Aegean Boat Report

Over the last month we have registered a shift in routes used by people seeking international protection in the Aegean Sea.

Normally, people crossing from Turkey towards the Greek islands have had Lesvos, Chios, Samos and Kos as their main destination. Now, smaller islands seem to get more arrivals.

Why this is happening now could have severe explanations, but we believe more focus and surveillance by Greek authorities and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex, around the bigger islands is the main reason.

This, together with a more active approach by the Turkish authorities to actually try to stop boats from crossing into Greek waters, and the fact that they are moving Afghans away from coastal areas in the North Aegean, has drastically reduced crossings.

We are now in almost daily contact with people arriving on islands like Ikaria, Fournoi, Patmos, Leipsoi, Nisyros, Tilos, Pserimos and Kalimnos, previously this was the exception, now it’s starting to move towards the rule.

This might seem like a strange change, since people arriving on the main islands don’t face the risk of being pushed back as they previously did. The “hunt” for new arrivals by masked men suddenly stopped after the Pylos shipwreck, and as far as we have been able to document, all arrivals on these main islands, are now taken to camps and given the opportunity to apply for international protection.

But this is many times not the case on these smaller islands: especially the less populated ones. So why would people take the chance of going there, if the risk of being pushed back is higher?

The problem isn’t that they fear being pushed back after they arrive on a Greek island, they fear more being pushed back at sea before they arrive. The risk of being pushed back from smaller islands, especially deserted ones, is a genuine risk that we have documented, but it seems they are willing to take this risk, because the risk of being pushed back at sea around the main islands is much higher.

On and around the main islands the surveillance has drastically increased over the last years, more eyes are watching the sea area, not only those of Greek authorities, but also of Frontex, from land, air and sea. The chance of getting across the sea border in these areas was previously very low. Now, after Turkish authorities have intensified their efforts to stop boats in these areas, it’s almost impossible to get across undetected. The chance of getting across in these main areas has gone from 70% to under 30% in just a month. We believe this is no coincidence, and is suspected to be firmly linked to a deal made between Greece and Turkey, supported by the EU Commission. What Turkey has been offered is so far unknown, but it’s highly unlikely that Turkey would settle for nickels and dimes.

To understand this shift in movement, you need to have some understanding of how smugglers operate in Turkey. It’s not as if the people in the boats have much say in the decision on whether they are sent towards a big island or a small one: they basically do as they are told and hope for the best.

Smugglers only get paid if they successfully manage to get their “product” transported from point A to point B. If for some reason the transport is stopped and returned, the smugglers don’t receive payment, and are given a new opportunity to successfully deliver their services. If they are unsuccessful several times, the customer can take their money to another smuggler, leaving the previous smuggler with the costs of boats, engines, petrol etc. without getting paid. This is of course not good for business, and if too many obstacles are hindering their work, they change strategy. This is what we believe has happened.

Crossing attempts in the Aegean Sea the last month has gone down by more than 50%, from 246 cases in February, to 119 in March. We normally would have expected that pushback cases, and especially cases where people are pushed back in life rafts, would follow a similar pattern. On the contrary, despite the fact that crossing attempts have gone down by more than 50%, cases in which people have been forced into life rafts and left helplessly drifting in the Aegean Sea have not decreased, but instead increased 8% compared to February.

It’s a worrying development worth noting. It’s that smugglers in Turkey are now targeting these smaller islands as their transport destinations, not out of the kindness of their hearts and a genuine concern for their customers wellbeing, but out of necessity to make money off the back of vulnerable people, whose routes towards safety in Europe have been firmly closed by European authorities.

People are now arriving on islands which are not equipped or prepared to handle increased arrivals, nor have the necessary infrastructure and resources to quickly initiate rescue operations, if boats are in distress.

None of the main humanitarian organizations have staff on these smaller islands. There is basically no ground support in place to support them with shelter, food, clothes and medical attention. Also, the routes towards these islands are longer: any crossing in a rubber boat towards any island is very dangerous, and the more time people must stay in these fragile boats, the higher the risk of something going terribly wrong.

We fear – in fact, we are certain – that more lives will be unnecessarily lost if smugglers continue to use these longer routes.

The only solution to this problem, and the only way to put smugglers in Turkey out of business, is not to put in place more obstacles, but to open legal safe pathways into Europe for people seeking international protection.

The smuggling industry in Turkey making billions from people’s suffering, is a product of our time, it was not created in a vacuum. Smugglers have existed as long as people and states have tried to hinder the movement of goods and people: for better or for worse, they are serving a purpose, responding to and providing for, a demand in the market,  not from kindness, but necessity. Any market is driven by a very simple principle, supply and demand, one will not exist without the other. We can in this case ask who or what created the demand, and the answer isn’t rocket science.

When we put up walls and fences, we at the same time create an opportunity for people to make money. We might try to say “we are not responsible”, and directly this is in many cases true, but indirectly we are very much responsible: anyone denying this fact is delusional.

Throughout history people have, for various reasons, wandered this Earth, and over time moved from one area to the next, following mainly resources and climate change.

Nothing has changed, people are still in need of finding new places to live, mostly out of necessity, as a result of war and climate change, but now we have put up fences and walls to try to hinder people from finding safety, with the excuse of self-preservation and protection.

In the short term, it might seem to be “working”, but in the long run nothing can stop people from moving. If determined or desperate enough, they will always find a way, a more dangerous and deadly way, but in the end it will not matter, because they have no other alternative if they want to live.

It is well beyond time that the Greek government, and all governments, including the EU, recognised this.

