MIGREUROP

Déconstruire le mythe des pays « sûrs » dans la politique de retour de l'UE

Camille — 2025-06-20T12:49:51Z

À l'occasion de la Journée mondiale des réfugié·e·s, le 20 juin, EuroMed Droits publie trois fiches d'information mettant en lumière les conditions alarmantes en Égypte, en Tunisie et en Turquie, où la sécurité et les droits des citoyen·ne·s et des personnes en migration
sont gravement menacés.

En cette journée symbolique, nous saluons et rendons hommage à la résilience de toutes les personnes contraintes de fuir leur pays, leur famille, leur environnement, pour échapper aux conflits, à la précarité, aux persécutions politiques ou aux catastrophes climatiques. Mais cette solidarité ne se réduit pas à une seule date. Elle doit être constante, active et concrète.

La proposition législative de la Commission européenne, en avril dernier, d'inscrire l'Égypte, la Tunisie et la Turquie sur la liste des « pays d'origine sûrs » constitue une grave menace pour les droits des personnes exilées. Elle ouvre la voie à des procédures d'asile accélérées pour les ressortissant·e·s de ces pays, aux frontières ou dans les zones de transit, qui limitent les garanties procédurales et imposent une charge de la preuve plus élevée aux demandeur·euse·s pour réfuter la présomption de sécurité. Dans le même ordre d'idées, la Commission propose une révision du concept de « pays tiers sûr ». Si ces modifications législatives proposées sont mises en œuvre, les personnes en migration pourraient alors être expulsées vers des pays où elles ont simplement transité, ou même où elles n'ont jamais mis les pieds, à condition qu'il existe un accord, même informel, acceptant le pays en question à évaluer les demandes de protection. Les recours contre ces décisions de retour n'auront plus d'effet suspensif automatique. Dans l'ensemble, ces mesures augmentent le risque d'expulsion sans une évaluation complète, individuelle et significative des demandes d'asile ou des mesures de protection.

Pour dénoncer ces dernières propositions anti-immigration et criminalisantes, EuroMed Droits, en partenariat avec l'Association Marocaine des Droits Humains (AMDH), l'Association Tunisienne des Femmes Démocrates (ATFD), ARCI, le Cairo Institute for Human Rights (CIHRS), CNCD-11.11.11, le Conseil grec pour les réfugiés (GCR), İnsan Hakları Derneği (IHD), La Cimade, la Ligue des droits de l'Homme (LDH), Migreurop, l'OMCT et Refugees Platform in Egypt, publie trois fiches d'information spécifiques à chaque pays documentant les violences et les violations des droits de l'homme subies en Égypte, en Tunisie et en Turquie. Alors que la Commission propose de les désigner comme « sûrs » sur le papier, nous démontrons comment ces pays bafouent les droits et sont, en réalité, dangereux tant pour leurs citoyen·ne·s que pour les personnes en migration.

Face à cette réalité, EuroMed Droits, ses membres et ses partenaires, réaffirment leur ferme opposition au concepts de « pays d'origine sûrs » et de « pays tiers sûrs », qui vont à l'encontre des droits fondamentaux et des valeurs proclamés et prétendument défendus par l'Union européenne. Si l'UE veut vraiment défendre les droits de l'Homme, elle doit renoncer à des politiques attentatoires aux droits, mortifères et discriminatoires, qu'il s'agisse d'une liste de « pays sûrs », de concepts erronés de « sécurité » ou de tout instrument visant à externaliser ses responsabilités en matière de protection internationale.

Fiche info ÉGYPTE (FR)

Fiche info TURQUIE (FR)

Fiche info TUNISIE (FR)

Exposing the myth of « safe » countries in EU Return Policy

Camille — 2025-06-20T12:49:48Z

On the occasion of the World Refugee Day, on 20 June, EuroMed Rights is publishing three fact-sheets highlighting the alarming conditions in Egypt, Tunisia, and Turkey, where the security and rights of citizens and people on the move alike are under serious threat. On this symbolic day, we salute and pay tribute to the resilience of all those forced to flee their country, their family, their environment, to escape conflicts, precariousness, political persecution, or climate disasters. But this solidarity cannot be reduced to a single date. It must be constant, active, and concrete.

