06/07: 53 people violently pushed back from Cyprus to Lebanon

07.07.2022 / 12:08 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 06th of July 2022

Case name: 2022_07_06-Eastern Med - 931

Situation: 53 people who were in danger at sea near Cyprus, were violently pushed back to Lebanon

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:
On the 6th of July Alarm Phone was informed by a relative about a boat with around 53 people on bord that was in distress at sea near Cyprus. At 23:47 CEST we forwarded the distress case to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) in Larnaca, Cyprus. When we reached the people on the boat at 00:42 CEST they told us that they hadn't eaten for three days and water was entering their boat. At 02:52 CEST they informed us that the boat was filled with water.
At 11:49 CEST the next morning, JRCC Larnaca told us they located the boat and the marine police was now taking over. During the next days we tried to get a confirmation from Cypriot authorities that the people had been safely brought to Cyprus and could claim for asylum there, but the Cypriot authorities refused to give any information concerning the whereabout of the people. The people themselves were not reachable anymore. We later learned from media articles that the 49 people from the boat had been pushed-back to Lebanon.

On the 10th of July we finally managed to get confirmation from family members that the people from that boat were back in Lebanon. They told Alarm Phone that during the pushback some were refused to take their medicaments and they were beaten, including children.

twitter: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1545771898633703424?s=20&t=4eFJUj0h5eoYBJZ3eUpp3A

Other media articles:

https://www.sigmalive.com/news/local/979355/piso-ston-livano-oi-49-metanastes-pou-eixan-proseggisei-tin-pafo

https://www.sigmalive.com/news/local/979006/ektaktos-sto-nosokomeio-17-metanastes-stin-pafoanamesa-tous-egkyes-kai-paidia

https://cyprus-mail.com/2022/07/07/boat-carrying-49-irregular-migrants-detained-off-paphos/

https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/syrian-refugees-await-fate-off-cypriot-coast

https://cyprustimes.com/koinonia/diadikasies-gia-epanaproothisi-ton-49-metanaston-poy-entopistikan-dytika-tis-pafoy/

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