Europe’s human rights watchdog urges Greece to end migrant ‘pushbacks’

Greece has been urged to implement stronger legal safeguards at its borders and adopt a “zero-tolerance approach to summary returns” as reports of illegal deportations of migrants continue in the face of mounting international criticism, the Council of Europe (CoE) has said.

Michael O’Flaherty, the CoE’s commissioner for human rights, issued the recommendations following a visit to Greece in February.

“The commissioner is concerned about the allegations received during his visit regarding persistent practices of summary returns — also referred to as ‘pushbacks’ or ‘informal forced returns’ — at both land and maritime borders,” a memorandum said.

“Returning people without carrying out an individual identification procedure prevents member states from establishing whether they may be sending them back to human rights abuses.”

But the statement added that O’Flaherty had noted that the number of allegations had dropped in recent months.

Athens has consistently denied the pushback allegations, maintaining that its border control measures comply with international law.

In a written response to the commissioner, Greek Police said its officers are involved only in the “lawful prevention of illegal border crossings while migrants are still in Turkish territory and have not yet reached Greece.”

The pushback allegations gained legal significance after the European Court of Human Rights ruled against Greece in January, finding that Athens had violated European human rights conventions by systematically expelling migrants without due process.

Meanwhile, the Greek government is tightening its migration policies.

Migration Minister Makis Voridis has announced plans to extend the maximum detention period for rejected asylum seekers from 18 to 24 months.

“The illegal migrant whose asylum application is rejected and who nevertheless does not leave for his country will face a much more unfavourable institutional environment than exists today — essentially to encourage voluntary departure,” Voridis told the Action 24 TV news channel.

On Tuesday, the coast guard reported rescuing 158 migrants from three dinghies south of the island of Crete, with assistance from nearby commercial vessels and Frontex, the EU’s border protection agency.

Last month, Frontex also said it was investigating multiple alleged human rights violations by Greece in the way it deals with illegal immigration.

Frontex said it is looking into 12 alleged serious incidents that mostly occurred in 2024 but gave no further details.

A spokesperson for the agency, Chris Borowski, said it had recently boosted its complaint mechanism.

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“There are currently 12 active serious incident reports related to Greece under review by the Fundamental Rights Office. Each is being examined thoroughly,” he said.