In the latest episode of Rights Talk, we spoke to Ms. Tineke Strik, professor of citizenship and migration law at Radboud University in the Netherlands and a Dutch Member of European Parliament known for her outspoken criticism of illegal migrant pushbacks at Europe’s external borders. She is also a member of the Greens/EFA group at the European Parliament, which recently launched a signature campaign to put pressure on the European Commission to take action against pushbacks.
The systematic nature of pushbacks was repeatedly documented in recent years by various credible sources. Would it be fair to say that the Greens’ signature campaign was initiated because there has been no improvement on the matter despite all the substantial evidence?
Exactly, this is the case. We are evidencing these pushbacks for years now. Because of the silence from the side of the European Commission and also other Member States simply watching and implicitly encouraging these practices, they have become more and more systematic, they have become more and more open. There is an atmosphere of impunity at the moment. We are talking about the violation of the core element of the right to asylum, because if you cannot enter an asylum procedure, if you are not allowed to ask for asylum, there can also be no assessment of your need of protection and there can be no protection. So it is of vital importance that the Commission starts to acknowledge these reports and undertakes action towards Greece.
When we talk about pushbacks there are national authorities such as border forces of individual countries and the coastguards, and then there is Frontex, the European Union agency for border protection. How complicit is Frontex in the pushbacks?
There are some reports about active involvement of Frontex in pushbacks but I think the main shortcoming and concern is that they are there on the ground, that they see what’s happening and that they don’t intervene, that they do not take any action to stop pushbacks from happening. We even see reports about Frontex intercepting or apprehending people and then handing them over to the authorities, which is followed by a pushback by the border guards. If these things are happening, if Frontex is not capable or maybe willing to stop these pushbacks from happening, to speak up, to report it and to really follow with concrete actions, we think that they should simply leave the host country. Because otherwise, if they continue to co-operate, then they really become complicit. It is a legal obligation for Frontex. It is in the regulation. They have to suspend operation at the moment that there are human rights violations by the host Member States. This is why we call upon Frontex for more than a year now to seriously reconsider their activities in Greece and to also withdraw their presence in Hungary where they are still supporting return operations.
We know that you were also among the co-signatories of a letter sent to European Commissioner Ylva Johansson. Why do you think the EU mechanisms failed to ensure accountability for Frontex’s role in the pusbacks? What is holding the European Commission back?
We have done a done an inquiry in the European Parliament on the role of Frontex and we have made a report, which was adopted by majority, where we identified all the failures within the agency. We also looked at the role of other actors, like the management board of Frontex, which is actually responsible in the end, the European Commission and the Member States together.
The European Commission has several responsibilities: steering the agency through the management board on one hand and acting as a guardian of the treaty to enforce compliance by Frontex on the other. We criticized the passive role of the Commission but it is difficult to find out exactly why they are so reluctant to take a more proactive approach. We also see it with the Member States. They know what is going on. But still they only say things like “you should monitor better” or offer some dialogue, some talks etc. I think in the end it is a lack of political will. The European Commission consists of representatives of all the Member States. There is also a Greek commissioner in the hierarcy of Commissioner Johansson and he is very vigilantly protecting the Greek authorities for instance. Other Member States violating human rights also try to ensure within the Commission that they are not confronted with outspoken reactions from the European Commission. I have the feeling that the European Commission very much looks at the Council, at the Member States, what they want and what they do. They do not want to conflict with the Member States. There it is very clear, there is even sometimes governments from the north of Europe that actually applaud the strengthened the border control, including the pushbacks. They say “You are doing the right thing, you are doing a good job for us.” Because if you push back people, it would also mean they cannot travel onward to the north of Europe.
Von Der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, went to Greece one and a half year ago and said “You are the shield of Europe.” The symbolism is very well recognized by the authorities of the external borders and they know what other Member States expect from them. So, in that sense, I think you can say that also the EU institutions are complicit in these serious violations that are still going on and this is of course a very serious problem if you look at the talks about European values that we all need to uphold.
