It was to be expected: four years of inaction are now showing their catastrophic effects. The coronavirus has reached the Greek islands. 40,000 people, crammed together in completely overcrowded EU hotspot camps like Moria, under disastrous hygienic conditions and with almost no medical care, could soon be at the mercy of the deadly disease. While European states are closing their borders to protect against the pandemic and even prohibiting social gatherings of small groups, the Greek healthcare system, severely weakened by austerity policies and the economic crisis, is in no way capable of providing the necessary medical care for the refugees in the event of a large-scale outbreak. And the EU continues to ignore all appeals to clear the camps and evacuate the people safely. Instead, it is tightening its border controls. This fits with what we have seen at the Greek-Turkish border over the past two weeks: an unprecedented brutalization of EU migration policy, coupled with the unscrupulous violation of fundamental human rights, European law and the Geneva Refugee Convention.
People seeking refuge in Europe are being tear-gassed, beaten, stripped naked, and illegally pushed back across borders. In the Aegean Sea, refugees are being aggressively attacked by the Greek coast guard, their engines destroyed, and their dinghies punctured. What was unspeakable in 2015 has now become reality: the border is being defended with live ammunition, and several people have been shot dead at the Greek-Turkish Evros border. European border policy has thus transformed from passively allowing people to die at the external borders to actively killing them. Volunteers and staff of international organizations on the Greek islands have been targeted by far-right networks, hunted down by fascist mobs, and brutally beaten. Fascists from all over Europe are arriving on the Greek islands, and social centers and solidarity structures have been set on fire.
Furthermore, the right to asylum has been suspended for all persons who have entered Greece since March 1st. The Greek government, through its spokesman Stelios Petsas, announced that it would no longer accept asylum applications from new arrivals for one month. Newly arrived refugees are being held under ad-hoc detention conditions, such as those at the port on Lesbos, and are slated for deportation. However, they are not only being denied the right to protection; according to newspaper reports, there have already been several hundred cases in which people have been sentenced to four years in prison for "illegal entry."
THE EUROPEAN Abandonment of All Fundamental Rights
All of this not only tramples on the much-vaunted European values, but also violates international law, European law, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Geneva Refugee Convention.
1. Greece has committed itself to upholding the international legal principle of non-refoulement, which is enshrined in numerous international and human rights treaties (including Article 33 of the Geneva Refugee Convention and Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights). The use of armed force at the Greek border, as well as deportations without asylum procedures, contradict these legal norms and constitute a continuing violation of the law.
2. The prohibition of collective expulsion is also enshrined in human rights and European law (Article 19(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Article 4 of Protocol No. 4 to the European Convention on Human Rights). Greece is also bound by this principle through the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The Greek government cannot rely on the recent decision of the European Court of Human Rights (8675/15 and 8697/15) regarding the practice of pushbacks at the Spanish-Moroccan border: In this decision, the ECtHR required that there be a legal alternative route of entry and that applications for protection could be submitted elsewhere. No such alternative exists in Greece; applications for protection cannot be submitted at other border crossings or police stations. Therefore, neither a suspension of the right to asylum nor a complete border closure is lawful. Both the prohibition of refoulement and the prohibition of collective expulsion are absolute and cannot be suspended at any time or under any circumstances – certainly not through a legally unenshrined agreement like the EU-Turkey deal of March 2016, which is referred to as an agreement.
Nevertheless, the EU and Germany stand protectively behind Greece, which EU Commission President von der Leyen, in the manner of a defense minister, has called "the shield of Europe" and is supporting with €700 million for border reinforcements. The spiral of militarization continues to escalate: The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, is being deployed to the border in a special RABIT operation. Its purpose remains unclear – to participate in the shootings?
TURKISH WARFARE WITH REFUGEES AND THE EARLY MISTAKE OF EU MIGRATION POLICY
It is unbelievable that the European Union is prepared to throw overboard all legal principles, morality, and civilized pretense simply because a few thousand people want to apply for asylum at the Greek border. The disastrous EU-Turkey deal of March 18, 2016, has once again given an authoritarian regime power over European politics. The political mantra that 2015 must not be repeated prevents the EU from rethinking its approach. In reality, the refugees have become bargaining chips and human ammunition for the Turkish AKP government's own militaristic and domestic political agenda—a situation facilitated by an EU migration policy that, through deals, establishes authoritarian regimes as buffer zones for Europe to deter refugees.
