AYS Daily Digest 22/6/21: With too many eyes on Libyan torture, even the EU calls for closure of detention centres
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Digest, Europe, Human Rights, Refugees, Libya

GREECE

Amnesty International’s Pushback report calls out Frontex

AI has published a report which shows that violent pushbacks have become the de facto Greek border control policy in the Evros region. The level of organization needed to execute these returns, which affected around 1000 people in the incidents we documented, some numerous times and sometimes via unofficial detention sites, shows just how far Greece is going to illegally return people and cover it up. Also, they stress the responsibility of Frontex: “All of the people we spoke to were pushed back from areas where Frontex has significant numbers of staff. The agency cannot therefore claim to be ignorant of the abuses.” They therefore call on the EU border force Frontex to suspend or withdraw its Greek operations

One of the many reports documented speaks about people who were forced off the boat and into the water, while one of them who was forced off the boat could not swim and screamed for help as he bobbed up and down in the water and was seen to be swept away with the current.

Excause for violation — the infamous ‘administrative detention’

Greece is intensifying its detention policy under the hypocritical and tolerating gaze of the EU. More specifically, on Kos and — during the operation of the pre-removal centre — in Evros the authorities apply a policy of generalised and systematic detention of newly arrived asylum seekers subject to a few exceptions, whereas even vulnerable people are detained for prolonged periods, RSA report demonstrates. On the mainland, persons without documentation continue to be detained for the purpose of removal, including persons that overwhelmingly wish to seek international protection without having had a prior possibility to make an application.

Every now and then we are forced to sign documents [extension of detention] that are written in the Greek language and if we do not sign them, they hit us.

While in detention, people are in a gap regarding medical and psychosocial services, lack of legal assistance and interpretation, as well as arbitrariness and police violence.

Wandering around a 100 metres backyard for 18 months is torture in itself, one of the detainees, explains.

Following their findings, the RSA calls on the Greek authorities:

To immediately end the generalised and systematic implementation of administrative detention against refugees and migrants.

To comply with their obligation to conduct an individual assessment of the necessity of imposing in each case, taking particularly into account the conditions of detention in light of the pandemic.

To take immediate action to improve detention conditions in accordance with the recommendations of national and international bodies.

To immediately address deficiencies in the treatment of detainees and the prevention of health risks.

To ensure the communication of detainees with appropriate and adequate medical staff, as well as their access to legal assistance.

Neighborhood watch against human(itarian)s

At the same time, while some are being held in horrendous conditions, those who provide some trace of humanity to people stuck in the limbo are, once again, being criminalised. the Greek police has arrested 61-year-old Dutch journalist Ingeborg Beugel on Sunday, June 13, on charges of hosting the 23-year-old man from Afghanistan, Freydun, an asylum seeker. She has been living on Hydra for the last 40 years, is correspondent for several Dutch media. As the Greek media reported, she “met the Afghan asylum seeker and his dog in the camp in Malakasa in December 2018 while she was filming for a documentary the economic crisis and the migration issue. He helped her with translations and when the living conditions in the camp became unbearable for him and his dog, she started hosting him.”

It appears some of the locals called in the police. According to the official information, she could face at least one year in prison and a fine of at least 5,000 euros — or double if the goal is for profit.

Voices from Patras

Our friend from No Name Kitchen give an update from Patras and a note about power dynamics and the ways that humanitarian approaches can influence them:

(…)

A short conversation is enough to realise that people in transit are not the passive victims described by the most common political and social media discourses. They decided to leave their country to save their own lives, to help their families or to search a different life. They made a choice in contexts where the european colonial history still have lot of responsabilities. A border system that produces inequality. The “victim” is passive, can only receive help, and “the saviour” brings help thanks to his kindness, reproducing neocolonial hierarchies. Nevertheless fighting the structural violence of borders is not a about goodness: the solidarity toward people on the move it’s a responsibility to fight injustice. None of the people in transit is simply a passive victim.

FRANCE

Demonstration of force on homeless people on the move and activists who feed them

New evictions of temporary placed tents have been reported and video documented in the north.