Fighting Against Greek Push-Backs as a Matter of National Security By: Casey Schafer

After hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers crossed through Greece into Europe at the height of the migrant crisis in 2015, Greeks began to grow bitter that they had to bear a greater burden than other EU countries due to the migrant crisis.[1] Greece’s land and water borders have historically been a major crossing point for migrants from Asia, the Middle East, and Africa on their way to Europe.[2] The Syrian Civil War, which broke out in 2011, majorly contributed to the number of refugees fleeing their home countries towards Europe in search of safety.[3]

In March 2016, the EU and Turkey signed a deal in which Turkey agreed to prevent people from leaving its territory for Europe in exchange for $6.6 billion from the EU to “improve the humanitarian situation faced by refugees.”[4] A condition of the deal was that any asylum seekers who made it across the border into Greece would be returned to a refugee camp in Turkey if Greek authorities determined they did not have the right to seek asylum within the EU.[5] Most of the migrants who sought asylum within the EU via Greek shores were left anywhere from months to years at “the thrown-together camps on islands such as Lesbos.”[6] Even though the 2016 deal was intended to be temporary, the EU never came up with a workable migration strategy for refugees to enter Europe, leaving the brunt of the effort to stem the flow of refugees to Greek authorities due to Greece’s location.[7]

On March 10, 2020, a boat of 450 migrants was detained on the Greek island of Lesbos.[8] Greek authorities told many of these refugees that they were not allowed to lodge asylum claims.[9] When migrants arrive on an island in the Aegean, they are registered by Greek authorities, and then must remain there while they “undergo a fast-track border procedure to determine whether Turkey is a ‘safe country’ for them.”[10] Unfortunately, administrative delays have caused many migrants and asylum seekers to find themselves stranded on the Aegean islands for months.[11] The inadequacy of the reception facilities to handle the influx of migrants caused very difficult living conditions for asylum seekers forced to wait on the Greek government.[12] As of the end of February, at least twenty-one migrants had died on the Greek-Turkey border since the beginning of 2022.[13]

Despite EU funding in 2020 to build sanitary and humane centers to provide temporary shelter to asylum seekers, the centers on Greek islands such as Lesbos do not provide a safe and sanitary temporary home for refugees.[14] While the centers have come a long way when compared to the dismal conditions faced by asylum seekers in 2015, asylum applicants currently in the centers face diseases such as scabies and other contagious skin conditions in addition to near daily water shutoffs while waiting for Greece to process their applications.[15] Asylum applicants are routinely being detained in these centers located on several Greek islands.[16] According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, asylum seekers are entitled to the following rights: to seek asylum, to non-penalization for irregular entry or stay, to liberty and security of person, and to freedom of movement.[17] When these rights are taken together, it means that detention of asylum seekers should be a last resort, as opposed to standard practice.[18]

By framing the detention of asylum seekers as one of national security to prevent smuggling, the Greek government has attempted to defend its actions and alleviate its human rights responsibilities.[19] This has led to fear of prosecution among “refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, and human rights defenders acting on solidarity with them.”[20]Greece made a statement in early 2020 announcing that it would “deport ‘migrant troublemakers’ to their homelands in a bid to combat rising crime and surging migration inflow….”[21] Authorities planned a sweeping operation ‘“to crack down on rival ethnic groups’ criminal activities…while waiting for their asylum requests to be processed.”[22] Rather than giving asylum applications the months required for fair consideration, the Greek government in early 2020 planned to fast-track applications, giving only a few days for requests to be reviewed as an attempt to ease the over-crowding on the island camps.[23] By publicly decrying asylum seekers as criminals, Greece can justify denying asylum applicants due to nation security concerns.[24]

While the EU promised Greece an additional $780 million in aid in early 2020 to “bolster border security,” increased border security only adds another band-aid to the worsening situation.[25] Since 2015, Greece has received over $3.5 billion from the EU, including over $450 million to “provide material and technical support to illegal border operations.”[26] Rather than using the extensive amounts of money from the EU to create safe shelters and provide care to refugees, Greece used the money to continue its de facto policy of summary expulsions (“push-backs”), usually violently forcing any refugee that crossed Greece’s borders into Turkey.[27] Despite Greece’s denial of “push-backs” and continued violence towards migrants at the border, the EU continued to supply Greece with “ever increasing sums of money.”[28]

EU law prohibits the collective expulsion of aliens.[29] Greece has violated this law, by forcing all migrants into Turkey without giving them the opportunity to challenge their removal.[30] While Greece is not violating the international principle of non-refoulment because it is not returning migrants to their country of origin, it is still in violation of EU law by forcibly prohibiting migrants to enter the country and almost immediately expelling those to make it across the border.[31] The EU-Turkey deal greatly reduced the number of migrants entering Greek borders; however, Greece has been aided by Frontex, the EU’s border agency, in its illegal push-back practice since Turkey stopped preventing migrants from leaving in early 2020.[32]

The first step Greece can take towards a long-term solution to the border crisis is by adhering to international law and putting an end to the illegal practice of push backs.[33] This solution works in tandem with creating safe shelters to house refugees while their asylum applications are processed.[34] Greece’s inability to deal with the influx of refugees after the start of the Syrian civil war in addition to the deal struck between the EU and Turkey first led Greece to begin illegally pushing asylum seekers back into Turkey.[35] One way to force Greece to put a final stop to push backs would be for the EU to predicate additional funding to Greece on Greece’s immediate end to push back procedures.

