FRONTIER EUROPE Human rights abuses on Greece’s border with Turkey 7 2. CROSSINGS FROM TURKEY TO GREECE Up until 2010, most migrants and refugees sought to reach Greece by crossing the Aegean Sea in small boats.4 That year the main route shifted to the land border in the Evros region, which for the most part runs along the River Evros. This was partly because of increased surveillance at sea by Greek coastguards supported by Frontex – the European Border Agency5 - and partly because the Greek government had removed the anti-personnel mines along the land border, making it less dangerous for migrants to cross on foot from Turkey. 6 In mid-August 2012, however, Greece launched Operation Aspida (Shield) to stop migrants entering irregularly across the Evros border by deploying more than 1,800 additional police officers7 and constructing a 10.5km fence along the northern section of this land border. According to Frontex these developments have had such an impact that less than ten irregular migrants a week were detected crossing this border at the end of October 2012, down from 2,000 in the first week of August 2012.8 With heightened security on the land border, more and more refugees and migrants are again taking the more dangerous sea route to Greek islands on small boats. According to the Greek police, the number of migrants apprehended crossing the land border irregularly dropped from 15,877 in the first five months of 2012 to 336 in the same period in 2013; apprehensions on the Greek islands or in the Aegean rose from 169 in 2012 to 3,265 in 2013 for the same period.9 This shift of the migration route back to the Aegean Sea is claiming lives. Since August 2012, 101 individuals – mostly Syrians and Afghans, among them children and pregnant women – have lost their lives in at least six known incidents in this stretch of water. 10 FRONTEX ON THE GREECE-TURKEY BORDER: POSEIDON LAND AND SEA OPERATIONS The EU and its member states have provided support to Greece to police its borders as part of efforts to control irregular migration to the EU through Greek land and sea borders. Since 2006, border patrol operations, named “Poseidon Joint Operations”, have been carried out with the participation of more than 20 EU member states and Schengen Associated Countries. Participating states have provided technical equipment and guest officers to patrol the borders, identify countries of origin (“screening”) and interview migrants to gather information on trafficking networks and routes used by smugglers (“debriefing”). 11 At the time of Amnesty International’s visit to Greece in April 2013, Frontex had only one screener, stationed on the island of Lesvos, who was interviewing people apprehended while trying to enter Greece by sea to identify their nationality. There were also around 20 guest officers in the Evros region, mainly carrying out patrolling duties and operating thermal vision cameras.12 Frontex publishes very little information about its ongoing operations.13 The latest publically available information on its operations in Greece dates back to 2011 for land operations and 2010 for sea operations providing only cursory details. Index: 25/008/2013 Amnesty International July 2013