The European Commission's legislative proposal, last April, to list Egypt, Tunisia, and Turkey as "safe countries of origin" poses a serious threat to the rights of people on the move. It paves the way for fast-tracked asylum procedures for nationals of these countries, often at border or transit zones, that lead to limited procedural safeguards and impose a higher burden of proof on applicants to refute the presumption of safety. In line with this, the Commission is proposing a revision of the “safe third country” concept. If these proposed legislative changes are implemented, people on the move could then be deported to countries where they have simply transited, or never even stayed at all, as long as there is an agreement, even an informal one, obliging the country in question to assess protection and asylum claims. Appeals against these return decisions will no longer have an automatic suspensive effect. All together, these measures increase the risk of deportation without a full, individual, and meaningful assessment of asylum claims or protection measures.

To denounce these latest anti-immigration and criminalizing proposals, EuroMed Rights, in partnership with the Association Marocaine des Droits Humains (AMDH), the Association Tunisienne des Femmes Démocrates (ATFD), ARCI, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights (CIHRS),CNCD-11.11.11, the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), İnsan Hakları Derneği (IHD), La Cimade, theLigue des droits de l'Homme (LDH), Migreurop, OMCT and Refugees Platform in Egypt, publish three country-specific fact sheets documenting violence and human rights violations suffered in Egypt, Tunisia, and Turkey. While the Commission proposes to designate them as “safe” on paper, we show how these countries violate rights and are, in reality, unsafe for their citizens and people on the move alike.

Faced with this reality, EuroMed Rights and its members and partners reaffirm their firm opposition to the notions of "safe countries of origin" and "safe third countries," which run counter to the fundamental rights and values proclaimed and supposedly defended by the European Union. If the EU is serious about defending human rights, it must renounce policies that violate rights, are dangerous and discriminatory, whether it be a
list of "safe countries", flawed concepts of "safety”, or any instrument aimed at externalizing its responsibilities for international protection.

Infosheet EGYPT (EN)

Infosheet TURKEY (EN)

Infosheet TUNISIA (EN)

Greece must revoke the decision to consider Turkey a safe country

2022-05-17T10:32:00Z

To end the obstacles to seeking asylum in Europe, Greece must repeal the decision to consider Turkey a safe country!

Sign the petition: https://www.change.org/p/greece-mus...

On 18th March 2016, the European Union made a Deal with Turkey, which established that Syrian people fleeing the war in their country who arrived on the Greek islands, would face an “admissibility procedure” - the Deal's aim was to return people to Turkey, instead of examining their asylum applications in Europe.

The European Commission noted the discriminatory effects of this controversial measure - limiting the right to seek asylum - but considered they were justified by the specific extraordinary circumstances and the Deal's temporary nature.

Five years later, despite arrivals of people claiming asylum in Greece dramatically decreasing, the Greek government extended this unlawful and unfair concept of “admissibility”. On 7th June 2021, the Greek government decided to declare that Turkey is a safe third country for people seeking asylum from Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan and Bangladesh, in addition to Syrians.

People of these nationalities are now subject to the new admissibility procedure, irrespective of their vulnerability and notwithstanding how long they have been in Greece. The procedure is instigated with a view to returning the person to Turkey, before their reasons for fleeing their country and claiming asylum are ever heard.

"I really do not understand. In my country I was working as humanitarian, for this reason terrorists wanted to kill me. I tried to stay but then they killed my friend, and I realised I had no choice. I came to Greece to seek international protection, but as per now - almost one year after my arrival - no one asked me why I left my country. Greece only asked me about the days I spent in Turkey. I told them that Turkish authorities put me in detention with no food and water and then they said that if I wanted to go out I had to sign a paper. This paper was allowing my deportation to Somalia. Unfortunately I had no choice. I signed it, then I fled Turkey and came to Greece. I only want a safe place, and my claim to be examined." [1]

We instigate this petition one year after the Greek government's Joint Ministerial Decision (JMD). We call for its revocation, given it is unlawful, inhumane and unworkable.

UNLAWFUL:

Contrary to legal requirements, the Greek government's decision to declare Turkey safe for these nationalities, has no basis. It is arbitrary and unlawful [2] The only report upon which this decision is based, contradicts the Greek government's intentions, demonstrating that Turkey is in fact not safe. ThisOpinion was made public by the Greek Asylum Service only after legal action was taken, to force transparency. It should be noted that an application for the annulment of said JMD was submitted before the Greek Council of State and its examination was discussed on 11th March 2022. The decision is still pending.

