Refugee Supprt Aegean | 18 June 2024
Annual Report 2023 of the Informal Forced Returns Incident Recording Mechanism
The Mechanism for Recording Incidents of Informal Forced Returns, created by the National Committee for Human Rights (NCHR),1 in order to strengthen the guarantees of objectivity and credibility in reports of cases of informal forced returns2 from the Greek territory, presented its Annual Report for 2023 at a Press Conference held on Tuesday 18 June at 11.00 a.m. at ESIEA. The Conference presented the quantitative data and qualitative findings resulting from the testimonies of the incidents recorded by the Logging Mechanism last year, as well as data of selected cases recorded by civil society organizations that are members of the Logging Mechanism.
Between January and December 2023, the Logging Mechanism recorded testimonies of 45 incidents of informal forced returns that, according to the alleged victims, occurred between January 2022 and December 2023. According to the testimonies, the total number of alleged victims in these incidents is estimated to be at least 1,438 persons. These include at least 158 women, 190 children, and 41 persons with special needs, such as persons with medical problems, persons with disabilities, elderly persons, etc.
The data of the 2023 Annual Report reinforce the findings of the previous 2022 Annual Report of the Recording Mechanism regarding the systematic nature and modus operandi with common characteristics that the operations of informal forced returns have allegedly acquired.
Alleged victims continue to come from countries of origin, from which a significant proportion of persons identified as beneficiaries of international protection originate, according to data from national and European sources for the reporting period. Among the alleged victims there are two (2) persons who had been recognized in Greece as refugees and one (1) person who had been registered by the Greek authorities as an asylum seeker.
The testimonies recorded by the Recording Mechanism indicate that both uniformed and plainclothes people were involved as perpetrators. In some testimonies it was reported that during the stage of removal from Greek territory, third country nationals who spoke the languages of the alleged victims and acted with the cooperation or under the orders of uniformed personnel were also involved as perpetrators.
The Annual Report 2023 contains detailed information on the characteristics of the alleged victims (countries of origin, ages, gender, vulnerabilities, legal status in Greece, etc.), on the identity of the alleged victims (uniformed and non-uniformed, members of security forces, insignia, equipment, etc.), their modus operandi and means of implementation. Detailed qualitative findings on the modus operandi of the incidents of atypical forced returns are also included. An annex to the report contains anonymised extracts from original testimonies of alleged victims.
Read more >>>