18/02: Illegal push-back of 37 travellers by Hellenic Coastguard

19.02.2022 / 19:06 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 18th of February 2022

Case name: 2022_02_18-AEG860
Situation: 37 travellers almost arrived to Chios, attacked and pushed-back in life-rafts by Hellenic Coastguard
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:
Just after midnight on the 18th of February, Alarm Phone received a call by a concerned relative, alerting us to a group of 3 women, 10 children and 24 men in distress who had departed from Turkey, and were in Greek waters, close to Chios. At the time of the alert, the caller related that the boat was sinking. We directly alerted the Hellenic Coastguard at 00:20 CET and relayed the information and GPS position. We tried to call the people on the boat but it didn’t connect. 3 hours later we received a message asking for help from the people on the boat and a new location in Turkish waters. It turns out that the Hellenic Coastguard came to find their boat, and instead of making a rescue, they attacked and illegally forced the travellers into life-rafts and pushed them back towards Turkey.

At 03:28 CET we called the Turkish Coastguard and gave the new co-ordinates. Then at 07:49 CET they confirmed that they rescued the 37 traveller in two life-rafts off the coast of Cesme, Izmir Province.

STOP THESE ILLEGAL PUSH-BACKS AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS FROM THE HELLENIC COASTGUARD!

Credibility:

Border police patrols
While the exact location of patrols is of course constantly changing, this line indicates the approximate boundary routinely patrolled by border guards’ naval assets. In the open sea, it usually correspond to the outer extent of the contiguous zone, the area in which “State may exercise the control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws” (UNCLOS, art. 33). Data source: interviews with border police officials.
Coastal radars
Approximate radar beam range covered by coastal radars operating in the frame of national marine traffic monitoring systems. The actual beam depends from several different parameters (including the type of object to be detected). Data source: Finmeccanica.
Exclusive Economic Zone
Maritime area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea in which the coastal state exercises sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, the seabed and its subsoil and the superjacent waters. Its breadth is 200 nautical miles from the straight baselines from which the territorial sea is measured (UNCLOS, Arts. 55, 56 and 57). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans
Frontex operations
Frontex has, in the past few years, carried out several sea operations at the maritime borders of the EU. The blue shapes indicate the approximate extend of these operations. Data source: Migreurop Altas.
Mobile phone coverage
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network coverage. Data source: Collins Mobile Coverage.
Oil and gas platforms
Oil and gas platforms in the Mediterranean. Data source:
Search and Rescue Zone
An area of defined dimensions within which a given state is has the responsibility to co-ordinate Search and Rescue operations, i.e. the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. Data source: IMO availability of search and rescue (SAR) services - SAR.8/Circ.3, 17 June 2011.
Territorial Waters
A belt of sea (usually extending up to 12 nautical miles) upon which the sovereignty of a coastal State extends (UNCLOS, Art. 2). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans