In the next few months, a Closed Control Access Centre (CCAC) is supposed to open on Lesvos. This is yet another camp surrounded by barbed wire fences and concrete walls, monitored around the clock, and located far away from the city.

In October 2020, Salam*, together with 15 people from Syria and Afghanistan, crossed the Evros River from Edirne, Turkey to Greece. They walked until the next morning through the forest on the Greek side of the border area.

Violent pushbacks are systematically carried out at European land and sea borders and constitute a fundamental part of the inhumane border regime of the EU. This article summarises eight testimonies of pushback survivors in Greece and contextualises them with public data on pushbacks and migration in the Aegean Sea, to reveal patterns of brutal pushback practices on Greek coasts.

Illegal deportations, lack of protection, and precarious living conditions are commonplace for people on the move in Turkey. Nevertheless, Greek authorities classify Turkey as a safe country for protection seekers. Why Turkey is not safe.

tlicht. Die Publikation gibt einen Überblick über die Gewalt, die gegen fliehende Menschen an der EU-Außengrenze in der Ägäis im Jahr 2021 systematisch angewendet wurde.

We are once again returning to Europe‘s maritime border in the Aegean Sea: Our crew is currently on their way to the north of Lesvos, where most pushbacks happened in the past.

Dass es an der griechisch-türkischen Seegrenze täglich und systematisch zu Grenzgewalt und Menschenrechtsverletzungen kommt, ist schon seit Monaten keine Neuigkeit mehr.

Early in the morning on July 30th a boat capsized northeast of Lesvos at the Greek-Turkish border. Aboard had been 13 people trying to reach Europe.

From April to the end of June 2021, Mare Liberum counted 119 pushbacks in the Aegean Sea, in which at least 3289 people were illegally prevented from reaching the EU. At the same time, it is clear that the practice of systematic pushbacks continues to ensure that very few people reach the Greek islands.

A person is sentenced to 52 years of prison for allegedly steering a boat from Turkish shores to Greek territory, despite testimonies that contradict this. Another man is sentenced to 146 years for manoeuvring a boat in distress safely ashore, saving the lives of 33 people.

The mass pushback of more than 230 refugees in the night of April 2nd/3rd is a prime example how pushbacks and the lives of migrants are being instrumentalized in the geopolitical conflict between Turkey and Greece.

On 28th of February 2020, Turkish President Erdogan announced that the border with the EU would be opened. The one-sided opening of the border took place in response to the intensifying civil war in Syria and was seen as a breach of the EU-Turkey-Deal adopted in 2016.

A new report by the organization Mare Liberum shows an unprecedented escalation of human rights violations in the Aegean during the last year, both at sea and on land.

In order to draw attention to the unbearable conditions on the Greek islands for refugees, the increasingly brutal execution of pushbacks and the resulting human rights violations in the Aegean, we are launching a poster campaign.

Over the past year, pushbacks have become a reality in the Aegean that is as common as it is inhumane.

How the "New Pact on Migration and Asylum" further strengthens Fortress Europe and excludes humanity.

After all this time in which we've grown numb to the horrors of Moria and daily reports of violence of the European borders regime, the new camp on Lesvos Moria 2.0 first seemed like another shit camp.

While the situation inside the camps is still more than critical and will worsen significantly with the upcoming winter, Greece continues to perform illegal pushbacks to an extent that is beyond anything there has ever been before.

After years of the EU and Greece turning a blind eye, Moria refugee camp on Lesvos burned to the ground on the night of 8-9 September 2020. The underlying structures, however, remain in place and continue to reproduce the injustice elsewhere.

The situation in the camps on Kos and Leros is a bit different, since they are continuously “closed” camps by definition. As the camps and the islands hosting them are much smaller, there are fewer solidarity networks and very little information about the current situation.

The initial idea that COVID-19 would make everyone equal quickly was misplaced, especially on Lesvos. While race, nationality, gender, and wealth do not physically determine who is most likely to be infected with COVID-19, these factors starkly influence how comfortably and efficiently people can protect themselves from or suffer an infection with the virus.

While bars, restaurants and hotels are anxiously awaiting the first tourists, refugee camps located on the Greek islands of the Aegean Sea today went into their 4rd round of lockdown lasting until the 5th of July.

How 20.000 refugees just want to leave and conservative islanders, as well as solidary people want them to travel forward – Everybody for very different reasons.

Pushback of 14 people documented who had reached the shores of Chios already.

Migrants on the north shore of Lesvos, Greece.

Whereas containment measures are being put in place on the island of Lesvos, it is surprising that nothing is done for the island's focal point, Moria refugee camp, in case of a COVID-19 outbreak.

Mare Liberum Annual Report 2019.

The people of Afghanistan are under attack, and they have been for quite some time.

Wir haben mit einem Mann gesprochen, der vor kurzem von Lesbos in den Iraq abgeschoben wurde. Die griechische Regierung verlegte ihn vom Hotspot Camp Moria in die Türkei. Hier wurde er weiter in den Iraq gebracht.

A team from Mare Liberum recently travelled to Samos.