‘In the light of more than a year of illegal pushbacks by official Greek rescue and border patrol agencies at the behest of the Greek government, behaviour which we can only describe as reprehensible and inhuman, Aegean Boat Report is sorry to announce that except in cases of extreme risk of suffering and potential loss of life, we will no longer share with the Greek port police the location of men, women and children seeking asylum in Greece.

To date, we have happily shared this information when we have had it, in the hope that these men, women and children will be helped to enter the correct legal procedure and system for applying for refugee status.

But since March 2020, the Greek government’s field operatives have pushed 10,656 men, women and children back from Greek waters – and in many cases Greek land and even refugee camps in Greece – into Turkish waters: a clear, direct, immoral and unacceptable breach of international law and of all of our rights as human beings.

We do not feel it is possible for us to continue to assist the Greek port police and the Greek government by providing them with this information, for as long as they continue to behave in this unacceptable, unjustifiable, and illegal way.

As soon as the Greek government ceases to break the law, we will of course be very happy to return to helping them and the men, women and children seeking safety and fleeing violence and oppression elsewhere in the world.’