Not only are the policies of ‘deterrence’ incredibly expensive, they are absolutely failing. Of course they are: by increasing the risk and reality of mass death on the sea, they are efforts to force the entire flow of human history to change.

They are doomed to always fail. For the good of our moral health, for the good of our economic health, and for the welfare of men, women and children like ourselves, we have to change.

In place of our litany of failure, at the cost of tens of thousands of deaths, we must set up safe routes, in affordable or free transport, for those who need it, to save lives, save enormous amounts of money, and put smugglers out of business.

Kudos to all those who, on a daily basis, do their utmost to fend for the rights of people at our borders!

To support our work and help us continue saving lives in the Aegean, please donate through LeaveNoOneBehind fundraiser by clicking on the link below 👇👍

We have previously published about large groups of people, Afgan families, who have been taken from camps in coastal areas and transported across Turkey to the border to Iran.

Now they are also rounded up in large numbers and transported to the Harran container camp in Şanlurfa province, close to the Syrian border. Previously this camp has been hosting Syrian refugees, all Syrians have been removed and the camp is now used to host Afghan families.

People in the camp have all had Turkish papers and ID cards for years, now their papers have been cancelled, their ID card no longer valid, and they fear that this is done so that Turkish authorities can legally deport them. Question is why is this happening to only Afghans, and why now?

People from the camp is complaining about living conditions inside the camp, unfortunately we have so far not been able to get much documentation from the people in the camp, they say it’s illegal to take pictures and videos, perhaps they have a good reason for not wanting this to come out.

How many people are currently living in the camp is difficult to say, we are told that 2-3 buses arrives every day, the camp is rapidly filling up, all new arrivals are Afgan families, all have had their papers revoked.

People in these buses are mostly coming from the North Aegean area, Ayvacik, Ayvalık, Dikili and İzmir, and from what Turkish authorities call “Removal Centres”.

One of these centers is located in the outskirts of Ayvacik, Çanakkale, north of the Greek island of Lesvos, one of the main entry points for Afghans entering into Europe.

We have had contact with several groups in this facility over the last weeks, they are all Afghan nationals, families with large number of children, and they have all tried to cross into Europe, but been stopped by Turkish coast guard or pushed back by Greek coast guard.

Previously, people being stopped or picked up at sea, have been taken into provincial holding facilities, registered, and let out again after a few days. Now, people are being transported to these “removal centers”, but only Afghan nationals, they are kept locked up under bad conditions, many times for days, before being shipped across Turkey in buses to camps close to the Iranian and Syrian border.

We have so far been alerted to people, Afgan families, being moved to two camps, one at the border to Iran, and one at the Syrian border. These are the camps we know about, question is how many more are there, these are most likely not the only ones.

Why this is happening now, and why only to Afghans living in Turkey, can potentially be related to a deal made with Greece, financed by the European Union, to try to reduce the number of Afghans crossing from From Turkey to Greece through the North Aegean.

In the last five months of 2023 there was a steady increase in arrivals on the Greek Aegean islands, a large portion of which were Afghans nationals. This increase continued into this year, and in the two first months of 2024, arrivals increased a staggering 240% compared to the same months in 2023. A large percentage of this increase happened on Lesvos, where large numbers of Afghan families continued to arrive, Greek authorities needed to do something, and we believed they found a solution, by making a deal with Turkey.

Over the last weeks, arrivals on the North Aegean region, especially on Lesvos, witch is the main entry point into Europe for Afghans, have plummeted, crossings in this area have been drastically reduced, and very few Afghan nationals have been registered as new arrivals on the island, this is not a coincidence.

Meetings between Turkey and Greece on the topic of “migration flow” has been ongoing since the end of last year, and we believe that a deal has been struck, a deal that most likely won’t be officially announced, because it can’t stand the light of day, not only illegal by Turkish law, but European law as well.

We read in the Greek press a few weeks ago that the Greek Aegean islands will launch fast-track visas for Turkish nationals from April 1. The announcement followed an agreement by Athens and Ankara, approved by the EU, to revive a previous scheme the special Schengen Express Visa program for Turkish citizens wishing to visit certain eastern Aegean islands.

We know that this wouldn’t be enough to by off Turkey to do Europes dirty work, so the question is, what are they not telling us?, what was put on the table to sweeten the deal, and how much of European taxpayers money will be used this time to lure Turkey to tighten their grip at the border?

This sounds all too familiar, “paying” Turkey to do our dirty work, as we tried with the EU-Turkey Deal, all in the name of “protecting” the borders of Europe, without any concern for the pain and suffering we inflict on those in the receiving end.

We are deeply concerned for the safety and wellbeing of the Afghan families who have been transported to camps close to the Iranian and Syrian border, and believe that they will be illegally deported, if not already, then soon, if nothing is done to try to prevent it.

Kudos to all of those who, on a daily basis, do their utmost to fend for the rights of people at our borders!

To support our work and help us continue saving lives in the Aegean, please donate through LeaveNoOneBehind fundraiser by clicking on the link below 👇👍

For the last two weeks Aegean Boat Report have been contacted by numerous groups of Afghan families, all with one thing in common, they have all been transported from Turkish coastal cities in the North Aegean, to a camp in the outskirts of Iğdir, eastern Turkey, a few kilometers from the border to Iran.

The families contacted us and expressed deep concern of being deported, first to Iran, and then back to Taliban in Afghanistan. They told us there was between 6 and 8 buses that drove together in each group, and the people onboard were all Afghan Families, they estimated over 1.000 people total.