"It was early in the morning, I got a call from the Greek Asylum office, they told me your interview is next week on Monday. But they didn't tell me which interview. I passed the days stressing and looking for a lawyer. Despite all my efforts, I couldn't find a lawyer in Athens to come with me. I found a lawyer on Friday, just 3 days before the interview but not in Athens, in Chios over the phone - they told me that I wouldn't be able to talk about Afghanistan in the interview."

INHUMANE:

Turkey is not a safe country for people seeking asylum, who are in need of protection. Indeed, Turkey withdrew last year, from the 2014 Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. Turkey is not a signatoryof the 1967 Protocol hence does not guarantee full protection as per the 1951 Geneva Convention. Turkey derogates from the principle of non-refoulement, admitting that they deport people seeking asylum to countries where they could face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Hundreds of thousandsof Syrian people have returned to Syria from Turkey, apparently voluntarily. Turkey systematically persecuted ethnic and religious minorities, members of the LGBTQI+ community, political opponents, and human rights defenders. In addition, Turkey's non-independent judicial system is incompatible with European and international standards.

"The Greek Asylum Service interviewed me for seven hours because I passed through Turkey for 3 nights. I had to live like a street dog those nights in Turkey, and I saw that even dogs aren't safe there. Still the Greek authorities decided I should go back there and I can't continue with my claim for asylum in Greece."

UNWORKABLE:

Furthermore Turkey has not accepted the return of anyone from Greece since March 2020 [3] and recently requested Greece to revoke its decision to consider Turkey a safe third country https://neighbourhood-enlargement.e.... In practice, despite the new barrier to asylum, people are kept in limbo - creating delays, suffering, risks of exploitation, pushbacks and lack of access to basic services such as healthcare.

"The Greek government are playing with refugees like a ball - they want to throw me back and forth, through the seas, forests and mountains that I had to pass to reach safety here."

We call on the Greek government to revoke their Joint Ministerial Decision of 7th June 2021. Turkey is not a safe country and people's asylum claims should be properly processed in a fair and lawful manner.

List of signatories attached

[1] [1] Quotes are from people affected by the JMD, anonymised for protection purposes

[2] [2] By designating Turkey as a safe country for the above-mentioned nationalities without any legal and reliable grounds, nor any individual and actualised assessment, the Joint Ministerial Decision from 07th June 2021 constitutes a breach of EU law.

[3] [3] European Commission, Turkey Report 2021, SWD(2021) 290, 19th October 2021 (available here): “Turkey continued to refuse to resume the readmission of returnees from the Greek islands, interrupted in March 2020, citing COVID-19 restrictions despite the European Commission's repeated requests to fully implement all the provisions of the EU-Turkey Statement.”; Letter to the European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, 08th March 2022 (available here)

Samos hotspot : inferno at the Greece-Turkey border

2020-10-08T09:08:08Z

On Friday 28th February 2020, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan decided unilaterally to suspend the EU-Turkey deal of 2016, which, over the past four years, transformed five Greek islands in the Aegean sea into open prisons for migrants, the infamous ‘hotspots'. Already, Turkey had repeatedly used this agreement as a blackmailing device, threatening to re-open its borders with the EU. Finally, this threat was carried out in response to criticism from European leaders following a Turkish invasion of Syria and the loss of thirty Turkish soldiers in a Russian bombing. Following this, thousands of exiles, most of them traveling in buses chartered by the Turkish authorities, rushed to the land and sea borders, facing heavy violence from the police and Greek army which had been deployed immediately to prevent people crossing the border.

Under the guise of ‘protecting Europe's borders', [1] the Greece-Turkey border has become the scene of numerous human rights violations, including gross violations of personal dignity, physical integrity, and the right to life. Violence at the land and sea borders has reached a peak. [2] By refusing entry to European territory for people seeking asylum, and by suspending the registration of asylum requests, Greece, with the support of the EU which sent the European Frontex agency as reinforcement, rides roughshod over the principle of non-refoulement, cornerstone of the Geneva Convention. As noted by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, denouncing "a situation of absolute lawlessness", "Greece plays a role as cruel as that played by Turkey or the rest of the European states, because the crisis is (...) rooted in the lack of vision and courage of European leaders”. [3]

