AYS News Digest 18/10/22: Ninety-two men found stripped naked on the Evros border
SAR failures off Morocco result in the deaths of more than 20 people // The so-called voluntary return of Syrian refugees to begin from Lebanon next week // 858 people deterred from crossing the Hungarian border // Protests against Italy-Libya Memorandum — ‘The EU kills without touching’ // “Failures of governance” in the Home Office, rule UK judges // Syrian women face deportation from Denmark, but men are allowed to stay & more
FEATURE
92 men, some visibly injured, were found completely naked by Greek police at the Turkish border in the Evros region.
On October 15th, the Greek police said in a statement that 92 individuals were found naked in the Evros region, by the Turkish border. It remains unclear how the men came to be unclothed, as Turkey and Greece blamed one another for the degrading and humiliating treatment of these people.
Notis Mitarachi portrayed Turkey as a ‘disgrace to civilisation’, whilst Turkey’s Communications Director Fahrettin Altun denied all responsibility, and accused Greece of spreading disinformation and disrespecting people by sharing such photos publicly.
Little else is known about these men at the moment of writing, and UNHCR has called for a full investigation.
SEARCH AND RESCUE (SAR)
SAR failures off Morocco result in the deaths of more than 20 people
On October 13th Alarm Phone alerted the Spanish coastguard to a boat in distress and adrift, carrying 56 people. The Spanish Salvamento confirmed that the Moroccan coastguard was conducting the operation, yet only thirty people were rescued the following day. An entire day of ‘communication’ and delegation indirectly inflicted death: the failure to carry out swift SAR operations illustrates a policy-directed lack of human compassion, which violates international maritime laws.
Over 100 people, coming from Libya and Tunisia, have been rescued already this week by the civil fleet
LEBANON
The so-called voluntary return of Syrian refugees to begin next week
Amnesty International have responded to the news that Lebanon’s General Security agency will start repatriating Syrian refugees next week in a ‘voluntary process’. Diana Semaan writes that Syrian refugees are not in a position to take a “free and informed decision about their return due to restrictive government policies on movement and residency, lack of access to essential services, [not to mention the] unavailability of objective and updated information about the current human rights situation in Syria.”
“In enthusiastically facilitating these returns, the Lebanese authorities are knowingly putting Syrian refugees at risk of suffering from heinous abuse and persecution upon their return to Syria. Lebanon should respect its obligations under international law and halt its plans to return Syrian refugees en-masse.”
Amnesty highlights that international law prohibits what is known as “constructive” refoulement — i.e. when the conditions for ‘voluntary’ refoulement are ‘constructed’: the coercion of individuals, by a state, to return to a place where they would be at real risk of human rights violations.
A ‘voluntary’ decision borne of unfair Lebanese governmental policies does not, according to Amnesty, constitute a free-willed choice. In 2021 Amnesty documented the sexual violence, detention, torture and enforced disappearance faced by returning Syrian refugees in the past. The risk to those who left Syria at the start of the conflict are real and life-threatening.
HUNGARY
858 people deterred from crossing the Hungarian border
The Hungarian police have boasted of the number of people they have prevented from entering the country in a 24 hour period on October 15th. ‘[I]n accordance with the current Hungarian legislation’, people who could ‘not credibly prove their identity or the legality of their stay in Hungary’ were removed to a ‘temporary security border checkpoint’.
BELARUS
Jailed human rights defender wins Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to human rights defenders in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Notably, Ales Bialiatski, who was jailed by Lukashenko’s government in July 2021, was one of the prize’s recipients. Ukrainian organisation Center for Civil Liberties and Russian organisation Memorial were also recipients. The Nobel Commitee’s decision sends a message of solidarity to the courage of civil society to stand up to repression and violence, which Article 19 call a recognition of “the persistent and long-standing plight of the recipients to strengthen the sense of unity among the people and ensure their democratic rights in the face of unabated repression launched by autocrats residing in Moscow and Minsk.”
ITALY
Protests against Italy-Libya Memorandum — ‘The EU kills without touching’
On October 15th, thousands of people protested on Italian streets and in front of the country’s European Embassies and Consulates, shouting ‘STOP MEMORANDUM ITALY-LIBYA.’