But Turkey is not safe; it does not grant asylum to people without a European passport. Even though Turkey's military presence in Idlib aims to prevent the forced displacement of another 3.5 million people towards its border by the Syrian-Russian offensive, it remains responsible for the displacement of hundreds of thousands since its attack on Syrian territories under Kurdish self-administration. Refugees are also shot at on the Turkish-Syrian border – and Turkey itself is deporting people back to Syria. In recent years, Erdoğan has repeatedly threatened to terminate the EU-Turkey deal. This time, the Turkish president has reinforced his threat: people were transported to the border in buses, crammed together, and in some cases forced to cross at gunpoint and with beatings. All of this is being done to create images intended to persuade the EU and NATO to support Turkey in its war strategy and to stem the flow of refugees from Syria. Furthermore, Syrians are to be deported to a so-called "safe zone" in the Kurdish regions of northeastern Syria. This would allow the Turkish president to kill two birds with one stone: to severely weaken the Kurdish democratic self-administration and simultaneously rid himself of the refugees who were temporarily tolerated in the country.
Instead of recognizing the fundamental flaw in EU migration policy – its dependence on authoritarian regimes – as the root cause of the problem, the EU is attempting to appease Turkey by any means necessary. In doing so, it fails to recognize that the deal has never worked and never will: neither the one-to-one exchange (where for every Syrian returned from Greece to Turkey, one Syrian would be resettled in Europe), nor the emptying of the Greek islands through deportations. The only functional element of the deal is the horse-trading of billions for violent migration control. If this collapses, the true face of this helpless and failed migration policy will be revealed: shooting at the EU's external border will then be the only logical consequence. The EU-Turkey deal has failed from the outset, and any new attempt at a deal will fail just the same!
THE DUARD OF Isolation and Fascism
The reinterpretation of the welcoming culture of 2015 as a "refugee crisis that must never be repeated" creates such fear that shootings are tolerated rather than discussing acceptance. This isolationist paradigm also has its murderous domestic political dimension. While numerous cities and municipalities—such as those in the "Cities of Safe Havens" network—continue to stand for a practice and culture of welcome and an open society, politicians, by demonizing migration as "the mother of all problems," have also made discourses and actions of "defending Europe" socially acceptable within society. In this respect, the fascist rhetoric at the external borders is closely intertwined with the rise of right-wing terrorism and attacks on the foundations of democracy in European societies. Europe is at a crossroads: We can only counter this madness with a return to fundamental rights, openness, and a willingness to welcome refugees.
WE DEMAND:
• The immediate evacuation of all migrants from the Greek islands and from all overcrowded camps
• Effective protective measures against the coronavirus for migrants
• An immediate end to state violence and the killing of migrants at the external borders
• The immediate termination of the EU-Turkey deal
• An active EU policy to end the forced displacement of millions of people in Syria
• The restoration of the right to asylum, due process in asylum procedures, and the demilitarization of the external border
• Compliance with applicable international, human rights, and European law in dealing with arriving people
• The reception of people in cities showing solidarity
• A European policy that does not itself continually create the root causes of displacement
INITIATORS
Adopt a Revolution
borderline europe eV
bordermonitoring.eu
Equal Rights Beyond Borders
Refugee Council of Lower Saxony eV
Kritnet
Committee for Fundamental Rights and Democracy
medico international
Republican Lawyers' Association eV (RAV)
Saxon Refugee Council
SEEBRÜCKE – Create safe harbors!
FURTHER SUPPORTING GROUPS
Alarmphone
Stand Up Against Racism Schleswig-Holstein
#ausgehetzt – the alliance
Berlin Association of Victims of the Nazi Regime – Federation of
Antifascists e.V.
colorido e. V.
Refugee Council Baden-Württemberg
Refugee Council Brandenburg
Refugee Council Hamburg e.V.
Refugee Council Schleswig-Holstein e.V.
Refugee Council Saxony-Anhalt
Hessian Refugee Council
Humanist Union OV Lübeck
Iuventa 10
Cologne Refugee Council e.V.
Legal Centre Lesvos
Lübeck Refugee Forum e.V.
Marxist Left – Ecological, Emancipatory, Feminist,
Integrative e.V.
Munich Alliance Against War and Racism
Mare Liberum
Network for Racism-Critical Migration Pedagogy Network
Grandmothers Against the Right
Round Table Against Racism and Fascism Kiel
Association of Democratic Lawyers e. V. (VDJ)
