Stop pushbacks in Greece!

Greek border forces are violently and illegally detaining groups of refugees and migrants before summarily returning them to Turkey, contravening the country’s human rights obligations under EU and international law, according to the Amnesty International.

Pushbacks are not limited to border areas. People are also being apprehended and detained far into the Greek mainland before being transported to the Evros region to be illegally returned to Turkey.

People apprehended and detained as far as 700 kilometers from the border had been transferred to the border area and returned to Turkey.

Greece pushed back at least 6,230 asylum seekers between January 2020 and May 2021, the Border Violence Monitoring Network revealed.

At least 300 of those are political asylum seekers from Turkey, fleeing persecution. More than half have been jailed after being pushed back from Greece over trumped-up political charges.

Refugees from Turkey have no safe home. Once they are returned, they are subjected to torture and persecution.

We urge the international community to take action against illegal pushbacks.

We invite humanitarian organizations, human rights groups, volunteers to support our call: Stop pushbacks in Greece!