Since March 2020, a new catastrophe has struck the Greek hotspots. In addition to the intolerable overcrowding, lack of food and sanitary infrastructures (drinking water, showers, toilets), inadequate accommodation in tents (which has resulted in several deaths each year due to hypothermia), and to the frequent fires which ravage the island camps, the threat of Covid-19 has been added to this deadly mix. On 22nd March 2020, Greek authorities announced mandatory confinement of people living in migrant camps, including the hotspots. Given that levels of overcrowding make preventing spread of the virus virtually impossible in these sites, such measures can only serve to deliberately expose camp residents to a serious and imminent threat of infection. [4]

This report exposes the humanitarian crisis and situation of lawlessness which already existed for people seeking asylum trapped on Samos at the end of 2019, thus pre-dating the collapse of the EU-Turkey deal and Covid-19 pandemic. At the time of publication, the present reality serves only to reaffirm how the ‘hotspot approach', feted by the European Commission as the solution to putting an end to the so-called ‘migrant crisis', has instead ‘created a monster'. [5]

Download the report "Samos hostpot : inferno at the Greece-Turkey border" here.

Listen to the Radioparleur program, 27th November 2019 « L'île grecque de Samos, prison à ciel ouvert pour les exilés »

See also the hotspots page on the website of the Gisti (FR).

[1] Tweet from Charles Michel-https://twitter.com/eucopresident/s..., President of the European Council, 1st March 2020.

[2] Videos on the situation of violence against exiles at the Greek-Turkish border.

[3] Mediapart, 3rd March 2020, «Réfugiés : la Grèce est dans une situation de non-droit absolu » .

[4] Migreurop, 3rd April 2020, « From the « war against the virus » to the war against exiles: security responses to Covid-19 exacerbate violence at borders.

[5] La Cimade, 3rd March 2020, « Frontière Grèce-Turquie : de l'approche hotspot au scandale de la guerre aux migrant.es ».

Hotspot de Samos : l'enfer à la frontière gréco-turque

2020-04-28T09:04:03Z

Rapport Samos 2020

https://www.gisti.org/IMG/pdf/repor...

Le vendredi 28 février 2020, le président turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan décidait unilatéralement de suspendre l'accord UE-Turquie de 2016, qui, en quatre ans, a transformé cinq îles grecques de la mer Égée en prisons à ciel ouvert pour les exilé·es, les fameux « hotspots ». A de nombreuses reprises déjà, la Turquie s'était servie de cet accord comme instrument de chantage auprès de l'Union européenne, en menaçant de rouvrir ses frontières. Les critiques des gouvernants européens face à l'offensive turque en Syrie et la perte d'une trentaine de soldats turcs dans un bombardement russe ont été le prétexte pour mettre à exécution cette menace. Dans la foulée, des milliers d'exilé·es, la plupart se déplaçant dans des bus affrétés par les autorités turques, se sont précipité·es aux frontières terrestres et maritimes, se heurtant à la violence de la police et de l'armée grecque aussitôt déployées pour leur en interdire le franchissement.

Au nom de la « protection des frontières de l'Europe » [1], la frontière gréco-turque est le théâtre de nombreuses violations flagrantes des droits humains : atteinte à la dignité des personnes, atteinte à leur intégrité physique, atteinte à leur vie. La violence aux frontières terrestres et maritimes est à son paroxysme [2]. En refusant l'entrée des exilé·es sur le territoire européen, en suspendant l'enregistrement des demandes d'asile, la Grèce, avec le soutien de l'UE qui a envoyé l'agence européenne Frontex en renfort, piétine le principe de non-refoulement, pierre angulaire de la convention de Genève. Comme le relève la Rapporteure spéciale des Nations unies sur les exécutions extra judiciaires, qui dénonce « une situation de non-droit absolu », « la Grèce joue un rôle tout aussi cruel que celui joué par la Turquie ou le reste des États européens, car la crise est (…) ancrée dans le manque de vision et de courage des dirigeants européens » [3].

Depuis le mois de mars 2020, une nouvelle catastrophe plane sur les hotspots grecs. A l'intolérable surpopulation, au manque d'infrastructures sanitaires (eau potable, douches, toilettes) et de nourriture, à l'hébergement sous tentes qui se solde chaque année par des morts par hypothermie, aux incendies à répétition, s'ajoute aujourd'hui le Covid-19. Le 22 mars 2020, les autorités grecques ont annoncé le confinement forcé des exilé·es dans les camps grecs, y compris les hotspots. La surpopulation rendant la prévention de la propagation du virus pratiquement impossible, ces mesures exposent délibérément ces personnes à un risque grave et imminent de contamination [4].

