Moreover, according to UNHCR,35 7,160 persons arrived in Greece through the Greek-Turkish land border of Evros in 2023, compared to a total of 6,022 persons in 2022. According to police statistics provided to GCR on 18 January 2024,36 7,066 arrests for irregular entry at the Evros land borders were carried out throughout 2023, compared to 6,672 arrests in 2022.37 In parallel, the figures on the number of entries of each year, including 2023, may under-represent the number of people attempting to enter Greece or that found themselves on Greek territory, given that cases of alleged pushbacks have been reported as a systematic practice in recent years. The persisting practice of alleged pushbacks has been reported inter alia by UNHCR, IOM, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, the Council of Europe Commissioner and civil society organisations (see sources below). Lastly, as reported by UNHCR,38 799 persons were reported as having gone dead or missing during the year. As per the same data, this is more than double than in 2022 (343). These numbers, proportionately to the number of arrivals, highlights an ongoing dark trend, observed since 2021, whereby more than 1 in a 100 persons trying to reach safety in Greece and the EU, end up going dead and missing.39 The only other time in recent memory when such a shocking number of people were reported dead and missing during their effort to reach safety in the EU was in 2015 (799 dead and missing), during which UNHCR reported more than 860,000 arrivals. This macabre trend may also further indicate the increasingly dangerous journeys people seeking safety in Greece and the EU have to take, in the absence of safe and legal pathways and amidst systematically reported pushback practices. The Pylos shipwreck Most of the dead or missing persons of 2023, disappeared or died on the night of 13th to 14th of June 2023. That night, the overcrowded fishing vessel “Adriana”, carrying approximately 750 persons, capsized 47 nautical miles southwest of Pylos, Greece, in the Greek Search and Rescue (SAR) zone. The vessel left Libya and was en route to Italy. In one night only, approximately 650 persons went missing or died in one of the deadliest shipwrecks to ever occur in Greece and in the Mediterranean. Of those on board the “Adriana”, 104 survived, 9 of whom are currently in pre-trial detention with criminal charges of smuggling,40 and 82 bodies were recovered. On 13 September 2023, forty survivors of the deadly shipwreck in Pylos filed a criminal complaint against all responsible parties before the Naval Court of Piraeus.41 The survivors submit that the Greek authorities failed to immediately intervene and to organise a timely and adequate rescue operation despite their duty to rescue the passengers on board under International Law of the Sea, Human Rights Law, EU and domestic Law.42 This was especially due to the fact that they had been informed from the outset and subsequently ascertained at close distance the imminent threat to life facing passengers on board the manifestly unseaworthy and overcrowded trawler. The complainants allege that the Greek authorities not only refrained from taking the necessary rescue measures as soon as the vessel was sighted, but instead 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Ibid. Directorate of the Hellenic Police, 18 January 2024. UNCHR, Operational Portal, Mediterranean Situation: Greece, available at: https://bit.ly/3WubNsb. Ibid As per the same data published by UNHCR, the number of arrivals in 2021 stood at 9,157, in 2022 at 18,780 and in 2023 at 48,721. During the same interval, 115 persons were reported dead and missing in 2021, 343 in 2022 and 799 in 2023. Proportionally to the number of arrivals, this means that the rate of dead and missing in 2021 stood at roughly 1.3%, in 2022 at 1.8% and in 2023 at 1.6%. AlJazeera, Egyptians accused in Pylos shipwreck case deny smuggling, blame Greece, Months after the tragic disaster that killed hundreds at sea, nine accused men languishing in prison insist they are innocent, 12 February 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/3xpN4wQ. GCR, 40 survivors of the Pylos shipwreck file a criminal complaint before the Naval Court of Piraeus, Press Release of 14 September 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/49FIHeF. Ibid., “The survivors, represented by the Network for Refugee and Migrant Rights, the Hellenic League for Human Rights (HLHR), the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), the Initiative of Lawyers and Jurists for the shipwreck of Pylos, and Refugee Support Aegean (RSA), denounce a series of violations of the Greek authorities' obligations to protect the lives of those on board and demand an effective investigation into the circumstances of the deadliest shipwreck to occur in the Mediterranean in recent years”. 34