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Collective advocacy

Stop the barriers to claiming asylum in Europe


Stop externalisation!
The fight for the right to seek asylum continues

 
Add your signature to our petition

Dear all,

We thank you sincerely for your support, in the ongoing fight to break down the barriers that stop people claiming asylum in Europe.

It has been three months since we launched the petition asking for the revocation of the Joint Ministerial Decision (JMD) of 7th of June 2021, which declares Turkey a safe third country for nationals of Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The petition has been cosigned by 46 organisations from all over Europe, condemned as unlawful, inhumane and unworkable.

We take this opportunity to share with you the following essential updates.

 

Children continue to lose their lives on eu soil

Since Aylan Kurdi died 7 years ago, children continue to lose their lives making the journey to Europe. The deaths en-route to Europe are entirely preventable. Last month, 5 year old Maria from Syria died after being stung by a scorpion on an Islet in the Evros river, between Turkey and Greece. Little Maria was in a group of 38 asylum seekers, who were stranded, pushed back and forth by Greek and Turkish border guards, whilst simply trying to exercise their legal right to seek protection in Greece1.

Although alerted by several NGOs, the Greek authorities didn’t intervene on time to prevent the death of Maria, claiming at first that they couldn’t find the group and later on that the islet was located on Turkish soil. It is only after interim measures were granted by the European Court of Human Rights that the Greek authorities went and rescued the group, weeks after they had been notified that the group was in distress and lives were at risk. 

This tragedy shows us once again the disdain of Greek authorities towards asylum seekers’ lives and their disregard for the rule of law. The official position of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Ministry of Migration Notis Mitarachis was to deny the very existence of Maria and her group, not only to the media and on their own social media accounts, but also in front of the Greek Parliament and Greek Supreme Court, despite clear evidence to the contrary. While Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Minister of Migration Notis Mitarachis still deny any responsibility for the death of 5 year old Maria, Greek journalist Giorgos Christides who investigated the events surrounding Maria’s death for the German outlet Die Spiegel, is being targeted by the Greek Government, with legal action being threatened against him2.

Just a few days after Maria’s tragic death, with an investigation still ongoing, a special committee was gathered by the Greek government which decided on an 80 kilometre extension of the existing border fence in the Evros region. The European Commission immediately denied to support the fence’s extension financially.

We must finally note contradictory statements made by Notis Mitarachis following the rescue of the group, just a few days apart. Mitarachis first stated that, "Officially, the Turkish authorities arrested the migrants inside Turkey, they did not give them the right to apply for international protection, as Turkey is bound to do by international law."3 thus recognising Turkey’s failure to provide adequate protection to asylum seekers. However, he then declared that “Turkey is not a country at war”4, defending his position that migrants arriving from Turkey should be returned there. 

Though the group of refugees are no longer stranded in the Evros river, they are mainly Syrian nationals and will therefore now face Greece’s admissibility procedure, which could see them returned to Turkey and then in turn Syria.It is this iniquitous regime that our petition seeks to stop. Refugees should not face questions about Turkey and risk refoulement there and consequently to their home countries, following their arrival in Greece.

 

More pushbacks than ever in the aegean sea

In a recent report published at the beginning of September5, the organisation Aegean Boat Reports revealed that, “Never before have so many people been pushed back in the Aegean Sea”. The report further stated that:

“Since March 2020, more than 40,000 people have been pushed back in the Aegean Sea by Greek authorities, 850 life rafts have been found drifting, and numbers are rapidly increasing. So far this year, more than 300 rubber boats and close to 400 life rafts have been found drifting in the Aegean Sea; almost 15.000 people’s rights have been violated in just eight months.”

Judicial proceedings have recently been lodged against EU border agency FRONTEX by the survivor of one of those pushbacks, after he and 21 others were allegedly abandoned in a motorless inflatable boat in the Aegean sea6.

 

3 out of 4 claims deemed admissible

Refugee Support Aegean published its report7 on asylum procedures in Greece in the first half of 2022, revealing interesting facts and figures: ⁃ Most first-time applicants for asylum in Greece originated from Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan and Bangladesh, thus are subject to the Joint Ministerial Decision of 7th June 2021 that we seek the revocation of with our petition, ⁃ Three out of four claims subjected to the admissibility procedure as prescribed by the Joint Ministerial Decision of 7th June 2021 were ultimately deemed admissible.

It is clear that admissibility procedures are simply unnecessary and unworkable.They add an additional layer, meaning further delays and added stress for applicants, to an already exceedingly complex legal framework.

Since 20 December 2021, Albania and North Macedonia have also been added to the list of safe third countries for people seeking asylum in Greece. As a result, the controversial admissibility procedure has been extended in scope, even though those two countries are mostly transited from, and have no system nor adequate infrastructures in place to host asylum seekers.8

 

The fight continues

We must condemn this policy of externalisation and its deadly consequences. Seeking asylum is not a crime! 
 Please continue to fight with us - share the petition and raise awareness about what is happening in Greece and beyond.

Against the barriers to claiming asylum in Europe!

In solidarity!

Stop Externalisation


 


List of co-signatories

Abolish Frontex

Action for Education

Aegean Boat Report

ARSIS 

Avocats Sans Frontières France

Calais Food Collective

Channel Rescue

Choose Love

Collective Aid

Community Integration and Advocacy Centre (CIAC)

Diotima Center for Gender Rights and Equality

ECHO100PLUS

Equal Legal Aid 

Europe Cares

Europe Must Act

forRefugees

HumanRights360

Irida Women's Center

I HAVE RIGHTS.

Just Action

Khora Asylum Support Team

GISTI (Groupe d’Information et de Soutien des Immigré.es, France)

Greek Council for Refugees

LeaveNoOneBehind

Lighthouse Relief 

Ligue des droits de l'Homme

Liverpool Law Clinic

Mare Liberum

Migration Control Info Project

Mobile Info Team

Northern Lights Aid 

Project Armonia

Project ELPIDA e.V.

ReFOCUS Media Labs

Refugee Biriyani & Bananas

Refugee Legal Support (RLS)

Samos Advocacy Collective

Seebrücke

Seebrücke Schweiz

Samos Volunteers

SolidariTee

Stop Mare Mortum

Verein FAIR

Voci Globali

Ensemble, protégeons et défendons l’accès au droit d’asile en Europe !

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