Ce rapport décrit la catastrophe humanitaire et la situation de non-droit qui caractérisaient déjà la condition des exilé·es à la fin de l'année 2019 sur l'île de Samos, l'un des cinq hotspots grecs, avant l'enterrement de l'accord UE-Turquie et l'irruption de la pandémie du COVID 19. Au moment de sa publication, l'actualité confirme que « l'approche hotspots », vantée par la Commission européenne comme une solution pour mettre fin à la « crise migratoire », a bien « engendré un monstre » [5].

A l'heure où nous diffusons ce rapport, nous apprenons qu'une série d'incendies s'est déclenchée au camp de Vathy, dans le hotspot de l'île de Samos, créant de vives tensions entre les réfugié·es qui tentaient de fuir les flammes et les forces de police, qui prétendaient les en empêcher au nom des mesures restrictives en vigueur dans les hotspots grecs du fait de la pandémie du COVID 19. Le 26 avril au soir, une évacuation du camp a finalement été organisée. Mais les réfugié·es, dont certain·es sont blessé·es à la suite des affrontements avec la police, sont désormais sans abri, et les associations se sont vu interdire de les héberger en raison du COVID 19.

Rapport de missions Gisti et Migreurop « Hotspot de Samos, l'enfer à la frontière gréco-turque »

Écouter l'émission Radioparleur du 27 novembre 2019 « L'île grecque de Samos, prison à ciel ouvert pour les exilés »

Voir aussi le dossier consacré à la question des hotspots sur le site du Gisti.

[1] [Tweet de Charles Michel-https://twitter.com/eucopresident/s...], président du Conseil européen, 1er mars 2020.

[2] Sur la situation à la frontière gréco-turque : Vidéos sur la situation des violences contre les exilé·es à la frontière gréco-turque.

[3] « Réfugiés : la Grèce est dans une situation de non-droit absolu », Mediapart, 3 mars 2020.

[4] Migreurop, 3 avril 2020 « De « la guerre contre le virus » à la guerre aux exilé ·e ·s : les réponses sécuritaires au Covid-19 exacerbent les violences aux frontières ».

[5] La Cimade, 3 mars 2020, « Frontière Grèce-Turquie : de l'approche hotspot au scandale de la guerre aux migrant.es ».

EU-Turkey: sharing cynicism

2020-03-18T12:39:35Z

More than ever, on 18 March 2020, at a time when a pandemic is spreading, attacking the most destitute and least protected populations, including migrants in the hotspots, at borders, or locked up in European detention centres, we forcefully express our total rejection of this cynical policy, which is nothing less than a war on migrants.

Four years ago, on 18 March 2016, as the "EU/Turkey" Statement was made public, the European Union (EU) and Turkey embarked on a "dirty deal". In exchange for a hypothetical relocation to European countries of Syrian refugees present on Turkish land, Turkey was to "host" people who had been sent back from Greek hotspots after an asylum application deemed unfounded or for whom Turkey was considered a safe third country. Turkey also had to stop migrants in its territory from travelling to the EU.

At that time, no one among the EU authorities or among the governments of the member states was fooled. They were all well aware of the cynicism of their Turkish interlocutor. Cynicism, moreover, was well shared. Both sides were enjoying the benefits, while at the same time making the migrants the instrument of their negotiations.

Four years later, this arrangement has revealed all its shortcomings: the hotspots have never stopped being congested, leaving thousands of people living in degrading and inhuman conditions. As the war in Syria rages on and still displaces hundreds of thousands of people, the Turkish President has carried out the threat repeatedly brandished. He announced at the end of February 2020 that he would not be anymore the "gendarme" of part of the EU's external borders. The response of Greece, the member states and the EU was not long in coming: supposedly outraged, they did not hesitate to implement, in the name of the protection of European borders, illegal and brutal measures in violation of the rights of the migrants. At the beginning of March, Greece suspended the registration of asylum applications in order to better push back those who would try to enter via Turkey [1]; a few days later, more than 400 people who had arrived by sea were sequestered in a military vessel moored in the port of Mytilene, on the Greek island of Lesbos [2], without any decision having been notified to them; at the same time, Greece had to deny the existence of secret - or "extrajudicial" - pre-removal detention centres at its border with Turkey [3]. The height of cynicism: the International Organization for Migration (IOM), encouraged and financed by the EU, has moved to the Greek-Turkish border to offer so-called 'voluntary' return assistance to the migrants present there.

