Author Archives: Tommy Olsen

UNHCR has consistently and strongly criticised the Greek government and its uniformed officers for their barbaric, illegal, pushbacks against people who arrive in Greece. So why does UNHCR Greece hand the same authorities details about the locations of those men, women and children? A boat carrying 38 people, amongst them at least 17 children andContinue reading “Does UNHCR enable the torture of refugees by Greek police?”

Earlier today, Saturday May 7th, a sailboat carrying approximately 90 people, amongst them 30 children, was forced to go towards land on Kos due to engine problems. They arrived in a remote area on kos, south west of Limnionas beach, in a rocky area, luckily everyone made it ashore with only minor casualties. A child,Continue reading “⚠️Urgent Appeal, 90 People In Imminent Danger Of Being Pushed Back From Kos⚠️”

Over the last two years Aegean Boat Report have been documenting, investigating and publishing information on pushbacks performed by the Greek authorities, assisted by Frontex, in the Aegean Sea. On April 28 the head of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), Mr Leggeri, resigned, in the shadow of the revealing evidence of theContinue reading “Who Will Take The Fall?”

Wednesday April 6, at 15.00, a boat carrying 31 people arrived south of the airport on Lesvos south. After arriving they quickly ran into the woods, hid in several groups in the surrounding area, scared to be found by authorities and illegal sent back to Turkey. In a normal world this would not have beenContinue reading “Our Precious “European Values””

The EU-Turkey Deal was signed six years ago today (it came into effect two days later, on 20 March 2016). As we and many others advised at the time, the Deal was a poor idea, written in a moment of panic by EU staff who had watched as, in their desperation to prevent refugees enteringContinue reading “Six years of failure. Time to ditch the Deal”

Last week, we asked the European Court of Human Rights to intervene with an urgent measure under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court to prevent the pushback of four asylum-seekers from Greek territory (Aegean islands). Initially, the Court issued a provisional decision, asking to the Greek Government information about the steps that had beenContinue reading “Groundbreaking decision in our first pushback case before the European Court of Human Rights”

On Tuesday March 8, a boat carrying 20 Palestinians from Gaza, 10 men, 3 women and 7 children, landed on the south east shores of Chios, not far from Nenita. After arriving they fled to the woods in the surrounding areas, in fear of being found and arrested by Greek police. The group remained inContinue reading “Human rights belongs to everyone, or do they?”

On Monday Aegean Boat Report published an urgent appeal to prevent a pushback on Lesvos. This appeal was only partially successful, 14 people, amongst them 8 children, was prevented from being pushed back, 17 people from the same group was found drifting in a life raft hours later, amongst them 8 children and a pregnantContinue reading “The Refugee Lottery”

Even as Greek politicians – and others from across Europe – said they would obey international law by welcoming people fleeing terror and chaos in Ukraine, the Greek government was beating, robbing, humiliating and risking the lives of men, women and children from other parts of the world, who are searching for safety. On FebruaryContinue reading “Beaten, robbed and forced to paddle themselves by hand back to Turkey: Greece’s government continues its barbaric pushbacks regime”

At the beginning of this week, we asked the European Court of Human Rights to intervene with an urgent measure under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court to prevent the pushback of four asylum-seekers from Greek territory (Aegean islands). In reply to our request, the Court has issued a provisional decision asking the GreekContinue reading “An Important Step Forward In Our Fight Against Pushbacks!”