Never before have so many people been pushed back in the Aegean Sea
Aegean Boat Report
On average, 100 people have been found drifting, in life rafts and rubber boats, every single day in August, as a result of pushbacks performed by Greek authorities.
At a time when politicians and journalists have had a fixed focus on the war in Ukraine, energy crisis and Frontex, Greek authorities have taken the opportunity to increase aggression towards refugees at the country’s borders.
Six months ago, Greece was heavily criticized by the international community, for its violations of international laws and human rights, but when people’s attention was drawn elsewhere, and the government took the chance not only to continue, but to substantially increase their efforts. As a result, pushbacks have increased by more than 100 per cent in the Aegean Sea.
European politicians, especially from the European Parliament, seem totally incapable of or unwilling to take actions against a member state, even one which is systematically violating international laws and human rights on an industrial scale, unprecedented in Europe since the Second World War.
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.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, cheered them on, calling Greece “the shield of Europe”, EU funds have been pouring into Greece to support them to keep the borders closed, and Frontex, the European Border and coast guard agency, has the highest number of officers ever deployed, in Greece, supporting the Greek authorities in pushing back refugees.
If you say you want to fight crime, you don’t provide criminals with guns, for most people this is
quite obvious. The European Commission is on one hand “criticizing” Greece for violating human rights and international laws, and on the other hand providing them with means to continue and escalate: money, personnel and equipment.
This year we have seen an increasing number of life rafts, magically appearing in the waters between Turkey and Greece. In 2020 187 life rafts was found drifting, in 2021 290. So far in 2022, 370 life rafts, carrying more than 6,000 men, women and children, have been picked up by the Turkish coast guard.
People arrive on Greek islands, after traveling from Turkey in rubber boats, an increasing number of them are then hunted down and rounded up like cattle, plundered of all their belongings, bags, papers, money and phones, before they are forced back to sea at gunpoint, and left drifting in life rafts in the Aegean Sea.
Only 10 per cent of all people trying to cross by boat towards the Greek islands actually succeeds and ends up in a Greek refugee camp.
People arrive on Greek islands, after traveling from Turkey in rubber boats, an increasing number of them are then hunted down and rounded up like cattle, plundered of all their belongings, bags, papers, money and phones, before they are forced back to sea at gunpoint, and left drifting in life rafts in the Aegean Sea.
Only 10 per cent of all people trying to cross by boat towards the Greek islands actually succeeds and ends up in a Greek refugee camp.
In some cases, refugees have been found drifting in life rafts without clothes, stripped down to their underwear. There is no sane logical reason to remove people clothes before leaving them drifting in the middle of the sea in a life raft, besides to torment and humiliate people.
Greek authorities are assuring everyone that they are following international laws, and not pushing back refugees in the Aegean Sea, when it’s obvious for anyone to see, that they are carrying out pushbacks every day.
European values and human rights seem only to apply for European, white Christian people, while the rest are expendable and no longer have any human value.
