On 10 January 2025, the FRO published its first report, 114 covering the period between September 2023 and December 2024. In the report, the FRO noted that from the start date of the Complaints Mechanism on 26.09.2023 until 31.12.2024, a total of one hundred nineteen (119) complaints had been submitted to the Mechanism. Of these, twenty-seven (27) were submitted between 26.09.2023 and 31.12.2023, while the remaining ninety-two (92) were submitted within the year 2024. Ten of these complaints (nine related to reception conditions and one related to international protection procedures) were forwarded or partly forwarded to the competent authorities (General Secretariat of Reception of Asylum seekers of the Ministry, NTA and Asylum Service) while nine others since 2023 appeared to be ending at a preliminary stage. The rest of the complaints were dismissed. The report does not mention how many complaints were specifically submitted concerning pushback allegations nor does it specify how many complaints were dismissed as inadmissible and what violation they alleged. The one complaint that was forwarded to the NTA merely refers to “unofficial detention”. Except from the numbers and statistics, the report does not present preliminary findings, nor details the number of cases in which the FRO requested additional information from the complainants or in which the latter were called for a hearing or even information on the measures taken by the FRO to ensure an effective investigation of the complaints. Approximately 90% of the complaints have been dismissed as inadmissible and not further forwarded (87% in 2023 and 93% in2024), as the online platform and the complainant form continues to be only in Greek and English. In 2023, the Greek National Commission for Human Rights (GNCHR) published a report on its Recording Mechanism of Informal Forced Returns, which had been launched in early 2022, 115 and to which ten civil society organisations are participating, 116 including GCR. The Mechanism initially recorded at least 50 incidents and 58 testimonies of informal forced returns which, according to testimonies of the alleged victims, occurred between April 2020 and October 2022. The total number of alleged victims in the report was approximately 2,157 third country nationals, including asylum applicants and recognised refugees in Greece. In December 2023, the “Recording Mechanism” published a follow-up report117 to the Interim Report of the Recording Mechanism of January 2023. In the period between February 2022 and December 2022, the Recording Mechanism had recorded testimonies through personal interviews with 43 alleged victims about 50 incidents of illegal forced returns. The countries of origin of the alleged victims are listed among the countries with high recognition rates for international protection status in Greece and the EU (Syria, Palestine, Türkiye, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Cameroon, Mali and Democratic Republic of Congo). The majority of the alleged victims are unregistered asylum seekers who reported that their personal data had never been recorded by the Greek Authorities and that they were informally and forcibly returned to Türkiye. The report also flags the cases of six Turkish nationals unregistered asylum seekers politically persecuted in Türkiye, who were directly pushed back to their country of origin without any assessment of their international protection needs. According to the GNCHR, “[t]hese incidents constitute a direct violation of the principle of non-refoulement, which is the cornerstone of international protection of asylum seekers and refugees”.118 In the same report, and among the 43 alleged victims, five were already asylum applicants in Greece and five were recognised refugees in Greece. The latter five alleged victims were deprived of their international protection status, already granted to them by the Greek State. In 2024, the GNCHR published a new report covering the period from January to December 2023. 119 In this period, the Recording Mechanism recorded testimonies related to approximately 45 informal forced 114 115 116 117 118 119 Ministry of Asylum and Migration, FRO report, Το Υπουργείο Μετανάστευσης και Ασύλου ενισχύει τη διαφάνεια και την προστασία των θεμελιωδών δικαιωμάτων, 10 January 2025, available in Greek here. GNCHR, Recording Mechanism of Informal Forced Returns, Interim Report, January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3IUTyH5. Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), Hellenic League for Human Rights (HLHR), Network for Children’s Rights, Medical Intervention, METAdrasi – ACTION FOR MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Transgender Support Association, RSA, HIAS Greece, Legal Centre Lesvos, Danish Refugee Council Greece (DRC). See https://bit.ly/3Ix1jTl. GNCHR, Full Annual Report of 2022, published in December 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3PSoOtv. Ibid. page 5 of the report All reports of the Recording Mechanism of Informal Forced Returns of the Greek National Commission for Human Rights available here. 45