AYS Daily Digest 23/07/2021 — Greek Rationale for Declaring Turkey “Safe Third Country” Finally Released
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Digest, Turkey, Migrants, Greece, Refugees

AYS Daily Digest 23/07/2021 — Greek Rationale for Declaring Turkey “Safe Third Country” Finally Released

Official justification for safe third country status inadequate, NGOs say//Shipwreck between Turkey and Greece//Caravan for equal rights on Canary Islands Are You Syrious? Follow Jul 24 · 9 min read

One of the distress cases in the Mediterranean over the past 24 hours. Photo credit: Proactiva Open Arms

FEATURE

Greek Asylum Service finally releases rationale behind Turkey’s “safe third country” decision—and it is inadequate

Greece has finally published the legal rationale behind declaring Turkey a safe third country for people from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The Joint Ministry Decision was based on an “Opinion” of the Head of the Asylum Service (which is not considered a strong enough legal basis to declare a third country safe), which it refused to reveal to the public for over a month, even though changes in asylum policy must be immediately justified with legal documentation.

The Greek government fought off several legal challenges to reveal the rationale behind their decision, but now a public prosecutor ordered them to release the document. Now that the Opinion has been released, it actually reveals that the sources the Asylum Service relied on do not consider Turkey to be a safe third country. They mentioned violations of human rights such as deportations to Syria, forcing people to sign voluntary return forms, denying Afghan people any kind of legal status, and other violations.

The sources used were also not rigorous enough to justify a complete change in asylum policy according to Greek law. There was no independent fact-finding mission, instead, the Opinion was based on existing, poorly-cited open source information that was nowhere near rigorous enough to justify a change in policy.

Even the official documentation of the Home Office, hardly an entity known for its bleeding-heart sympathy towards people on the move, is rigorous and up-to-date, a far cry from the hastily put together document that the Greek government released.

This mimics the Danish government’s decision to declare parts of Syria safe despite the opposition of most of the organizations consulted in its fact-finding.

The insistence of both countries that up is down and black is white when deciding asylum policy against the recommendations of the very papers they purport to use as evidence would be absurd if it was not ruining people’s lives. Greece has already denied several asylum applications with the rationale that Turkey is a safe third country for applicants from certain nationalities, even though it is nothing of the kind.

It is important to look at this decision within the wider political context of Europe attempting to ignore its international responsibility towards displaced people and forcing them into camps in third countries that do not have even close to as many resources as the continent. This decision will particularly affect Afghan people, many of whom are already fleeing the Taliban and are hoping to reach Europe. They will probably be surprised to find that Turkey, where they are not entitled to any kind of legal protection and where many Afghans already live outside of society, is where they will be “safe.” Then again, Europe has considered Afghanistan safe for Afghans while its own embassies in the country shutter due to the security situation, so this is nothing new. What is unsafe for one group is apparently tolerable for others.

SEA

Hundreds of new arrivals, many rescues

Arrivals: On the island of Pantelleria in Italy, over 100 people arrived in seven different boats, some of whom were intercepted off the Italian coast by the authorities. Elsewhere in Italy, a group of seven people arrived in Sardinia and 212 people in 10 different boats arrived in Lampedusa.

Rescues: In less than 24 hours, there were five boats in distress in the Central Mediterranean. Proactiva Open Arms was involved in three rescues, including one rescue of 50 people off the coast of Italy. Salvamento Maritimo rescued a patera with 45 people near the Canary Islands and six people in the Gibraltar strait.

Pullbacks to Libya: The cargo ship VOS APHRODITE, owned by the shipping company VROON, rescued about 200 people in distress at sea and then immediately handed them over to the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, thereby not meeting its obligation according to international law to take people in distress at sea to safety. That brings the total of the number of people returned to Libya over the past three days to 1,500, almost all returning to torturous conditions. The UN has repeatedly said conditions for people on the move in Libya are inhumane, with many detained in torture camps.