identify those at risk of refoulement and thus in need of international protection through fair and effective procedures. collective expulsions are specifically prohibited by eu law. a collective expulsion is the deportation of a group of people without looking at each case individually and considering the individual circumstances of each person separately. protection from collective expulsion applies to everyone, including irregular migrants. push-back operations carried out by greece deny people the right to explain their individual circumstances and raise any protection or other concerns. as such, they are in breach of greece's international obligations and eu law. Amnesty International July 2013 3