[1] Carlotta Gall, Survivors of Deadly Night at Greek Border Say They Were Left to Die, New York Times (Feb. 24, 2022), https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/24/world/europe/greece-turkey-migrants-deaths.html#:~:text=migrants%2Ddeaths.html-,Survivors%20of%20Deadly%20Night%20at%20Greek%20Border%20Say%20They%20Were,forced%20across%20the%20Turkish%20border.

[2] Id.

[3] Syria Refugee Crisis Explained, USA for UNHCR (Mar. 14, 2023), https://www.unrefugees.org/news/syria-refugee-crisis-explained/#WhendidtheSyrianrefugeecrisisbegin?.

[4] Explained: The Situation at Greece’s Borders, Amnesty Int’l (Mar. 5, 2020), https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/03/greece-turkey-refugees-explainer/; Alice Hickson & Calvin Wilder, Protecting Syrian Refugees in Turkey from Forced Repatriation (May 16, 2023), https://newlinesinstitute.org/displacement-and-migration/protecting-syrian-refugees-in-turkey-from-forced-repatriation/.

[5] Explained: The Situation at Greece’s Borders, supra note 4; Alice Hickson & Calvin Wilder, Protecting Syrian Refugees in Turkey from Forced Repatriation, New Lines Inst. (May 16, 2023), https://newlinesinstitute.org/displacement-and-migration/protecting-syrian-refugees-in-turkey-from-forced-repatriation/.

[6] Paul Hockenos, Europe’s Morality Is Dying at the Greek Border, Foreign Pol’y (Mar. 5, 2020), https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/05/refugees-turkey-europes-morality-is-dying-at-the-greek-border/.

[7] Id.

[8] Greece/EU: Allow New Arrivals to Claim, Asylum (Mar. 10, 2020), https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/10/greece/eu-allow-new-arrivals-claim-asylum.

[9] Id.

[10] Human rights protections and monitoring immigration detention at Europe's borders, E.H.R.L.R. 2020, 6, 640-654, 645.

[11] Id.

[12] REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL AND THE COUNCIL Fifth Report on the Progress made in the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement, Celex No. 52017DC0204.

[13] IOM Concerned About Increasing Deaths on Greece-Turkey Border, IOM (Feb. 18, 2022), https://www.iom.int/news/iom-concerned-about-increasing-deaths-greece-turkey-border.

[14] Lydia Emmanouilidou, This is inexcusable: What’s behind deteriorating conditions in Greek island asylum camps?, The New Humanitarian (Dec. 4, 2023), https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2023/12/04/inexcusable-whats-behind-deteriorating-conditions-greek-island-asylum-camps.

[15] Id.

[16] Id.

[17] UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Guidelines on the Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the Detention of Asylum-Seekers and Alternatives to Detention (2012), https://www.refworld.org/policy/legalguidance/unhcr/2012/en/87776.

[18] Id.

[19] Greece: Migration Policy Having “Suffocating Effect” on Human Rights Defenders Says UN Expert, UN (June 22, 2022), https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/06/greece-migration-policy-having-suffocating-effect-human-rights-defenders.

[20] Id.

[21] Anthee Carassava, Greece Scraps Asylum Requests for Migrant ‘Troublemakers’, VOA News (Feb. 21, 2020), https://www.voanews.com/a/europe_greece-scraps-asylum-requests-migrant-troublemakers/6184650.html.

[22] Id.

[23] Id.

[24] Id.

[25] Hockenos, supra note 6.

[26] HIAS, European Ombudsperson Open Inquiry Into the Commission’s Administration of EU Funding Used in Greece’s Illegal Expulsion of Migrants (Dec. 7, 2023), https://hias.org/statements/european-ombudsperson-opens-inquiry-commissions-administration-eu-funding-used-greeces-illegal-expulsion-migrants/.

[27] Id.

[28] Id.

[29] European Court of Human Rights, Immigration and Article 4 of Protocol No. 4 Summary Returns of Migrants and/or Asylum-Seekers (“push-backs”) and Related Case Scenarios (Feb. 2, 2023), https://ks.echr.coe.int/documents/d/echr-ks/summary-returns-of-migrants-and-or-asylum-seekers-push-backs-and-related-case-scenarios.

[30] HIAS, supra note 26; European Court, supra note 29.

[31] European Court, supra note 29; Hockenos, supra note 6.

[32] Anna Iasmi Vallianatou, Lesvos: How EU Asylum Policy Created a Refugee Prison in Paradise (July 28, 2022), https://www.chathamhouse.org/2022/07/lesvos-how-eu-asylum-policy-created-refugee-prison-paradise.

[33] Lydia Emmanouilidou, supra note 14.

[34] Lydia Emmanouilidou, supra note 14.

[35] Lydia Emmanouilidou, supra note 14.