We have previously heard of single unregistered men without any papers being deported to Iran, but this is different. This time they removed large groups of registered Afghan families, men, women and a large number of children, many who have been living in Turkey for years. People even provided pictures of their Turkish papers.

According to the people who contacted us they were given very short notice, some under one hour, to pack up their things, only one bag each, and be ready to be transported. No information was given on why they suddenly was moved, and to where.

Last week we followed three different large groups of Afghan families, one group from Ayvacik camp, Çanakkale, and two groups from Izmir, they all were transported almost 2000km, across Turkey, to the Iğdır Göçmen Camp, eastern Turkey, question is why?

Under their transport to the camp, and after their arrival, they shared location data, pictures and videos, and we can clearly see that we are not talking about only single men, quite the opposite.

We had contact with several people from the camp in Iğdır, and they told us that they would be deported to Iran. We of course have no official information from Turkish authorities, that they will be deported, and they most likely wouldn’t tell us if they did, because if this is in fact the case, this would be a violation of international law, and even Turkish law, to deport people with papers registered in Turkey, to Iran.

From all the phones we previously had contact with from the camp in eastern Turkey, connection has now been lost. The reason for this is of course unknown, but before we lost contact with them, they told us that groups of single men had been rounded up, all phones taken away from them, before transported out of the camp, location unknown.

We are concerned that Afghan families are being illegally deported from Turkey to Iran, and from there to Afghanistan, that for many would mean certain death.

The North Aegean region is the main entry point into Europe for Afghans, we especially see this on the Greek Aegean island of Lesvos, where thousands of Afghans have arrived in the last months, and are by far the largest group registered on the island. After this mass transport from these coastal areas in Turkey, arrivals of Afghans on the Greek Aegean islands, especially Lesvos, have been drastically reduced.

We have had contact with many people from Afganistan arriving on the Greek islands lately, and we have seen a steep increase in Afghans crossing the Aegean Sea into Europe that started several months ago. We have many times asked these groups why they take the risk on this very dangerous journey, especially traveling with large numbers of small children. Every time they have replied, “we are no longer safe in Turkey, they will deport us back to Afghanistan”, and “we fear Taliban more than the sea”.

Meetings between Turkey and Greece on the topic of “migration flow” has been ongoing since the end of last year, perhaps this is what is beginning to bear fruit.

We read in the press last week that the Greek Aegean islands will launch fast-track visas for Turkish tourists from April 1. The announcement followed an agreement by Athens and Ankara, approved by the EU, to revive a previous scheme the special Schengen Express Visa program for Turkish citizens wishing to visit certain eastern Aegean islands.

This sounds all too familiar, “paying” Turkey to do our dirty work, as we tried with the EU-Turkey Deal, all in the name of “protecting” the borders of Europe, without any concern for the pain and suffering we inflict on those in the receiving end.

We are deeply concerned for the safety and the fate of the Afghan families who have been transported to a camp close to the Iranian border, and believe that they will be illegally deported, if not already, then soon, if nothing is done to try to prevent it.

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In the morning of March 4, the Turkish coast guard found and rescued 87 people drifting in 4 life rafts outside Datça, Turkey. 26 of the people in the life rafts were small children.

I’m sorry to say this, and yes, it’s totally crazy, but people being left drifting in life rafts in the Aegean Sea by Greek authorities, has become so normal that nobody even bats an eyelid anymore. It’s just how it is. Something so outrageous has become normalized.

I don’t know what anyone finds “normal” about kidnapping groups of people, stealing all their belongings, beating parents up in front of their screaming children, kidnapping people and forcing them, many times at gunpoint, into life rafts and leaving them drifting at sea. If small children can’t climb down into the rafts they are thrown down by masked men. This isn’t normal behaviour, there is absolutely nothing normal about any of this: it’s totally and utterly disgusting. But nobody lifts a finger to even try to stop this madness. Have we gone totally off the reservation?

In the last four years, 24.000 people have been left drifting in 1.400 life rafts in the Aegean Sea by Greek authorities, amongst them almost 5.000 small children. The number of children alone is equivalent to over 450 football teams or 160 school classes. Does any of this affect us?

The problem is that nobody really sees these people for what they are. To many people, they are just statistics, numbers on a sheet, nothing anyone can relate to: no faces, no eyes, everything is blurred to protect their identity, their right to privacy. But the question is, by blurring their faces, are we protecting “them” or “us”? By not seeing, maybe we protect ourselves. What we can’t relate to is easy to just overlook. We don’t get involved because it’s not about us, it’s about “them”, and “them” isn’t real people, just statistics, a number on a sheet, nothing more.

Very few of us get emotional over statistics, but a picture can move the entire world. We saw clearly how a picture of a little lifeless body of Alan Kurdi, a child in a red t-shirt and blue shorts, touched our hearts a few years ago, made people stand up and get involved. Would that have happened if we had blurred it? Highly unlikely.

Why? because we saw that this could have been our child, our neighbours child, the child of our relatives or friends. So we got emotional, we reacted and we acted. Those two are usually firmly connected, cause and effect.

Most of the pictures posted in this post came from the case we reported in which 87 people, human beings, just like you and me, were left drifting in four life rafts in the middle of the sea a few days ago. None of these pictures have been pixelated, a decision we made to try to underline the fact that these are actually real people. They are not merely statistics on a sheet, they are in fact you and me, nothing more, nothing less.

