5. CRIMINALIZATION OF NGOs ASSISTING THE NEWLY ARRIVED ASYLUM SEEKERS IN EVROS “Defenders in the country working to ensure the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants are respected, are currently under severe pressure… At the tip of the spear are prosecutions, where acts of solidarity are reinterpreted as criminal activity, specifically the crime of people smuggling… The negative impact of such cases is multiplied by smear campaigns perpetuating this false image of [human rights] defenders”, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders following her official visit to Greece, Athens, 22 June 2022.72 The pushbacks mentioned in this report are part of a wider context in which those who are defending the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants are targeted and increasingly under severe pressure from the Greek state. This criminalization of human rights defenders comes in different forms and stages. Criminalization can involve the use of legal frameworks, political and (quasi) legal actions with the intention of treating the defense and protection of human rights as illegitimate and illegal. Criminalization aims to delegitimize the actions of persons who promote, protect and defend human rights. We therefore understand criminalization to derive from the intent to discredit, sabotage or impede the important work of HRDs through the abuse of the legal system and a targeted manipulation of the public discourse.73 A. Targeting of NGOs operating in Evros The criminalization of HRDs is not a new phenomenon. However, in the past years, it has become significantly worse. At the end of May 2022 and after two successive pushbacks of a group of 93 Syrians that were carried out by the Greek authorities in the Evros region74, a series of media reports were published about NGOs that operate at the GreekTurkish border providing assistance to people that have newly arrived and are trying to ask for asylum in Greece. According to those articles, anonymous sources in the Greek police revealed that thorough investigations were planned to investigate whether these 72 United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, Press Releases, Greece: Migration policy having “suffocating effect” on human rights defenders says UN expert, 22 June 2022, available at: https:// bit.ly/3k3g2M9 For criminalization of human rights defenders, in general, see: IACHR ( Inter-American Commission on Human Rights), Criminalization of Human Rights Defenders, 2015, available at: https://bit.ly/3J1pgD4 , Criminalization of Human Rights Defenders, Human rights defenders and civic space – the business & human rights dimension 73 For a brief overview of the pushback case of the 93 Syrians, see: GCR- Oxfam- Save the Children, Greece: Bimonthly Bulletin on Refugees and Migrants, July 2022, p.3-4, available at: https://bit.ly/3SycU74 74 AT EUROPE’S BORDERS: BETWEEN IMPUNITY AND CRIMINALIZATION 41