The protests were focused upon spotlighting the cynical nature of the deal: the outsourcing of violence against people on the move by Europe, funding the so-called Libyan coastguard. Their work increasingly seeks to deter migration and asylum through the excessive and illegal use of violence, as well as the criminalisation of human rights activists. Thousands of people have been removed to Libya, abused and arbitrarily detained under this Frontex-backed agreement. As David Yambio said:
The ‘EU kills without touching’
Trieste’s citizens call for asylum seekers to be given shelter in the void of government inaction
Hundreds of citizens have signed an open letter asking authorities to guarantee shelter to those living night and day on Piazza Libertà [Freedom Square] as the winter settles in across the northern Italian city. The letter reads:
“They are looking for a place to seek refuge from the cold and the rain in the complete indifference of the institutions which should be placing these people in emergency shelters.”
The letter has recommended several large buildings across the city that might be used to offer temporary winter accommodation — proactive steps can and must be taken.
Read more here.
UNITED KINGDOM
“Failures of governance” in the Home Office
Judges have ruled that the Home Office unlawfully targeted people arriving to the UK in small boats, and that this ‘failure of governance’ leaves over 1300 asylum seekers eligible to claim compensation for seized phones.
Diane Taylor writes in The Guardian that:
‘Lord Justice Edis and Mr Justice Lane ruled: “We are concerned with a failure of governance which allowed an unlawful policy to operate for an unknown period of time.”
While acknowledging that everyone was under pressure due to the “crisis of mass migration into the UK” and the political and media interest this attracted, the judges made reference to government officials who “sidestepped” and “ducked” the issue of how the policy to seize phones was applied.’
Elsewhere, the Home Office has withdrawn the Rwanda deportation letter issued to an Eritrean refugee who is 37 weeks pregnant
After the story was featured in mainstream media, the Home Office has thankfully U-turned on this particular decision. However, it exemplifies the callous, quota-filling approach to immigration that exists in the UK today.
Care4Calais write that
“The Government knows this woman is pregnant but have still seen fit to issue a letter threatening forced deportation to Rwanda. This case demonstrates the lack of compassion, cruelty and brutality at the heart of the Government’s Rwanda policy.”
More here.
DENMARK
Syrian women face deportation from Denmark, but men are allowed to stay
A number of Syrian women in their early 20s currently find themselves in ‘sending positions’, awaiting deportation. Before their residence permits were revoked, they were in both education and work. The only members of their families to have their permits revoked, some of these women have already been placed in Kærshovedgård’s detention centre. Men of conscription age and minors are still allowed to remain ‘temporarily’, so Denmark’s assessment of Syria as ‘safe’ has singled out these women to be deported.
This is the stance of the Danish Social Democrat Party’s Immigration and Integration Minister:
When you are here as a refugee, you are here temporarily. And this applies regardless of whether you are unemployed, in work, in education or retired, because everyone is equal before the law.
This ‘equality’ policy is up-rooting the lives of women who attended Danish schools, and have lived in the country since the age of 13, to return them to a place of instability not safety. This is not ‘equality before the law’.
WORTH READING + LISTENING TO
- ‘What is the Controversy on Repatriations from Syria about?’
A summary of a recent ECHR report findings, spotlighting the de facto detention camps run by the former Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, as well as highlighting the humanitarian concerns about foreign people detained on Syrian soil.
- ‘I AM NOT YOUR REFUGEE’ — a podcast aiming to break the false narratives that exist around migration. Hear from refugees in London and Greece engaged in re-writing this social script.
- Guidance on documenting international crimes
In Episode 66 of JusticeInfo.net’s Asymmetrical Haircuts, the hosts analyse the ICC’s guidelines on documenting human rights violations and international crimes:
- Case-Law knowledge sharing platform on 18th October
The Council of Europe and the ECHR are launching a platform for legal professionals and the wider public to share knowledge about ECHR case law on 18/10/22 at 14.30 CEST. Webcast https://lnkd.in/eb9biPVm
In Memory of Uli V. Sanden
On a separate note to the rest of today’s digest, we would like to commemorate one of AYS’ incredibly special volunteers, our dear colleague Uli, who sadly passed away over the weekend. An astute info gatherer, organiser and humanitarian to her core, Uli’s passing will long be felt by the AYS news team, and we will be forever grateful for her tireless contributions and the example she set.
We would like to share the following dedication, written by members of the AYS team:
Uli was a fighter, an organiser and an invaluable friend and volunteer at AYS. She poured her sparkling energy into the project and her fearless love into her fellow volunteers, always checking in on people and lending a helping hand. Her tireless solidarity and advocacy transcended borders, and she will be sorely missed by people spread out to the far corners of this planet. An irreplaceable human. Rest in Power.
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