Frontex has also come under the attention of the EU Anti-Fraud Office, OLAF, which carried out an investigation and produced a report. But the report has not been disclosed to the public even though it seems to have led to the resignation of the Frontex executive director. Do you think European citizens have a right to access the contents of such a report, which concerns an agency that is funded by their taxes?
I fully agree. This is part of the democratic control and democratic control can only be effective if the public is also involved, if there can be public debate and if there can be clear positions to be taken by all actors involved. So, I find it a disgrace that it is not disclosed. You can disclose a report while at the same time protecting personal data. This happens all the time. Therefore, I requested for access as a citizen to Frontex. It has been refused all the time. I went to the EU ombudsman. There, Frontex said “No, they have to go to OLAF.” I have now filed a request with OLAF. The report is out for half a year now and all these reactions, these long delays in answering requests clearly show that there is a huge reluctance to give full access to the report.
This is also hindering us because we wanted to include the findings of the OLAF report in the resolution of the European Parliament. We cannot even talk openly about the report. So, I think we need to know and be able to publicly discuss what failures have been made in the agency. Because we need to know that in order to know if the improvements will be sufficient and how the agency can be more accountable for what they are doing.
You mentioned President Von Der Leyen’s visit to Greece. You have also visited Greece on several occasions. Who do you talk to during these visits?
I went to Evros this time. Before, I went to Samos and Lesbos. But now I really wanted to see the Evros region to learn more about the pushbacks at the Evros river. We tried to speak with the border guards, with the head of the police in the Evros region. But they refused and they used several arguments all the time. So, that showed to me very well that they simply do not want to speak and give any openness on what is going on there. We managed to talk with Frontex. There, it became very clear that Frontex sees its role as purely serving the host Member States, serving the border guards. They can only go there where the border guards allow them to be. Of course, they will not allow them to be in places where pushback takes place. I was a bit negatively surprised that Frontex accepts that, that it doesn’t see a role for itself to also demand that they can go to places where reported pushbacks take place. Their attitude actually results in being ignorant of what is going on, if they do not take all those reports from NGOs and journalists seriously. There I talked with them and later on I visited the Fylakios reception and registration center, where it was also clear they really did not want us to talk with the people who were detained there.
In Athens, we talked with many NGOs so we got a clear picture of what in going on and we had a meeting with minister Mitarachi [Notis Mitarachi, Greek Minister for Immigration and Asylum]. There, I expressed full solidarity with him if it comes to the unfair distribution system of asylum seekers. I said “Look, we could be allies in fighting this unfair system that the first country of entrance has the responsibility. But it does not dismiss you from respecting the core obligations of the asylum law and the refugee convention.” Of course he didn’t answer most of my questions, but I found it remarkable that he implicitly admitted the pushbacks are taking place. He actually said “If we would not conduct these policies that you do not like we would have many more refugees in the country and in Europe.” How more clear can we be that this is taking place and this showing that the Commission and the all other Member States must know what is going on?
One argument that we hear is that Turkey is a safe country for migrants. We see it on social media, we heard it when Greek Prime Minister famously scolded a Dutch journalist last year. And the EU has indeed been allocating large sums of money for the reception of migrants in Turkey. What is your take on this argument that Turkey is a safe country?
In the beginning it was only declared as a safe country for Syrian refugees. But since one and a half year Greece also considers Turkey as a safe country for asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and this is actually the most problematic because I also visited Turkey one and a half year ago and it was very clear that Afghan asylum seekers cannot even register themselves, that they cannot enter an asylum procedure at all. Therefore, they stay irregularly in Turkey and they run the risk every day that they can be apprehended and deported back to Kabul. Because there are many joint return flights to Kabul taking place of people who never entered an asylum system. It is the same for Iraq and Iran. There is hardly a functioning asylum procedure in Turkey.
