Developments on investigating and reporting pushbacks The Greek Government has remained opposed to the development of an independent border monitoring mechanism and has referred51 to the National Transparency Authority (NTA) as the body responsible amongst others for the investigation of pushback allegations.52 As of the date of this report, no effective investigation has been conducted on the repeated and consistent pushback allegations. The National Transparency Authority (NTA) has been criticised for lacking expertise to investigate pushbacks and for failing to act as an independent body, due to its failure to comply with the constitutional prerequisites for safeguarding the independence of such authorities.53 In May 2022, NTA released its, one and only, investigation report54 following the referral of a case by the Minister of Migration and Asylum in response to a publication by Lighthouse Report evidencing pushbacks of refugees and migrants by Greece.55 The investigation was carried out from November 2021 to March 2022. This investigation did not involve any victim of pushbacks, representatives of UN agencies, or the Ombudsman or the Greek National Commission for Human Rights. In fact, only one lawyer and one NGO offering medical services were interviewed, out of a total of 65 persons interviewed, which included 29 Greek officials.56 Both the content and process of publication of the report were marred by serious deficiencies, such as the investigation’s stated aims inter alia to ‘to reflect the view of local communities on how irregular migration is managed by the relevant national bodies’57 and to record ‘the view of the local community on allegations of pushbacks’. Serious concerns were also voice about the NTA’s failure to correctly anonymise the data of the report.58 Moreover, on 31 July 2023, NTA published its annual report for 2022 which, as noted by the NTA, “provides objective and comprehensive information on all the activities of the Authority, which were carried out during 2022, as well as the actions included in its operational planning for the following year”. 59 In the Greek version of the same report, it is mentioned that NTA in 2022 received a total of 2,694 general complaints, 167 of which were forwarded to other audit services (mainly to the “AADE” and the Internal 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, ECRI report on Greece (sixth monitoring cycle), 28 June 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3Muu4Bd, p. 36: comment by the Greek authorities ‘In particular, the National Transparency Authority -that enjoys institutional autonomy- has been designated as the competent authority to investigate allegations of incidents involving the breach of fundamental rights at the borders and so far, its investigation has not resulted in the substantiation of any alleged violations. The National Transparency Authority operates in parallel to the Ombudsman and the Judiciary system that have also, within their respective mandates, reviewed cases related to border protection and fundamental rights. Moreover, an internal disciplinary mechanism is well in place within the Security Forces to ensure that complaints for violations of fundamental rights allegedly committed by its personnel are adequately investigated’. GCR, Greek Council for Refugees input for the forthcoming report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants with respect to human rights violations at international borders: trends, prevention and accountability, 28 February 2022, p. 5 and footnotes 29 and 30, available at: https://bit.ly/3oleekc. UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Statement on preliminary observations and recommendations following official visit to Greece, 22 June 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3q1bwAZ. See also UNHCR, OHCHR, ENNHRI, Ten points to guide the establishment of an independent and effective national border monitoring mechanism in Greece, 9 September 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3MjauaM: ‘Ensure that those entrusted with monitoring fundamental rights at borders have thorough institutional experience in international human rights law, EU fundamental rights law and in fundamental rights as guaranteed by the Greek Constitution and national legislation as well as on evolving international, European and national case law interpreting such law. Institutional experience in asylum, border management and return as well as practical experience in human rights monitoring and in working with law enforcement actors are additional assets which facilitate a successful functioning of the monitoring mechanism.’ See the full report, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3Izbqqu. Lighthouse reports, Frontex, the EU Pushback Agency: Frontex’s internal database suggests the EU border agency is involved in illegal pushbacks on a massive scale, 6 May 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3WpRXyg. NTA, Investigation Report OM3/4, available at: https://bit.ly/3OvFiI8, pp. 39-44. RSA et al., Systemic breaches of the rule of law and of the EU asylum acquis at Greece’s land and sea borders, June 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3BPeWJQ. Rule of Law Backsliding Continues in Greece, Joint Civil Society Submission to the European Commission on the 2023 Rule of Law Report, January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/45qfPpQ, p. 27: ‘Due to NTA’s own failure to correctly anonymise data in the report, the personal details of persons interviewed as part of the investigation were made public. Out of 65 persons interviewed for the purposes of the investigation, the Authority spoke to 21 locals working mostly in shipping and fisheries or members of local business associations, ten religious leaders, only one lawyer and one NGO offering medical services, zero victims and zero representatives of UN agencies, the Ombudsman or the National Commission for Human Rights. 29 interviewees were Greek officials’. NTA, 2022 Annual Report, 31 July 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3TNGjMN, and English at: https://bit.ly/4amDMAl. 36