I usually pixelate pictures before I publish them. It means I am sometimes the only one who sees the real people behind the blur: their faces, their eyes, sometimes eyes filled with life and hope, others just like a black hole. I see kids smiling, adults crying, despair, relief, anger, even happiness, though the latter not as often as I would like. By pixelating everyone I remove all of it, and it’s as if I’m removing their humanity, their being. Many times I find this very difficult. Necessary, but difficult.

This time I just couldn’t. I saw their faces, especially of the children, and I couldn’t cover them up. I have done it thousands of times before, but this time it just felt tremendously wrong, as if I erased them by doing so.

I’m sorry to dose who feel offended by this post. I feel you. My intention isn’t to offend anyone, but to try to give something back of the things I have “taken” from “you” and “them” over the years by removing what makes “them” human. “They” deserve so much more, “they” deserve to be seen as the human beings they are, and “we” deserve to be given the opportunity to react.

Real life, “theirs” and “ours”, isn’t pixelated, and we very much need to see the fruits of “our” creation, perhaps now more than ever.

Please take your time, look closely at these pictures, their faces, and ask yourself: would you have had the heart to throw them into life rafts in the middle of the sea? If not, ask yourself why? Because this is what’s being done on a daily basis in the Aegean Sea, it’s done in your name, on your watch. You are even paying for it.

By not reacting, and not acting, we are ALL complicit in crimes against humanity. They need to be stopped before it’s too late.

On Thursday February 29, at 18.30, Aegean Boat Report were contacted by a group of 18 people, 15 adults and 3 children, from Afghanistan and Palestine, who had arrived on the Greek island of Farmakonisi.

The group was scared, and asked for assistance so that they could be taken to the nearest port of safety, provided with food, water and medicine attention, and given the opportunity to apply for asylum in accordance with international law.

The problem was that they had by accident or deliberately, it’s difficult to say, arrived on a desert island, and the only people present were military personnel from the base on the island, and the only way off this island was to inform Greek authorities.

Farmakonisi is a small uninhabited Greek island in the Dodecanese, present only a Greek military garrison.

The group provided us with pictures, videos and geolocation data, it shows without a doubt that they are on Farmakonisi.

We advised that people from the group should to go to the military station and make their presence known, not because it’s a safe solution, it’s definitely not, but because it’s the only solution on this island, and that they first contacted 112 and informed that they were on the island.

As far as they informed us, they refused to go to the military base on the island, and that they instead had contacted 112 and informed of their situation.

At 04.20 a.m. on Friday morning, we lost all contact with the group, we assumed that the group had been found by the military personnel on the island, and that they had been ordered to turn off their phones.

We hoped that the group had been found and transported to the camp on Leros, as the group who arrived the day before them. Unfortunately no people from Farmakonisi had been registered in the camp on Leros on Friday.

On Friday at 11.55 a.m. Turkish coast guard reported to have found 18 people, 3 of them small children, adrift in a life raft outside the Menderes district, north east of Samos, almost 50 miles from Farmakonisi.

When we compare pictures and videos taken on Farmakonisi, with footage taken by the Turkish coast guard when they were found, there is absolutely no doubt, it’s the same group.

The group had been arrested by military personnel on Farmakonisi, and incarcerated in a shed surrounded by a barb wire fence close to the pier on the island. The group was thoroughly searched, all their belongings were taken away from them, phones, money, papers and bags.

They stayed locked up until sunrise, when a boat from the Greek Coast Guard arrived, onboard masked men carrying guns and batons. The boat was described as gray and white, with blue stripes in the front.

After another thorough search they were taken onboard the coast guard vessel, and covered by a big plastic tarpaulin. They were ordered to sit under the tarpaulin and under no circumstances tru to look out. If they moved or spoke, the masked men would hit them with a stick, shouting “shut the fuck up” and “get your ass down”, people were terrified.

After several hours the boat stopped and everyone was forced into what they described as a “rubber ring”, what they refer to is a life raft, where the orange protective cover has been removed, only the black rubber tubes left.

The cover has been removed because the Greek manufacturer of these life rafts, Lalizas from Piraeus, don’t want their logo to be visible in connection with these criminal activities, not all PR is good PR, especially when you are marketing your products as “life saving equipment”, and not tools of illegal deportation that could potentially kill you.

The cover of the life rafts are now always removed, to protect the commercial interests of a Greek multimillion company, without any regard to the safety of people placed in these life rafts. Without the orang cover, the life saving capability of these rafts are drastically reduced, one wave is enough to fill it up and capsize it, drowning everyone inside. It’s quite clear the Greek commercial interests are more important than saving people lives, even for Lalizas.

The group was transported almost 50 miles on a Greek Coast Guard vessel, in brought daylight, so that they could illegally deport them.

This shows the determination and willingness of the Greek authorities, to do almost anything to stop people from applying for international protection in Greece, violating international laws and human rights seems to be of no concern for the Greek authorities.

This isn’t something new, these illegal pushbacks have been going on for years in the Aegean Sea, it’s extremely well documented by international human rights organizations, NGO’s, international media and EU bodies, everyone knows what is going on and who is responsible.

In a normal decent world this would not have been allowed to continue, but in today’s Europe it seems that we are willing to sacrifice our values, laws and principles in the name of border protection. Not only is the European Commission, who are there to protect the rule of law in Europe, looking the other way, they are actively supporting and encouraging countries like Greece to continue, by financing their operations and deploying more Frontex resources.

If a EU citizen rounded up a group of random people at gunpoint, strip searched and beat them up, stole all their belongings, handcuffed them with plastic ties, took them on a boat out to sea, forced them into a life raft and left them helplessly drifting. This person would be facing decades behind bars if caught, most likely also had to go through a long psychological evaluation, a person capable of such atrocities is most likely not in the right place mentally.

