UN refugee agency alarmed over asylum-seekers turned away from Greece

by Monique Beals - 02/21/22 9:52 PM ET

LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP via Getty Images
This picture shows a view of the tiny Greek island of Kastellorizo (Megisti) with a Greek flag, in the Dodecanese, the furthest south eastern Greek Island, two kilometers from the Turkish mainland, on August 28, 2020.

The United Nations (U.N.) Refugee Agency on Monday voiced concerns about “horrific incidents” where asylum-seekers and migrants are forced to return after slipping into Greece and other European countries.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi raised alarm over “the increasing number of incidents of violence and serious human rights violations against refugees and migrants at various European borders,” according to a statement.

“We are alarmed by recurrent and consistent reports coming from Greece’s land and sea borders with Turkey, where UNHCR has recorded almost 540 reported incidents of informal returns by Greece since the beginning of 2020,” Grandi said, citing at least three deaths since September 2021 as a result of people being forced back from Greece in the Aegean Sea.

He said some migrants were “left adrift in life rafts or sometimes even forced directly into the water, showing a callous lack of regard for human life.”

“With few exceptions, European States have failed to investigate such reports, despite mounting, credible evidence,” Grandi’s statement added.

But Athens denied the allegations and said that the UNHCR appeared to have fallen for Turkish propaganda.

Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi responded in a statement, saying that Grandi’s remarks “surprised” him.

“Greece protects the external borders of the European Union, in total compliance with international law and in full respect of the charter of fundamental rights,” Mitarachi said. “It is deeply troubling that Turkish-driven propaganda and fake news about illegal migration is so often mistakenly taken as fact.”

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