The consensus that can often be lacking within the EU in the development of a common immigration and asylum policy seems to have been found : the closure of the Greek-Turkish border and the protection of EU borders at all costs. No need to reinforce more the calls for hatred, racism and xenophobia by local militias [4]. Because the EU, so predictable, only finds an answer to migration by externalising the control of its borders, Erdogan's authoritarian regime is strengthened [5]. Turkey's calculations have paid off.

[1] http://www.ekathimerini.com/250097/...

[2] https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/pos...

[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/10/...

[4] http://cadtm.org/Un-nuage-neo-fasci...

[5] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...

UE–Turquie : le cynisme en partage

2020-03-18T12:39:28Z

Plus que jamais, ce 18 mars 2020, à l'heure où une pandémie se répand, s'en prenant aux populations les plus démunies et les moins protégées, dont les personnes exilées dans les hotspots, aux frontières, ou encore enfermées dans des centres de rétention européens, nous exprimons avec force notre rejet total de cette politique cynique qui n'est rien d'autre qu'une guerre aux migrant.e.s.

Il y a quatre ans, le 18 mars 2016, était rendue publique la Déclaration « UE/Turquie » par laquelle l'Union européenne (UE) et la Turquie s'engageaient dans un « troc indigne ». En échange d'une hypothétique relocalisation dans les pays européens des réfugié.e.s syrien.ne.s présent.e.s sur le sol turc, la Turquie devait « accueillir » les personnes ayant été renvoyé.e.s des hotspots grecs après une demande d'asile estimée infondée ou pour lesquelles la Turquie a été considérée pays tiers sûr. Elle devait également éviter que les exilé.e.s dans son territoire ne se rendent vers l'UE.

A cette date, personne, parmi les autorités de l'UE ou des gouvernements des États membres n'était dupe. Elles connaissaient parfaitement le cynisme de leur interlocuteur turc. Cynisme par ailleurs bien partagé. Les deux parties tiraient leur épingle du jeu, tout en faisant des personnes exilées l'instrument de leur négociation.

Quatre ans après, cet arrangement a révélé toutes ses défaillances : les hotspots n'ont jamais cessé d'être engorgés, laissant des milliers de personnes vivre dans des conditions dégradantes et inhumaines. Alors que la guerre en Syrie fait rage et déplace à nouveau des centaines de milliers de personnes, le président turc a mis à exécution la menace brandie à plusieurs reprises. Il annonce fin février 2020 cesser d'être le « gendarme » d'une partie des frontières extérieures de l'UE. La réponse de la Grèce, des États membres et de l'UE ne s'est pas fait attendre : soi-disant indignés, ils n'ont pas hésité à mettre en œuvre, au nom de la protection des frontières européennes, des mesures illégales et brutales en violation des droits des exilé.e.s. Début mars, la Grèce suspend l'enregistrement des demandes d'asile pour mieux refouler les personnes qui tenteraient d'entrer par la Turquie [1] ; quelques jours plus tard, plus de quatre cents exilé.e.s arrivé.e.s par la mer sont séquestré.e.s à bord d'un navire militaire amarré au port de Mytilène, sur l'île grecque de Lesbos [2], sans qu'aucune décision ne leur ait été notifiée ; la Grèce doit par ailleurs démentir dans le même temps l'existence de centres secrets - ou « extrajudiciaires » - de détention pré-expulsion à sa frontière avec la Turquie [3]. Comble du cynisme : l'Organisation internationale des migrations (OIM), encouragée et financée par l'UE, s'est déplacée pour proposer aux exilé.e.s présent.e.s à la frontière gréco-turque une aide au retour dit « volontaire ».

Le consensus qui peut souvent faire défaut au sein de l'UE dans l'élaboration d'une politique commune d'immigration et d'asile, semble avoir été trouvé : la fermeture de la frontière gréco-turque et la protection des frontières de l'UE à tout prix. Il n'en fallait pas plus pour conforter les appels à la haine, au racisme et à la xénophobie des milices locales [4]. Parce que l'UE, si prévisible, ne trouve de réponse aux migrations que par l'externalisation du contrôle de ses frontières, le régime autoritaire d'Erdogan s'en trouve renforcé [5]. Les calculs de la Turquie ont payé.