What Greek authorities are doing in the Aegean Sea is most definitely illegal, no question about it. Instead of putting those responsible behind bars and question their sanity, we are applauding them, paying them handsomely for their efforts, and giving them medals for a job well done, I don’t know who is the most insane, them or us..

To support our work and help us continue saving lives in the Aegean, please donate through LeaveNoOneBehind fundraiser by clicking on the link below 👇👍

On Friday February 23, a group of 30 people arrived on the militarized desert island of Farmakonisi.

The group contacted Aegean Boat Report and asked for assistance, they begged to be taken to a camp, and given the opportunity to apply for international protection, but the Greek authorities had other plans.

The people on Farmakonisi provided pictures, videos and location data, that proved without a doubt that they were on the island.

Farmakonisi is a militarized desert island, where only Greek military and coast guard are allowed to go. Anyone arriving on this island is at the mercy of the Greek authorities, that many times means being robbed of all belongings, beaten, and forced back out to sea, left helplessly drifting in life rafts.

From the video we can see a Lambro 57 close to shore on the island, the people also told us that a drone was flying over them, so it’s quite clear that Greek authorities knew they were there.

Several soldiers from the military base on the island approached the group, they were quickly rounded up and taken to a shed surrounded by barbed wire next to the piere on the island.

The Lambro 57 seen in the video, was already in port. The group was handed over to masked men from the coast guard vessel in dark uniforms. One by one they were stripped of all belongings, bags, money, papers and phones, before taken onboard the coast guard vessel, after 30 minutes the vessel was heading back out to sea.

Under normal circumstances, people who arrive in this area would be taken to Leros, but on this day, nor the following day, nobody was registered in the camp on Leros from Farmakonisi. A group of 30 people, six of them small children, had just magically disappeared into thin air, again.

At 14.55 Turkish coast guard reported to have found 30 people, amongst them six children, drifting in two life rafts outside Bodrum, north east of Kos.

From pictures and videos published by the Turkish coast guard, it’s clear that these people are the same as the once contacting Aegean Boat Report from the desert militarized island of Farmakonisi.

The Greek Coast Guard transported the group 40 miles before they forced them into two life rafts and left them helplessly drifting in the Aegean Sea.

Since the tragic Pylos shipwreck in June last year, where Greek authorities killed over 650 people in an effort to push the boat towards Italian waters, there has been a mutual understanding that Greek authorities have stopped pushing back people that have arrived on Greek soil.

This is not entirely accurate, Greek authorities stopped pushing back people who arrived on the larger islands, like Lesvos, Chios, Samos and Kos, but arrivals on the smaller islands, like Farmakonisi, Simi, Agathonisi and Kalolimnos continued to magically evaporate into thin air.

We have several times been close to revealing the truth, but the lack of 100% clear evidence has stopped us going public. In the meantime more and more life rafts have been mysteriously popping up in the Aegean Sea, without any clear indication where they came from.

Last month, 9 of January, a group of 23 people had arrived on Inousses, north east of Chios, after informing authorities they miraculously disappeared.

After arriving the group walked to the village on the island to make their presence known. Locals informed police and coast guard arrived and told they would be taken to Chios, they never arrived.

The group was found drifting in a life raft by the Turkish coast guard outside Cesme, east of Chios.

Due to insufficient footage from the Turkish coast guard, we were unable to match pictures of the people from the raft to the people that had arrived on Inousses. We had testimonies from the victims on what had happened, footage from Inousses, but didn’t have sufficient footage to match the victims, therefore the case was not made public.

Pushbacks in the Aegean Sea continues unhindered and unchallenged by the European Commission. Since the Pylos shipwreck 14 June last year we have registered almost 700 pushbacks performed by Greek authorities in the Aegean Sea, where 20.000 people have been illegally pushed back from Greek territory.

In the months since the tragic shipwreck in June, 200 life rafts have been found drifting in the Aegean Sea carrying almost 4.000 people, it’s business as usual for the Greek authorities in the Aegean Sea, fully supported by Frontex and the European Commission, funded by European taxpayers money.

After dark on Monday November 20 a rubber boat carrying 17 Afghans, six of them small children, sat out from Turkey towards the Greek island of Lesvos.

They hoped that they would reach the island within a few hours, in the cover of darkness, that the Greek coast guard and Frontex, who are guarding the border, wouldn’t spot them, unfortunately they were mistaken.

Deep inside Greek territory waters, outside the north east side of Lesvos, a Greek coast guard vessel approached them. They knew what was installed for them, they had been pushed back several times before by the Greek coast guard.

They tried their best to outrun the coast guard vessel, but they didn’t stand a chance. Several times the coast guard vessel, a Lambro 57, ID number ΛΣ-614, belonging to the Hellenic coast guard, stationed on Lesvos, rammed the fragile rubber boat.

Anyone familiar with the sea knows that such maneuvering is extremely dangerous, and can easily result in damaging a small rubber boat, sending people onboard into the sea. We have numerous times seen this extremely dangerous and reckless behavior by the Greek coast guard.

In the last months there has been several shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea, where people have drowned after their rubber boats has gone down. Greek coast guard has claimed the these boats has gone down without their interference, and that they only have done their utmost to save lives, after seeing this we can only wonder what really happened. Survivors from these shipwreck has been conveniently “shielded” from the press, for their own “protection”, and not been allowed to speak to anyone.

The rubber boat was stopped, and masked officers demanded that they handed over their phones, in which they did, you do as you are told when someone is pointing a gun at you. Phones were thrown in the sea, other belongings and valuables were confiscated.