For Syrians, there is a temporary program to give them some benefits and schooling for the kids but it is not sufficient. The number is very high. There is huge amount of poverty among them, they live below the level of poverty. They face a lot of difficulties in accessing the labor market in a formal way. There is only very small percentage of them that really has a permit to work. So most of them are exploited at the labor market in very bad circumstances. What is maybe more important, even more important if you think of the protection needs, there is at the moment a very repressive discussion towards refugees in Turkey. The opposition parties but also Erdoğan is changing his attitude and saying “Syrian refugees should turn to Syria again.” And there is a real threat for them to be sent back to northeast Syria where as we know that the war is still going on. And it’s a highly insecure and dangerous area that they would be returned to. That would amount to a violation of the refugee convention.
In our regular monitoring and weekly newsletter we have been also observing an increase in the hate crimes against migrants in Turkey. It seems to be fueled by the opposition, we see a lot of hateful rhetoric on their part and because Turkey is nearing an election cycle, seems like the government feels compelled to announce deportation measures. When we talk about the Turkish-Greek border we often think of people from Syria, Afghanistan etc. But there are also Turkish nationals who flee their own country. They also get caught up in this brutality. Just in September alone, we reported two tragedies connected to the pushback of Turkish asylum seekers: Eda Nur Akkaya, a seven months pregnant political asylum seeker who was immediately arrested after being pushed back and there is a 27-year-old man, Yunus Emre Ayyıldız, who disappeared after falling into the Evros river during a pushback and he is, as far we know, still unnacounted for. Can we talk about a graver human rights violation here? Because it seems like people are being sent directly to prison.
It is difficult to say one is graver than the other but this is a very very serious and concerning development indeed. I also have been in contact with people who already were sentenced in Turkey or being associated with terrorism and, not having a fair process, they have to flee in order to avoid disproportionate sanctions or persecution in other ways. If you are pushed back, you can only be lucky if you do not fall into the hands of the Turkish police and security forces at that moment. At the same time, they cannot flee their country in a normal way, in a formal way, because if they would go through the airport for instance, they would also have been caught and taken to jail or apprehended. So they are really locked up, so to say, in a state of persecution and this is indeed very serious. I also discussed this with the Greek authorities but then they simply say “No, of course we do not push them back because we see Turkey as the enemy.” But it is happening. It is continuously happening at the border. There is no difference made on the basis of nationality. So, they are completely unprotected. And this is a real issue because once they manage to enter the EU and they ask for asylum, most of them do get asylum. So, it is very clear that the Member States also see them as legitimate refugees who need to flee Turkey.
Lastly, I would like to ask what as we civil society groups and individuals living in Europe can do to support your struggle. Is there a contribution that we can make to your work against pushbacks?
Definitely. This is also why we launched the campaign with the petition, urging all citizens who do not agree with these inhuman policies to sign up and to show that they do not agree. Because what we always notice is that politicians who think it is OK to violate these rights, they always refer to the public opinion and say “There is no societal support anymore for asylum seekers.” And this is why we need the public support to attack these practices, to challenge their position and to say “If we really take European values seriously, we should stop these pushbacks and treat asylum seekers in accordance with our European values.
So, it is very important that people speak up by signing this petition. In this petition we call upon the Commission for instance to stop the funding of human rights violations because it is all being done with EU money, and also to take countries who violate the rights to court. I think that would be a very strong signal if hundreds of thousands of people would say “This is unacceptable. You cannot act in this way on behalf of me. It is not happening on behalf of European citizens.” Because they are the fundament of the European democracy and the European policies in the end.
So, sign the petition but also send articles to journals, make your position known through social media. And with voting, with elections. Ask candidate politicians what they do against this, what their position is, and make sure that the right politicians are elected so that there is sufficient support also in parliaments, in national parliaments, the European parliaments, to stop these practices from happening.