authorities should put measures in place to prevent any instances in which migrants could be hired or involved in that type of activity or other activities that involve labour or economic exploitation”.99 Among the pending cases before the ECtHR, in Application no. 35090/22 K.A. and Others v. Greece (interim measures granted on 20 July 2022), 50 Syrian refugees who were allegedly stranded on an islet in the Evros river, complained that they were pushed back from Greece to Türkiye after the Court’s decision. Most of them entered Greece again and found themselves stranded on the same islet once again.100 These refugees also complained that a young girl had died on the islet from insect bites. After succeeding to reach the mainland on their own, they were formally arrested and registered on 15 August 2022. On 13 August, UNHCR stated that: ‘We continue to be gravely concerned for the safety and wellbeing of some 40 people allegedly stranded on an islet at the Greece-Türkiye border. According to reports received a child has tragically already died. Unless urgent action is taken, we fear further lives remain at stake’.101 The full application before the Court has been submitted by GCR. This specific case attracted the media’s attention, public interest and provoked a “public debate” around the facts of the case with many press releases, interviews and statements before the Greek Parliament. However, the “case of 38” remains a pushback case102 that the Greek State tries ‘to conceal in the public debate, by shifting the focus from the main issue which is the Greek State’s responsibility for the violent pushback operations. The Government continues to question the role of the Organisations that filed the interim measures before the ECtHR’103. The case was communicated104 to the Greek and Turkish Government by the ECtHR on 17 April 2023. FRO of FRONTEX published a serious incident report105 about the case, which concludes, inter alia, that “regarding the allegations of pushbacks on … the Fundamental Rights Office considers the reports of pushbacks by migrants as relatively credible…”.106 In May 2024 GCR submitted its written Observations for this case before the ECtHR. On 26 January 2023, the ECtHR delivered its judgment in the case of B.Y. v. Greece, application no. 60990/14,107 which was represented before the Court by GCR, the Network of Social Support of Refugees and Immigrants and the Lawyers’ Group for the rights of Refugees and Immigrants. The Court ruled that there was a violation of Article 3 (the procedural limb of Article 3 in conjunction with Article 13) of the Convention. The case concerned108 a Turkish national who alleged that he was forcibly removed from Athens, Greece, to Türkiye, despite his attempts to claim asylum on the grounds of his political opinion. The ECtHR, by a majority of 4 votes against 3, did not uphold the plea of violation of Article 3 in its substantive part because, despite the abundance of evidence submitted, the majority of the Court maintained reservations and ultimately concluded that it was impossible to admit the applicant's presence in Greece during the period in question. The Court notes, however, that that failure stems to a large extent from the failure of the national authorities to carry out the thorough and effective investigation which they were required to carry out and to provide the necessary evidence. On the contrary, the three Members of 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 UN, Report of the Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination, 14 July 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/49vOYsV. About the islet’s territorial status, the Ministry of Defence stated in written that the islet is divided by a GreekTurkish border line, thus creating a Greek and a Turkish part. See Official Letter-Response of the Greek Minister of Defense to the Hellenic Parliament, Answer on the issue of ‘sovereignty on an islet in Evros’, 7 October 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3BM8F1v and GCR Press Release, Δελτίο τύπου σε συνέχεια και της διευκρίνισης του συνοριακού καθεστώτος της νησίδας στον Έβρο, 12 October 2022, available in Greek: https://bit.ly/3IAnwjs. UNHCR News on X (Twitter), 13 August 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3ooj5kD. Article of the Director of GCR publishes in ‘Εποχή’ on 08 January 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3BSbiP6 and https://bit.ly/3WqB1YD. See GCR report, At Europe’s Borders: Between Impunity and Criminalization, March 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3opKToW. ECtHR, Application No. 35090/22 and 38444/22, K.A and others v. Greece and Turkey, 17 April 2023, available in French at: https://bit.ly/3VKLL5M. Final SIR Report dated on 20/12/2022, available at: https://bitly.ws/3e4P8 Ibid. Decision available (in French) at: https://bit.ly/45nE0oF. See also ELENA, ECtHR: Greece’s ineffective investigation into an asylum seeker’s removal to Türkiye violated Article 3, 26 January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/45rVS1O and GCR Press release available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/43pnzqh. ELENA, ECtHR: Greece’s ineffective investigation into an asylum seeker’s removal to Türkiye violated Article 3, 26 January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/45rVS1O. 42