The Greek coast guard vessel towed the rubber boat back towards Turkish waters, and sat them adrift in the middle of the sea in the dark. The engine the masked officers had taken off the boat and thrown in the sea, they had no phones to call for help, all they could do was wait, hopefully someone would find them.

At 21.40 the Turkish coast guard found a rubber boat drifting outside Ayvacik, Turkey, onboard was 17 Afghans, six of them small children, everyone was taken back to Turkey and arrested for illegally leaving the country, also the small children.

These cases of illegal pushbacks in the Aegean Sea performed by the Greek coast guard, on direct orders from the Greek government and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is a direct violation of not only Greek law, but also international laws, Maritime laws and international human rights.

These authorities are happening several times every single day in the Aegean Sea, for the last four years over 75.000 people have been illegally and brutally pushed back by Greek authorities in this area, nobody, not even the European Commission, seem to have any problems with it, all in the name of border protection, paid for by EU taxpayers money.

It’s time to put an end to this, it’s time to put these criminals where they belong, in jail, behind bars. We can no longer tolerate that these atrocities are performed in our names on our watch.

#StopBorderCrimes

In the early morning of Monday November 13, at 07.30, a boat carrying 23 afghans, mostly families with children, was stopped 100 meters from land east of Korakas, Lesvos north by a vessel from the Greek coast guard.

In the video, that was taken by one of the passengers, we can clearly see the cliffs of Korakas on the right side. We can also see a little white building on the left in the first 10 seconds of the video, it’s the chapel “Agios Theodoras”. There is absolutely no question where this video was taken, any local can confirm that this is east of Korakas, Lesvos north.

Masked men used boat hooks with iron tips to destroy the engine, in the process hitting and injuring several people onboard, amongst them an old man and a child. The masked coast guard officers took no notice of this, and continued to hit down hard toward the fragile rubber boat until the engine was destroyed.

Everyone onboard was terrified, we can hear people screaming hysterically, it’s just unbelievable that members of a European coast guard agency, who have sworn an oath to protect human lives, can perform such atrocities, it’s just appalling.

The group of 23 men, women and children were taken onboard the coast guard vessel, the masked officers told them that they would take them to a “UN camp”, this was most definitely a lie.

When everyone was onboard the coast guard vessel, the masked men ordered everyone to hand over their phones, money and other valuables, those who refused were brutally beaten. All phones was immediately thrown into the sea, it was quite obvious that they didn’t want any evidence of their crimes.

In most cases people don’t hide their phones, in fear of what will happen to them if the phones are found. This time one of them kept his cool, and hid the phone under his child’s clothes, this phone was later used to call the international emergency number 112 that resulted in them being rescued.

The group was kept on the coast guard vessel for almost two hours, the vessel, a Lambro 57 coastal patrol vessel ΛΣ-144, belonging to the Hellenic coast guard, stationed on Lesvos. While onboard, the vessel moved slowly away from Lesvos towards the Turkish sea border, they had never any intention on taking anyone to a camp.

At the Turkish sea border outside Ayvacik, the Greek coast guard vessel forced the group back in the rubber boat, 23 people, men, women and children, those who couldn’t clime down into the boat was thrown down, everything was done at gunpoint, they had no choice.

The Greek coast guard vessel pulled away, and the group was left helplessly drifting in the middle of the sea, in a rubber boat with no engine, the Greek officers had taken it off and dropped it into the sea. Luckily they had managed to hide one phone, this was used to contact rescue services, and at 11.05 am they were found drifting outside Ayvacik by the Turkish coast guard.

Some might say this is an isolated incident, unfortunately it’s not, this is the normal routine happening every single day all over the Aegean Sea. In the last four years 75.000 people have been illegally pushed back in the Aegean Sea by Greek authorities, all in the name of border protection.

This was all done in brought daylight in an area heavily monitored by Frontex, strangely enough, nobody saw anything, no report was filed, all reported to be normal. And in many aspects it’s actually exactly what it is, normal, because this has now been going on for four years, night and day, everyone knows that these atrocities are taking place, but nobody is doing anything to stop it.

These men onboard the coast guard vessel isn’t coast guard officers, just criminals with a badge, they and so many other officers in the Greek coast guard should be put behind bars where they belong. To hide behind “just following orders” won’t save them, because they know that these orders are illegal, in direct violation of the law of the sea, international law and human rights law.

At some point, sooner or later, everyone will face judgment for their crimes, let’s hope, for the sake of humanity, that for these criminals it’s sooner than later.

#StopBorderCrimes

For three months people arriving on the Greek Aegean islands have been allowed to stay, pushbacks from land stopped, life rafts almost disappeared from the Aegean Sea, the situation was seemingly getting better. This is at least what Greek authorities wanted everyone to believe, the facts tells a different story, and it’s about to go from bad to worse.

Since the Adriana sank in June killing over 650 people, Greek authorities have been forced to change some of their illegal ways when dealing with new arrivals. The normal practice for over three years has been to remove as many as they could, by any means possible, this also included kidnapping people on land and leaving them helplessly drifting in life rafts at sea.

Greek authorities were forced to do something, the EU Commission, Frontex and the international press put pressure on Greece, they needed to change, and seemingly they did. For three months they did everything in their power to try to change the damaged reputation of the Greek coast guard, and they really put on a good show.

For three months we watched while Greek coast guard rescued anyone they could get their hands on close to the Aegean islands, if they actually needed to be rescued was irrelevant, it looked good on the news.

