AYS Daily Digest 10/6/21: Report confirms — people are being arrested, detained, and tortured by Syrian authorities upon return
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Refugees, Syria, Digest, Germany, Report

THE MEDITERRANEAN

Today, it is with pain that we still see three boat interceptions by the Libyan coastguard.

The refoulement of these people to a warfare country violates international law by contempt of the principle of non-refoulement, mentioned in the Geneva Convention of Relating to the Status of Refugees — Pilotes Volontaires

Watch The Med — Alarmphone reported being contacted by a boat in distress with 43 people on board. The people on board the boat told them that water was coming into the boat, and that they had been at sea for over a day.

They are in panic and ask for urgent help. We informed authorities and demand the immediate launch of a rescue operation.

In a later update, they said they lost contact with the people: “Last time we spoke to them, they were still adrift and in a state of panic because rescue was not in sight!

There are 9 women and many children among them.”

Photo: MSF

MSF has reported they completed a rescue of 26 people including 15 unaccompanied minors from a small wooden boat 44NM off Sabratha. “While the rescue was ongoing, the Libyan coast guard was verbally intimidating and threatening the MSF team via radio.” The Geo Barents was built in 2007, initially as a ship for geological analysis, and has now been equipped for search and rescue missions of MSF.

More than 500 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean this year. In the same period of the previous year there were around 150 deaths.

The southern Tunisian city of Zarzis is the final resting place of those who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea. With more than 200 graves on site, many of the dead are still nameless.

GREECE

MSF urges the EU and Greece to immediately stop the policy of containment

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) once again calls on European Union leaders to completely change their approach to migration and to stop intensifying their existing containment and deterrence policies.

The report, ‘Constructing Crisis at Europe’s Borders’, shows how the EU’s migration policies put the health, wellbeing and safety of people trapped on the Greek islands in jeopardy.

NGOs have been forced to provide even basic services in some camps, such as clean water. As even the basic life essentials have been taken away from people confined in official camps across the Aegean, navigating life in such poor conditions, with complicated administrative and asylum procedures, constant exposure to violence and insecurity, family separation, unaddressed medical needs, and fear of deportation are all major factors that affect people’s mental health and their lives inside the camps.

According to Greek officials, a separate camp on Chios is currently under tender. Three other camps in Samos, Kos and Leros are expected to be up and running by this winter. Also, along with the rest of the EU, Greece is increasingly turning to digital technologies such as drones, sound cannons and AI-powered lie detectors in a bid to prevent people from crossing the borders. At a recent meeting with Minister Mitarakis, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson reportedly called the use of sound cannons “strange” and legally questionable.

EU and the Greek government are spending millions of euros to standardise and intensify policies that have already done so much harm, says the Greek head of MSF.

“It is not too late for compassion and common sense.”

Criminalization as underreported constant

Bizarre court cases of criminalization reaching mainstream media headlines are the exception, activists say — most cases go unnoticed by the public. Meanwhile, activist groups and NGOs are warning that these are not isolated cases nor a new phenomenon. “Systematic criminalisation of migrants has a tradition in Greece as part of Europe’s policies of deterrence and isolation. Laws have been passed that allow draconian measures against already marginalised people under the cloak of fighting smuggling and securing Europe”, Mare Liberum writes.

The Moria6 are accused of arson in an exemplary case of criminalisation. While 2 minors were already convicted to the max. sentence of 5 years, we’re awaiting the remaining 4 teenagers in court tomorrow. We demand a fair & transparent trial.

Read more on what else Mare Liberum has to say on that topic, and read our forthcoming AYS Special this Sunday on the topic of the Moria 6.

Our friends at Wave — Thessaloniki are looking for a new logistics coordinator:

FRANCE

Evictions of the only property people on the move have, leaving them homeless again

Human Rights Observers are reporting ongoing evictions in the Grande Synthe area. They have documented the destruction of about 250 tents and temporary shelters in the area this Wednesday morning alone.

GERMANY

Germany too has to change its legal practice following the ECJ judgment

Given that judgments of the European Court of Justice are legally binding for all national courts, Germany will have to follow in changing the so far purely quantitative approach in their case law following the new ECJ judgment.

The ratio of civilian deaths to the total population in the country of origin of asylum seekers cannot be a sole crucial starting point to grant the asylum seeker a protection status or deny their claim, ECJ stated. Rather, it requires a quantitative as well as a qualitative overall assessment of the circumstances. A comprehensive consideration of all relevant circumstances of the individual case, in particular those that characterize the situation of the applicant’s country of origin, is necessary.

The verdict from Luxembourg is an important sign of hope for refugees seeking international protection in Germany. As a consequence, Afghans in particular from highly competitive provinces can now hope to be granted subsidiary protection in the future.

In the meantime, the German government said it will continue with deportations to Afghanistan, in spite of the many critics of the practice.

Since 2016, more than 1,000 people have been deported from Germany to Afghanistan. The German military said they would start processing the potentially 520 cases of Afghan translators and their immediate families who worked for the Bundeswehr so they can receive protection in Germany. They also firmly stick to the requirement that people have to prove in detail they are under threat and finance their relocation by themselves.

At the same time, the regular clashes across the country continue, and the rate of targeted killings and bomb attacks in Kabul has been rising.

DENMARK

Danish government’s response to UNHCR’s comments on externalisation