Violence against asylum seekers on EU borders

Despite repeated requests from UN agencies, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to end violence, ill-treatment and forced deportations, regularly at several entry points at land and sea borders. Similar actions are widely reported inside and outside the EU.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is deeply concerned about the growing number of violent incidents and serious human rights violations against refugees and migrants across Europe, several of which have resulted in tragic casualties.

Greece has registered approximately 540 incidents of unofficial and forced return since the beginning of 2020.

Over the past month, a total of 19 asylum seekers on the Greek border have died from frostbite. Reports indicated that they had been deported to the Turkish border without clothes by Greek border guards.

Meanwhile, another 21 people have lost their lives on the Polish-Belarusian border due to the inhumane treatment of officials in the cold of the forest, and hundreds of people are still wandering in miserable conditions in this area.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has interviewed thousands of people across Europe who have been pushed back and reported a worrying pattern of threats, intimidation, violence and humiliation.

 At sea, people report being abandoned in lifeboats or sometimes even forcibly thrown directly into the water, indicating a brutal lack of attention to human life.

"What is happening on Europe's borders is legally and morally unacceptable, and it must be stopped," UNHCR said in ghe statement. The protection of life, human rights and human dignity must remain a common European priority.

Progress in preventing human rights violations across borders, as well as establishing truly independent international monitoring mechanisms, is urgently needed to ensure independent reporting and investigation of incidents.

According to EU law, border surveillance activities must be carried out in full respect of fundamental rights. Border management and security concerns can only be addressed through the implementation of fair, humane and effective asylum policies that comply with the obligations of governments under international human rights and refugee law, including the 1951 Convention and European law.

"States must abide by their commitments, and respect fundamental human rights, including the right to life and the right to asylum," the statement said. How Europe is chosen is important for the protection of asylum seekers and refugees, and is a pattern not only in the region but also globally, and no government in the Union has the right to undermine it.

 

_{Source and Credit: UNHCR, UNnews}