While this PR show went on for months, Greek authorities not only continued pushing back vulnerable people further out to sea, they drastically scaled up their operations, pushing back more people than ever before.

Aegean Boat Report has over the last weeks published several videos to show what is going on on the Greek side of the Aegean Sea, aware from the eyes of the public. We assume that the video cameras on all the vessels of the Greek coast guard participating in these inhumane acts was unfortunately all out of order, luckily all cameras worked perfectly on those same vessels while involved in rescue operations close to the Aegean islands.

After several months of this very well played PR campaign, everyone seems to be convinced, Frontex back’s of, the EU commission stopes asking questions and most journalists lost interest, it’s as if the deliberate sinking of the Adriana where over 650 men, women and children was killed never happened.

Suddenly we hear that local organizations on the islands is talking to the press about pushbacks going down, that the Greek authorities are now paying more attention to international law and human rights, solely based on what they can see with their own eyes, that people arriving on the islands are now longer pushed back.

Don’t take me wrong, it’s fantastic that people arriving on Greek soil are finally being allowed to stay, but the same should go for all people entering Greek territory, sea or land, the law makes no difference. So to solely base such comments on what you can sea and believe is right, it’s not only reckless but extremely dangerous, especially for the people you are trying to protect.

The ripple effects of such comments moves up the “food chain”, from local organizations, international organizations, international press until it lands on the table of European politicians and eventually Frontex, by that time it’s no longer a comment but a well preserved fact, that is used to take decisions that could potentially impact the lives of thousands of people.

Over several years Aegean Boat Report has had a finger on the pulse in the Aegean Sea, it’s not much that’s slips under the radar, everything is painstakingly documented and registered. When we see large international organizations publishing information that is not only misleading, but straight out false, we have an obligation to speak up and set the record straight.

Pushbacks in the Aegean didn’t go down after the sinking of Adriana, quite the opposite, it skyrocketed, never before has so man people been pushed back in the Aegean Sea, ever. Since Adriana pushbacks in the Aegean Sea has increased by a staggering 320%, and continues to rise, those claiming otherwise has been misled by a well staged PR campaign and an intense wish for things to finally improve, I’m sorry to say but you have been lied to.

So how is this possible, we know that the Greek coast guard isn’t the most robust in Europe, it relies heavily on Funding from EU, so how could they possibly have pull this off? We believe it’s fair to say that this huge increase in pushback activity at sea, at the same time as they have pick up thousands of people from boats close to the islands, would be impossible to pull off without massive support from outside sources, but who would support Greece in these massive human rights violations?

Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, has a heavy presence in Greece and the Aegean Sea, we assume that they have had something to do with this massive “achievement” in the name of border protection. In a normal world Frontex would have had to report if they observed violations, so far this month we have registered 160 pushback cases, I wonder how many reports have been filed by Frontex in relation to these pushbacks, I assume very few, if any at all.

Greek authorities are seemingly “off the hook”, and can continue their human rights abuses without further scrutiny, and it didn’t take them long to go back to their old habits leaving vulnerable men, women and children helplessly drifting in life rafts in the Aegean Sea, it’s again business as usual.

So far this month 65 life rafts have been picked up drifting in the Aegean Sea carrying almost 1.500 people. All of these life rafts came from the same manufacturer, Lalizas in Piraeus, Greece, who also happens to be the main supplier of life rafts to the Greek coast guard.

And again, did Frontex observe any of this?, it’s almost impossible to imagine that with their heavy presence in the area and advanced technology, that they didn’t, but this is what Frontex is claiming. It’s quite remarkable and extremely convenient to claim no knowledge, to be able to continue operating, supporting a country who is systematically violating international laws and human rights.

After four years and hundreds of well documented reports by journalists, international organizations and EU bodies, on human rights violations in Greece, there is absolutely no doubt on what is going on, and who is responsible. That Frontex remains in Greece despite all this, is no coincidence, they are basically carrying out EU policy, supporting human rights violations funded by Europeans tax payers money.

In a time when there is war in Europe, and the Middle East is about to explode, the situation in the Aegean Sea is no longer on anyone’s agenda. Greek authorities can continue their human rights abuses without scrutiny, and we expect the situation in the Aegean to escalate throughout the year.

European countries are now supporting the slaughter of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee, at the same time these countries are refusing to help victims of wars they have previously supported.

A few months from now more Palestinians will be on our doorsteps asking for international protection, as a direct result of Israel’s slaughter of civilians in Gaza. The same countries who refused to adopt the UN Resolution calling for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities.”, is the same countries who are pressuring for stricter migration rules, ironic isn’t it..

Fore once I can say I’m proud that the Norwegian government took a solid stand, against the atrocities performed by the Israeli Authorities, one of very few European countries to do so. 45 countries abstained from voting, half of them from Europe trying to stay “neutral” while supporting Israel at the same time.

Some say this is a historic document, and that the world will remember the nations who stood for “protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations”, the ‘axis of evil’ who stood against it, and those who remained ‘neutral’ in times of oppression.

#StopBorderCrimes

On June 26 we published a disturbing video from Kos showing 14 people trapped and gagged in the back of a van, this is what we published.

The video went viral the moment it was published, viewed on Twitter by over 500.000 people the first day, it created a lot of attention, and by some very unwanted attention, especially for the Mayor of Kos, Theodosis Nikitaras. In the middle of tourist season it was bad for business to have such disturbing images, showing refugees being tortured coming out from his island, so he had to act.

