Pushbacks by Greece

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Since at least 2008, Greece has pushed back tens of thousands of migrants, especially at the Evros border with Turkey and in the Aegean Sea. On land, the pushbacks involve taking people who have arrived at the Greek side of the border and transferring them to the Turkish side; most cases involve some form of abuse. Maritime pushbacks typically involve taking migrants who have either entered Greek territorial waters or landed on Greek islands and depositing them in Turkish territorial waters on craft without any means of propulsion. The number of pushbacks has increased following the European migrant crisis and breakdown in EU–Turkey relations in 2020.^[1] This incident occurred as a result of Turkey ceasing to prevent migrants from leaving for the European Union in February 2020, and in some instances actively encouraging them.

The term "pushback" refers to informal returns of people against their will and outside any legal framework. It is a human rights violation both because of the risk of refoulement as well as the violence and danger to which people are exposed during pushbacks. In 2021, Amnesty International reported that pushbacks had become Greece's "de facto border policy".^[2][3] The Greek government officially denies taking part in pushbacks.^[4] The role of Frontex, the EU border agency, in pushbacks in Greece has been the subject of multiple investigations by the European Parliament, EU anti-fraud agency OLAF, and European Ombudsman.