AYS Daily Digest 18/12/19: What’s behind the “Flexible Operational Activities” of Frontex
By: Ellen Elias-Bursac
Tags: Balkans, Digest, Frontex, Europe, Sweden

SEARCH AND RESCUE AT SEA

Six babies and two children, who were part of a group of 63 people traveling in two boats, have been rescued by Maritime Rescue 60 miles (111 kilometers) from Gran Canaria, according to a Red Cross spokesman.

Delegating an “outsourced” push back

A recurrent practice referred to as ‘privatized push-back’ is a relatively recent strategy that has been implemented by Italy, in collaboration with the LYCG, since mid-2018, as a new modality of delegated rescue, intended to enforce border control and contain the movement of migrants from the Global South seeking to reach Europe.

Using georeferencing and AIS tracking data, Forensic Oceanography reconstructed the trajectories of the migrants’ vessel and the Nivin. Tracking data was cross-referenced with the testimonies of passengers, the reports by rescue NGO WatchTheMed‘s ‘Alarm Phone’, a civilian hotline for migrants in need of emergency rescue; a report by the owner of the Nivin, which he shared with a civilian rescue organisation, the testimonies of MSF-France staff in Libya, an interview with a high-ranking LYCG official, official responses, and leaked reports from EUNAVFOR MED.

This report is an investigation into this case and new pattern of practice.

It is the basis for a legal submission to the United Nations Human Rights Committee by Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) on behalf of an individual who was shot and forcefully removed from the Nivin.

Read GLAN’s report here.

GREECE

Ongoing disaster on the islands waits for a liable solution

In the last two days at least 15 boats have arrived on the Greek Aegean islands, carrying 522 people. Ten of these boats have arrived on Lesvos, 313 people, Aegean Boat Report team wrote. Follow their page for more details on the arrivals.

More than 41,000 people waiting at the ’camps’ on the islands Lesvos (Moria) and Samos (Vathy). According to the Greek government — this is the highest number since the EU-Turkey refugee pact came into force in 2016. The Greek government wants to deport 10,000 asylum-seekers to Turkey, but to do so the country will need 270 asylum case reviewers. According to the information provided by EU Asylum office Easo, the Funk-media group reports that during this year Germany sent (only) a total of 80 asylum experts from BAMF, the German office for migration and asylum compared with 124 in 2018 and 130 in 2017.

Greece is predicting up to 100,000 asylum-seekers will arrive on its islands from Turkey in 2020.

Police in Athens once again fire flash grenades and tear gas at people

Shocking details from an operation against a squat are emerging. Police allegedly assaulted and tied up neighbors who refused to let them into their homes without a warrant. A woman was dragged out of her home, hood over her head, and tied-up.

When the squatters defied police orders to vacate the buildings, police fired flash grenades and tear gas as the occupants hurled fire extinguishers and furniture at them.

“We will die here,” someone inside the building is reported to have shouted.

During the raid on one of the buildings, police reportedly stepped on to the rooftop of a neighbouring building. Hearing footsteps, the residents of that building went to see what was going on. When they asked the police if they had a warrant, they were handcuffed and put on the ground. The mother of one of the men told reporters that she saw police pressing her son’s head to the ground. Both the son and his father were among those arrested.

However, the Greek media report that police have given different versions of the allegations and photos of MAT attempts to invade Koukaki’s home for a search because it was next to an occupation evacuated Wednesday morning. The first version transmitted by the Athenian agency, citing police officers, as “the roof is a public place” according to police unionist Stavros Balaska, was “reacted” to “squatters” who fled to their neighboring building and were taken to a nearby police station. for example the ELAS headquarters.

ITALY

55Iraqi and Iranian asylum seekers were intercepted just outside Italian territorial waters of Calabria. Reportedly, three Ukrainian nationals were arrested on suspicion of smuggling.

Possible drowning

A young man slipped into the Isonzo river. He was with another asylum seeker, who immediately threw himself into the water to save him, without success. The friend was taken to hospital in a state of hypothermia but the young person who fell in the water has not yet been found.

He is a Pakistani boy who has been living in the Cara camp of Gradisca, aged 25. A search operation is in process.

SWEDEN

When the Swedish PM Stefan Löfven held a Christmas speech in Visby, Gotland, people took the possibility to do a visible protest against deportations at the same time.

Be aware of what you are sending the children back to!

Before sending their students back to Kabul the headmasters and schools should know what they are sending the students back to, volunteers and activists in Kristinehamn think. Therefore they have started a campaign to raise money for a study trip to Kabul, so that those in charge of schools and education in the municipality can see for themselves.

Photos: Ariana Esfandiari-Doroudian

According to the post the municipality of Kristinehamn is violating the School Act by not letting young inhabitants in the region finish their studies — with the result that some of them are deported to Kabul after their 20th birthday.

The situation in Kristinehamn is a result of the new interpretation of the Migration Agency’s responsibly to offer those with temporary residency because of the (new) High school act accommodation. It’s a catch-22 situation: you need to study to be granted temporary residency, you need to find accommodation by yourself near enough your school and now the municipalities say they don’t have to offer students above 20 SFI (Swedish For Immigrants). The municipalities have asked the state for more help and funding — but in the meantime a lot of young people will be badly affected, worst case scenario they’ll lose their temporary residence permits since the rules are so complicated and it’s almost impossible to meet them…