[1] Ekathimerini, Greece freezes asylum applications from illegally entering migrants, 1 mars 2020

[2] Infomigrants, Fabrice, Congolais à bord du navire bloqué à Lesbos : "On est traités comme des animaux", 12 mars 2020

[3] L'express, La Grèce accusée d'enfermer les migrants dans un centre de détention secret, 11 mars 2020

[4] CADTM,
Un nuage néo-fasciste plane au-dessus des frontières entre la Grèce et la Turquie, 12 mars 2020

[5] The Guardian, Greece hopes EU-Turkey talks will ease tension over refugee crisis, 16 mars 2020

Xenophobia and racism are killing at the Greek-Turkish border! So is the European Union!

2020-03-13T17:41:17Z

Over the past few days, people have been killed on the Greek-Turkish border! This situation is the direct consequence of political choices made by European leaders, willing to seal off the European Union's borders by all means, especially by outsourcing the examination of asylum claims and the encampment of the “undesirable” to non-European states. Every day, unbearable footage shows exiles being turned away or deliberately put in danger.

The Greek police force and army, alongside some of the local population and fascist groups, have deployed unprecedented violence to stop these people from entering Europe. Whether at sea or along the Evros river, border agents are barring the way to vessels - which is leading to shipwrecks - and are shooting into the air, causing injuries and deaths.

Not only has the European Union so far not condemned these extremely serious acts, but it is supporting, even encouraging them: Instead of reminding the Greek authorities that international and European law both prohibit that a person seeking international protection be turned away without his/her situation being examined first, the European Council President has praised Greece's efforts to ‘protect European borders'; likewise, the European Commission President has referred to Greece as a ‘European shield', as if an enemy was threatening Europe.

For it's part, the European agency Frontex is planning to deploy a rapid border intervention which will open a new front in the 'war on migrants' that has been waged by the EU at its borders for some twenty years.

A recently established coalition of organisations against border violence has announced that complaints will be lodged against Greece and the EU for violating the rights of people fleeing Turkey. States, and the European leaders condoning their actions, must not be permitted to perpetrate such abuse with impunity.

A few days ahead of the 4th anniversary of the shameful EU-Turkey declaration, on the 18th March, we denounce confinement in camps in Greece and violence at the borders, and recall the urgency to protect above all the rights of migrants.

Close the camps and freedom of movement for all !

See the list of signatory organisations in Europe and beyond.

À la frontière gréco-turque, la xénophobie et le racisme tuent ! L'Union européenne aussi !

2020-03-13T17:41:12Z

Depuis plusieurs jours, des personnes meurent à la frontière gréco-turque ! Cette situation est la conséquence directe de choix politiques opérés par les dirigeants européens qui voudraient boucler les frontières de l'Union européenne à tout prix, notamment en sous-traitant à des États non européens l'examen des demandes d'asile et l'encampement des indésirables. Des images insoutenables arrivent quotidiennement, montrant des personnes exilées refoulées ou mises délibérément en danger.

Pour empêcher leur entrée en Europe, la police et l'armée grecques, rejointes par une partie de la population ainsi que par des mouvements fascistes, ont déployé un niveau de violence inédit. En mer comme le long de la rivière Evros, leurs agents barrent la route aux bateaux, provoquent des naufrages, tirent en l'air, blessent et tuent.

Non seulement l'Union européenne ne condamne pas ces actes gravissimes, mais elle les soutient et les encourage : au lieu de rappeler aux autorités grecques que le droit international comme le droit européen interdisent de refouler à la frontière une personne en demande de protection internationale sans avoir examiné sa situation, le président du Conseil européen salue les efforts des Grecs pour « protéger les frontières de l'Europe », tandis que la présidente de la Commission européenne qualifie la Grèce de « bouclier européen » comme si l'Europe était menacée par un ennemi.

De son côté,l'agence européenne Frontex va déployer une intervention rapide dans la zone, ouvrant un nouveau front de la « guerre aux migrant⋅es » menée depuis une vingtaine d'années par l'UE à ses frontières.

Une coalition d'organisations contre les violences aux frontières vient de se mettre en place et annonce que des plaintes seront déposées contre la Grèce et l'UE pour les violations des droits des personnes exilé⋅es fuyant la Turquie. Les États et, derrière eux, les décideurs européens ne doivent pas pouvoir impunément ordonner de telles exactions.

