09/08: 29 people pushed back after arriving to Rhodes

10.08.2022 / 20:59 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 9th of August 2022
Case name: 2022_08_09-Eastern Med - 961 Situation: 29 people pushed back after arriving to Rhodes
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded Place of Incident: Eastern Med
Summary of the Case:

On 9. August 2022 in the early morning Alarm Phone was alerted by a group of 29 people who were in distress in the Aegean Sea. After they were brutally pushed back by the Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG), we talked again to one of the people from the group, who a detailed testimony about the events:

“We left from Mugla/Datca in Turkey with 29 people (5 people from Palestine, 24 people from Syria), then shortly after Symi Island our motor broke down. We were in distress and could not move on and then the Hellenic Coast Guard pulled us to Rhodes Island with a rope with their vessel. Then the HCG kept us on the shore in Rhodes, we were not allowed to leave our boat and enter Rhodes Island. The HCG kept us on our boat next to the island.

Then the HCG brought us to Symi island again, back, towards this location (https://maps.app.goo.gl/8des49Kc3R9wXTYw6) next to the ferry places.
There they took us, took our phones, beat us up heavily and took our personal belongings. (I could hide my phone, so one phone was left with our whole group). Then the Hellenic Coast Guard took 2 people of us (both Syrian nationals) and beat them up very hard and kept them there. Since then we don’t know anything about the 2 people - we have no contact to them anymore.Then the HCG pulled the rest of us, 27 people, towards Turkish waters (see marked point with green color on the Map). Afterwards, the Turkish Coast Guard picked us up and brought us back to Turkey. There we stayed for 2 days in detention and after that our resident permission expired as a penalty. I am afraid, my residency is not valid anymore, I am from Syria and no one wants us. In Turkey I fear deportation and Europe is not accepting us. Tell me my friend, what should I do, where should I go to live a decent life?”

Each year thousands of people who attempt to cross the Aegean Sea are being pushed back to Turkey by European actors. Most of the survivors then loose their residency status in Turkey, which can lead to deportations to countries such as Syria.

We condemn the violent and illegal practices of the Coast Guards at sea and we will continue to stand in solidarity with the people of this group and all people on the move – For the right to freedom of movement!

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