Normally any responsible authority would immediately launch an investigation to get to the bottom of it, to find the truth and arrest those responsible of such atrocities. Instead Nikitaras used the Greek political elite’s standard response, when being criticized for human rights violations, attacking the people who highlight violence and abuse of men, women and children who seek safety.

First he went out in the local press saying he wanted to file a lawsuit against ABR for “defaming” Kos, later he went on national tv lying about our organization, that we were obsessed with Kos, he claimed the video was ‘an act of revenge against the Greek justice system.’, and that ‘there is nothing to show that the video is real.

The Mayor on Kos did everything in his power to try to slander the organization who had published this horrific video, but did he do anything to look into the facts in this case, to make sure that this wasn’t happening on Kos? The answer is no, he did absolutely nothing to find the truth, so anyone should ask themselves why, why would a mayor do nothing to investigate such criminal acts?

The answer is quite obvious, this mayor is fully aware of what has been going on on his island for years, not only is he aware but he’s also approving, and if necessary covering it up, as he tried his best to do in this case as well. His close relation with police and coast guard on the island would make it practically impossible to not know what is going on on his island on a daily basis.

When it comes to this case, we firmly believe that the mayor on kos knew the truth when he went to the press, and that he did so to try to cover it up, trying to shift focus from this horrible crime committed on his island. We have waited a long time to reveal the truth about this case, not because we couldn’t have done it earlier but to try to protect the victims from the van. It’s now time to set the record straight, to explain why we did what we did, and what the results of our actions was.

When we published this horrific video, people were still trapped inside this van, and the chances of them being taken to the camp on kos was slim to none. We know the drill all to well, capture, incarcerate, remove and dispose, this has been the common practice of the Greek authorities for years when it comes to arriving refugees on the Greek islands.

We knew the risks of publishing this video when we did, and knew that we would be “attacked” by those who didn’t want this to come out. The video was published in an attempt to create enough attention so that the people who was holding them captured would find it difficult to go through with their plans, in this aspect our actions was a great success.

The spotlight was already on Greece for human rights violations and violations of international law after the sinking of Adriana, where over 600 people died. Also the revealing video published by The New York Times showing refugees being removed from Lesvos and left helplessly drifting in a life raft had created a lot of pressure from the EU and Frontex demanding answers, they just didn’t need another scandal on their hands.

After this video was published they couldn’t risk that these 14 people suddenly popped up in a life raft in the Aegean Sea, it would have created to much attention, to many questions from the international press, so they decided to change their plans, so what really happened?

We have no doubt that the group in the van was destined for deportation, in the video we can hear one of their captures telling to taken them straight to Marmari, and that’s not the name of the camp on Kos but a are by the sea north west on kos, far from the camp.

Normally, since this group was hunted down and captured in the morning hours of Monday June 26, if intended to be taken to a camp, they would have been registered as arrived in the official registration published by Greek authorities on the 26 of June, but no arrival’s were registered on kos this day.

The following day we can see from the registration that 13 people was registered, not 14 as was reported from the van, we can now confirm that the 13 registered as arrived on Kos on June 27 was the people in the video destined for deportation.

When this video was published and went viral, the faith of the group changed drastically, Greek authorities were no longer in position to take them back to sea and leave them in a life raft, as their plan was, and what is routinely done in these cases, so they needed to find an alternative solution.

After the video was made public, the group was first kept in the van, then taken to a secret location on Kos for hours until they decided how to deal with the situation. This is why they were registered the day after their arrival, on the 27 of June. They were taken to the camp at night, in the cover of darkness, less people would see them and potentially be able to identify them from the video that was published. The group was also kept isolated in a closed area in the camp, away from the general population, everything was done to keep a lid on any information of these group.

The people registered from the van this day were mostly Palestinians from Lebanon, but also a Syrian family, a man, his wife and their son, the boy is in the video wearing a Spiderman t-shirt. 14 people was taken to the camp this night, only 13 was registered in the official registration. The Syrian father was separated from his family, for what reason is not clear, but possibly arrested for smuggling.

It’s the normal practice of Greek authorities to arrest at least one person from every arriving boat and charge them for smuggling, because someone must have driven the boat towards land, there are over 2000 people in Greek prisons facing hard sentences based on the fact that they are suspected of driving a boat carrying people over Greek borders.

People from the group has been scared of what would happen to them if they talked about what they have been the victims of, while being locked up by the same authorities who was responsible for this inhumane treatment, and we know that the group has been threatened, told by officials of what to say, and what to keep for themselves and not speak about or there would be consequences.

People working in the camp on Kos, and people living there has now for some time been aware of the identity of this group who arrived on June 27, especially the boy in the Spiderman t-shirt, he was impossible to overlook. We also must assume that the mayor of Kos, Theodosis Nikitaras, is well informed on the fact that the people from the video published by Aegean Boat Report on June 26, tied up and taped in the back of a van, was taken on kos, and that the people in the video now is incarcerated in the camp on his island.

The 13 people in the camp on kos has been given legal advice and procedural assistance with their asylum applications by Greek organizations present on Kos. UΝHCR on Kos has told us that they have been aware of the case and has taken appropriate actions, exactly what actions they wouldn’t comment on due to confidentiality.

We aexpect and demand that the mayor on Kos, Theodosis Nikitaras, issues an official apology to our organization, for slandering and lying about us in the Greek press, with the same enthusiasm as when he publicly attacked us, the same apology should be given to the people of Kos, in witch he lied to and tried to mislead.

Aegean Boat Report will continue to monitor the situation for people on the move in the Aegean Sea, document, and expose those trying to violate the rights of others, we will not be silenced.