Aegean Sea, involving 14.482 children, women and men who tried to reach safety in Europe. 40.6%, 5.882 people, had already arrived on Greek territory, arrested, forced back to sea and left drifting in life rafts, illegally deported by the Hellenic Coast Guard(HCG), on orders from the Greek government, so far there has been no reaction from the EU on these illegal actions. 21.5% of all boats/rafts picked up by Turkish coast guard in 2024 had been pushed back by Greek authorities.’ The annual report for 2025 is still pending. Nonetheless, Aegean Boat Report published in December 2025 a monthly report according to which the total number of arrivals until the end of December 2025 was forming as follows: “In 2025 990 boats have been stopped on their way towards Greece, 25.060 people have been arrested. Boats arriving on the Greek island has been reduced due to the Greek governments pushback tactics, on Greek islands and at sea, boats picked up by TCG has increased for the same reason”.157 On 19 May 2023, the New York Times (NYT) published video footages of an alleged pushback from the island of Lesvos, which allegedly took place in the midday hours of 11 April 2023. 158 Amongst others, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson, in an interview, 159 stated that “[w]hat seems to be in these videos is a deportation”, adding that she had no reason to doubt the footage obtained by the New York Times and called on the Greek authorities to conduct a full and independent investigation into the reported incident. The Greek Prime Minister, in an interview to CNN, 160 had committed to investigating the incident, describing it as an “completely unacceptable practice”. The NTA appears 161 to have been requested by the European Commissioner to activate an investigation into the incident, despite the NTA having repeatedly been criticised for its ineffectiveness in investigating similar incidents. On 21 June 2023, in response to this EU call to the NTA, 21 civil society organisations issued a Joint NGO statement in which they clearly state that there is “[n]o monitoring of fundamental rights violations in Greece without independent and effective mechanisms”.162 On 27 July 2023, in a joint submission to the Prosecutors of the Piraeus Naval Court, the First Instance Court of Mytilene and the Supreme Court Prosecutor, 28 civil society organisations called163 for an effective investigation into potential criminal acts committed in relation to the aforementioned New York Times-released footages. As far as GCR is aware, there has been no update on any criminal investigation allegedly being conducted by the domestic court on this case.164 In November 2023, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) published a report, 165 which “calls on the Greek authorities to investigate reports of hundreds of missing migrants and allegations of people being threatened, abducted, and ill-treated”. MSF based its report on the testimonies of 56 patients and information gathered between August 2021 and July 2023 on Lesbos 166 and Samos. MSF are also reporting that “Since we started providing emergency medical assistance to people arriving by boat to Lesbos in June 2022, we have been unable to find approximately 940 people who were never found at the reported location”. 167 MSF calls for a permanent end to pushbacks at borders, for an 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 Aegean Boat Report, Monthly Report December 2025. All reports available here The New York Times, ‘Greece Says It Doesn’t Ditch Migrants at Sea. It Was Caught in the Act.’, 19 May 2023, available here. POLITICO, EU’s Johansson slams Greece over “deportation” of migrants”, 24 May 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3TSJ1k1. Greek Government, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ interview on CNN, with journalist Christiane Amanpour, 23 May 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/43PTTDQ. Kathimerini, Μεταναστευτικό: Ερευνα από την Εθνική Αρχή Διαφάνειας για το βίντεο από τη Λέσβο, 25 May 2023, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3xExAF6. Amnesty Internaitonal, Joint NGO Statement: No monitoring of fundamental rights violations in Greece without independent and effective mechanisms 21 June 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3vJolmI. GCR, Intervention of 28 organisations to competent Prosecutors on the pushback incident published by the New York Times, 27 july 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3xqRLq1. GCR, Third Party Intervention submitted on 14 September 2024 before the ECtHR regarding the case Muhammad v. Greece, Application no. 34331/22, available here, pp 7-8. MSF, Pushbacks, detention and violence towards migrants on Lesbos, 9 November 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/4aNY9WY. See also, Reuters, Asylum-seekers in Greece face violence, pushbacks -aid group MSF, 2 November 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3xrHkme. Ibid. 52