Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 17th of November 2020
Case name: 2020_11_17-AEG724
Situation:25 people stranded on Lesvos taken into quarantine.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

At 10:52h CET in the morning of 17 November we were contacted by the brother of somebody in a group of 25 travelers, all from Somalia, who had landed on Lesvos and were now stranded. The group were terrified of the police because they feared pushback.

We were able to get names and ages of 25 people in the group who stated that they wanted to claim asylum. We passed on what information we had by email to the Greek police, copying in NATO, Frontex, the UNHCR, and Amnesty International and other NGOs. We
eventually got through to the police in Mytilene, but they told us they could not help because 17 November is a day of national
celebration. We put out the following href=”https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1328661357688999938” target=”_blank”>tweet:
25 people in need of help on #Lesvos
We were informed about a group of Somali people who are stranded in a forest on Lesvos. They told us that they are exhausted & need medical care. They want to apply for protection & asylum. We informed authorities on the island @UNHCRGreece

To make known that there were 25 people seeking asylum on Lesvos we sent href=https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1328686013594656768 target=”_blank”>another:

The position of the people is 39.312936, 26.402936. The Mytilini police station refuses to mobilise rescue for the people with the excuse of the celebration of the national holiday of November 17th. The Greek junta fell in 1974 but human rights are
still violated to this day!

Shortly afterwards, we learnt that one of the
group was diabetic and the long time without food had affected his blood sugar. We feared a medical emergency and passed the information on immediately to the relevant authorities.

Just before 15:00h CET, we learnt from the brother that the group had been picked up by the police. We were worried that they still might be pushed back and we put out the following target=”_blank”>tweet:
The people told us that the police has arrived on the spot and that they are now waiting for a transport vehicle. We expect
that Greek authorities will follow the legal road and give access to medical care and asylum application procedures, as is required by international law.

We spent the next three hours trying to establish the people had been taken to the quarantine camp, rather than put on life
rafts and pushed back to Turkey. At 18:00h CET we learnt from our contact that the group had in fact been taken to the camp. We put out a last target=”_blank”>tweet:

With great relief, we learned that the 25 people were brought to the island's quarantine camp. We hope they will quickly
recover their strength after the exhausting journey. Greek authorities must protect them and ensure that they can apply for asylum #Refugeesgr