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.
Only one month after its launch, the petition received the support of more than a thousand people and organisations from all over Europe. The Member of the European Parliament Damien Carême also co-signed it. We continue to call for the Greek government to revoke their Joint Ministerial Decision (JMD) of 7th June 2021, which declares Turkey a safe country for nationals of Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Until all asylum claims are registered and properly processed in Greece, we will raise our voices against this unlawful, inhumane and unworkable decision.
VOICES AFFECTED BY THE JMD
“I wasn’t safe in my country and I had nothing in Turkey. I could have drowned coming to Greece but I came because I had no choice. Now I start to live, I go to school, I try to make friends. How can the Greek government tell me to go back to Turkey?” (from an unaccompanied minor)
“I was waiting for my asylum interview…I got confused when they told me it would be faster and it would be about Turkey. I did not risk my life and flee the Taliban to be told to go back to unsafety, the [Greek authorities] haven’t even heard my story. I’m not from Turkey and I cannot safely live there, so why all these questions about Turkey?” (from an elderly man)
We take this opportunity to provide you with updates - both regarding the situation in Greece and Turkey, and the externalisation of Europe’s borders in other countries.
GREECE
Since November 2021, there is a general barrier to registering claims for asylum in Greece. People arriving on the mainland or islands on which there is no Reception and Identification Centre, are generally unable to claim asylum[1]. People willing to file new asylum requests (second and further subsequent applications) are requested to pay a controversial 100-euro fee[2].
Because of the JMD, people’s claims for asylum in Greece are being rejected as “inadmissible”. Only in 2022, “inadmissibility decisions (12,332) exceeded rejections on the merits (10,991) at first instance due to the wide application of the safe third country concept after the entry into force of the JMD 42799/2021”[3].
The Greek government is literally refusing to listen to people’s need for protection, instead telling them to go back to Turkey.
TURKEY
The Turkish government is increasingly forcibly returning people in need of protection to countries they have fled from[4]. Both those unable to claim asylum, and even those recognised as refugees[5].
It is notable that Afghanistan[6], Syria[7] and Pakistan are countries that the Turkish government are forcing the highest numbers of people to return to, and are simultaneously nationalities singled out by the Greek government as safe to return to Turkey.
EXTERNALISATION OF EUROPEAN BORDERS
We’re painfully aware that Greece’s JMD is not the only example of policies effectively externalising Europe’s borders.
The UK is intent on forcibly sending refugees to Rwanda, instead of properly processing their claims for asylum[8].
The lives lost at the Morocco/Spain border in Melilla last month, remind us that the externalisation of Europe’s borders is deadly. People seeking only to move from one country to another, were met with extreme and deliberate violence in order to stop them from entering European territory. This murderous violence was praised by the Spanish prime minister, who thanked the Moroccan authorities for doing as has been agreed: protecting Europe’s borders at all costs[9].
THE FIGHT CONTINUES
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