A quelques jours du 4ème anniversaire de la signature de la déclaration UE-Turquie du 18 mars, véritable « pacte de la honte », nous dénonçons le confinement dans les camps en Grèce et les violences aux frontières, et rappelons l'urgence de protéger avant tout les droits des personnes migrantes.

Fermeture des camps et liberté de circulation pour toutes et tous !

Voir la liste des signataires en Europe et au-delà.

A coalition to “shield” migrants and refugees against violence at the borders

2020-03-05T11:39:33Z

We will hold Greece and the EU accountable for the violations of the rights of migrants and refugees fleeing Turkey

Over the last days, violations of the rights of migrants and refugees seeking to access EU territory via Greece have escalated to a new extreme. The conditions for such an escalation have long been in the making. In 2015, the EU introduced the “hotspot” approach, imposing on Italy and Greece the sorting of migrants and refugees arriving on their shores. In March 2016, the EU signed an agreement with Turkey, which for a time, allowed to contain crossings. Yet the twin developments transformed Aegean islands into open-air prisons and exacerbated a humanitarian catastrophe at Greece's borders. And the untenable cooperation with Turkey – denounced by civil society - is now unsurprisingly breaking down, with Turkish authorities seeking to pressure the EU by sending migrants and refugees in its direction.

In the aim of stemming the increasing arrivals of exiles fleeing war and now the threats of Turkish authorities, Greek agencies have resorted to a new level of violence – and have been joined in them by segments of the population. At sea, the Greek coast guard have blocked the route of migrants and refugee boats, shooting in the air and even wounding passengers [1]. A child has drowned during the crossing [2]. On land, push-backs across the Evros river have continued, and video footage - labelled as “fake news” by the Greek authorities [3] but now verified by Forensic Architecture - shows a Syrian refugee being shot dead [4]. Finally activists acting in solidarity with migrants and refugees are being criminalised and attacked by far-right groups [5] . Grave violations are ongoing and the most fundamental principles of asylum law are being shunned.

Greek authorities are sending a simple message to potential migrants and refugees, one that the Greek foreign ministry conveyed on twitter: "no one can cross the Greek borders" [6]. Greece's policy of closure [7] has also received the backing of the EU. Charles Michel, President of the European Council, has applauded Greek efforts “to protect the European borders” [8] while Ursula von der Leyen, European commission president, has referred to Greece as a “European shield” – thus suggesting that unarmed migrants and refugees constitute a physical threat to Europe [9]. Finally, Frontex, the European border agency, is preparing “a rapid border intervention” squad [10] . In short, Greece and the EU appear ready to resort to any means necessary to deter migrants and refugees and prevent the repetition of the 2015 large-scale arrivals in Europe – and of the European-wide political crisis it triggered.

We firmly condemn the instrumental use of migrants and refugees by the EU and Turkey, and the Greek and EU operations deployed to prevent them from reaching European soil. No policy aim can justify such gross violations. Exiles fleeing violence must not face the violence of borders while they seek protection. Our organisations are joining their efforts to hold states accountable for their crimes. We plan to document and take legal action against those responsible for the violations of migrants and refugees' rights, as well as those of activists acting in solidarity with them. We will employ our investigative and legal instruments to block state violence and reverse the deeply worrying trend towards the multiplication of push-backs in Greece, – a trend observable to different degrees across the EU's shifting borders. Migrants and refugees are not a threat the EU should shield itself against, but are themselves threatened by state violence all along their precarious trajectories. We aim to use the tools of human rights to shield migrants and refugees from the brutality targeting them.

signatory organisations:
• Are You Syrious
• Asylkoordination österreich
• Borderline Europe Human Rights without Borders
• European Association for the defence of Human Rights
• European Democratic Lawyers
• Forschungsgesellschaft Flucht und Migration
• Forensic Architecture and Forensic Oceanography
• Global Legal Action Network
• HIAS Greece
• HumanRights360
• Legal Center Lesbos
• Legal Team Italia
• Medico international
• Mediterranea Saving Humans
• Migreurop
• Milano Senza Frontiere
• PRO ASYL
• Progressive Lawyers Association
• Refugee Support Aegean
• Sea-Watch
• WatchTheMed Alarm Phone

Photography : still from an ongoing video investigation by Forensic Architecture showing a panorama created from eyewitness footage capturing the transfer of Muhammed al-Arab, who was fatally shot after he crossed the Evros/Meriç river. Credit: Forensic Architecture, 2020. Full video: https://vimeo.com/395567226