AYS News Digest 24.04.23: Lithuania: EC Council say Human rights must be upheld
Sudan: EU should intervene // Gun-shot victim named in North Macedonia // Serbia police continued violence // Poland: man in coma after border-wall fall // Lithuania “Human rights law must be upheld” // Malta continues to obstruct information // Frontex: millions to be spent on border technology and deportations
FEATURE
Lithuania: EC Council say Human rights must be upheld
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović has demanded that Lithuanian law-makers put human rights at the centre of law. This comes as amendments to the law on the State Border and its Protection risk allowing pushbacks (as reported in this Digest) to be made into law.
This isn’t the first time Mijatović has called for a greater application of protection in Lithuania, where illegal pushbacks at the border with Belarus being the main target of her comments. The full statement is here.
The hypocrisy and racism inherent in other European policies are also highly evident in Lithuania. In 2022, as Russia attacked, thousands of Ukrainian refugees were welcomed and assisted in Lithuania, meanwhile more than 10,000 other potential refugees were pushed back to Belarus. Amnesty International estimated more than 4,000 people to have been in detention. After legal action against the emergency legislation, most of those people were subsequently released.
SUDAN
Groups call for EU intervention in Sudan
The EU is complicit with the regime that caused the militarisation of the Sudanese government — that is the statement released by a host of organisations including Refugees in Libya, Sea Watch and the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN). The groups demand that the EU take action to bring out talks between the different sides that would lead to a citizen-led government. There are more details and a petition to sign here.
NORTH MACEDONIA
Rejected by Greece, Fatmata was searching for safety somewhere else when she lost her life. As reported in the previous Digest, during a police incident, the 23 year old was accidentally shot. Please read the tribute to her here.
SERBIA
Police violence continues
As frequently reported by AYS, violence against people on the move at the Serbia border is rife. The video at this link and at this link clearly show that officers in uniforms are assaulting people in the Mali Zvornik border crossing, as captured by members of MVI.
POLAND
A man is fighting for his life in Poland after crossing
The man from Syria fell off a border wall whilst crossing from Belarus to Poland in early April and remains in a coma. The five metre high wall was erected by Polish authorities last year.
No Borders Team provides an update of what is happening at the border. They continue to support people with humanitarian aid, whilst having knowledge that pushbacks are still occurring. More details here.
SEA and SEARCH and RESCUE (SAR)
Multiple reports of tragedy in the Mediterranean
Multiple shipwrecks have been reported over the weekend, with numbers likely to be higher than reported. 31 people lost their lives off the coast of Tunisia, whilst 34 people were also found dead on the Libyan coast.
Meanwhile MSF perform two rescues and are on their way to Napoli as their assigned port of disembarkation.
The number of people trying to cross from Tunisia and Libya has not slowed since the Italian Government tightened rules for rescue organisations. The island of Lampedusa receives many boat landings from the Mediterranean. At the weekend there were 10 landings in one day and this report describes how people were recently transferred from the island reception centre to mainland Italy, but the reception centre has filled up once again.
The situation for people seeking safety in Tunisia and Libya is becoming still more difficult, and there are calls for Europe to step in to help.
Maltese authorities continue to obstruct information
Maltese authorities are frequently in breach of their responsibility to rescue people in their SAR Zone. For over a year, authorities have refused to publish the number of people rescued at sea, as requested by the Time of Malta. The freedom of information request was refused, and the newspaper has now escalated the request.
EU and FRONTEX
Millions to be spent on border technology and deportations
In the Procurement Plan of 2023 which was published in February this year, Frontex plans to spend 260 million Euros on border surveillance, technology and deportations.
The Procurement Plan can be seen here.
Statewatch collates the information, stating that on the Frontex shopping list are planes to enable deportations on charter flights, a new ferry service to enable deportations from Greece to Turkey, vehicles, data management systems, equipment maintenance and more.
This is a dramatic increase in spending over the last several years, despite the agency having faced accusations of breaches of fundamental rights. Tineke Strik, a Dutch MEP, raises concerns that the tax-payer funded equipment will be used for illegal pushbacks.
“[Frontex must show] how it will ensure that these significant sums of money don’t facilitate violent pushbacks by Member States.” Tineke Strik, a Dutch MEP
The full Statewatch report is available here.
More rights for women
The European Court of Justice (EJC) is considering a case of a woman in Bulgaria who is seeking protection based on her social group and her risk of domestic violence. This is the latest in several cases which seek to give women more protection, as well as small steps towards making family reunion easier — for example by allowing applications via email.
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