Greece rejects UN pushbacks claim

• UN report claims that Greece deported thousands of asylum seekers illegally.
• Such claims are “already being investigated as to their validity,”
• Greece routinely denies that its border forces engage in illegal pushbacks.

Greece rejected a UN report on Monday that claimed its border forces had illegally deported thousands of asylum seekers over the past two years.

“The report… is not based on primary research but reproduces older findings by the (UN refugee agency), foreign media reports and the recommendations of non-governmental organizations,” a Greek migration ministry source said.

According to the ministry source, such claims are “already being investigated as to their validity,” but previous checks have “never confirmed illegal actions (by Greece) while guarding its borders.”

“The Greek coastguard and Greek police on a daily basis save people whose life is at risk at sea and land borders,” the source added.

The UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Felipe Gonzalez Morales, had earlier shared the report saying that “in Greece, pushbacks at land and sea borders have become de facto general policy.”

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“UNHCR has recorded almost 540 separate incidents during the period 2020-2021, 40 involving at least 17,000 people who were reportedly returned by force, informally, to Turkey,” said the report, which will be formally presented on June 23.

“The Special Rapporteur concludes that pushbacks remain the de facto general policy in many states and continue to seriously impede the enjoyment of the human rights of migrants who cross international borders,” the report said.

Greece routinely denies that its border forces engage in illegal pushbacks, despite repeated claims to the contrary by rights groups and asylum seekers.

Rights groups have also accused the EU border agency Frontex of illegally returning migrants across EU borders on numerous occasions.

The Greek government declined to comment last week on Frontex head Fabrice Leggeri’s resignation in April, amid an investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office into alleged mismanagement.

“(Greece) has nothing to observe,” government spokesman Yannis Economou said Thursday.

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