Pushbacks are the practice of stopping asylum seekers at the border and forcibly returning them to the country they entered from instead of granting them their legal right to seek international protection.
They often include violence and human rights violations, including beatings, theft, destruction of personal belongings, assaults and endangerment of life, which sometimes leads to death.
Further Reading:
Pushbacks occur at land and maritime borders across the world. In Europe, Greek pushbacks to Turkey have received a wealth of publicity, as they have increased significantly in recent years. However, they are also observed along the “Balkan route”, most prominently from Croatia, but also Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, Italy, Hungary, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania. Several cases have been documented from Austria as well.
Wherever pushbacks happen, they are measures organized and carried out by state agents with the tacit – or sometimes even explicit – consent of state governments. Testimonies report involvement of uniformed state police, coast guard and military as well as persons dressed in dark coloured civilian-clothes and wearing balaclavas. Additionally, there have been countless allegations of Frontex being complicit in or facilitating pushbacks.
Further Reading:
Pushbacks violate several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). Pushbacks violates Article 14 (the guarantee to a fair asylum procedure when fleeing war or persecution), Article 3 (right to life, liberty and security of the person), Article 5 (prohibition of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment), as well as Article 9 (prohibition of arbitrary arrest and detention).
Additionally, they are in violation of the Principle of Non-Refoulment as defined in Articles 32 and 33 of the Geneva Refugee Convention (1951).
While these treaties constitute international law, the European Union has adopted the Principle of Non-Refoulment in its own legislation (e.g. Directive 2013/23/EU), which also makes it binding to national law.
When pushbacks occur at sea, International Maritime Law also obliges captains to help people in distress.
Further Reading:
Pushbacks violate three levels of law: national, European and international. They explicitly contradict treaties and the most basic human rights. On top of this, they are almost always accompanied by the use of excessive force and a “sadistic, merciless, humiliating and degrading treatment”.
In short: Pushbacks are illegal and inhumane. We call for the end to border violence and these gross human rights violations.
Pushbacks are the practice of stopping asylum seekers at the border and forcibly returning them to the country they entered from instead of granting them their legal right to seek international protection.
They often include violence and human rights violations, including beatings, theft, destruction of personal belongings, assaults and endangerment of life, which sometimes leads to death.
Further Reading:
Pushbacks occur at land and maritime borders across the world. In Europe, Greek pushbacks to Turkey have received a wealth of publicity, as they have increased significantly in recent years. However, they are also observed along the “Balkan route”, most prominently from Croatia, but also Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, Italy, Hungary, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania. Several cases have been documented from Austria as well.
Wherever pushbacks happen, they are measures organized and carried out by state agents with the tacit – or sometimes even explicit – consent of state governments. Testimonies report involvement of uniformed state police, coast guard and military as well as persons dressed in dark coloured civilian-clothes and wearing balaclavas. Additionally, there have been countless allegations of Frontex being complicit in or facilitating pushbacks.
Further Reading:
Pushbacks violate several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). Pushbacks violates Article 14 (the guarantee to a fair asylum procedure when fleeing war or persecution), Article 3 (right to life, liberty and security of the person), Article 5 (prohibition of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment), as well as Article 9 (prohibition of arbitrary arrest and detention).
Additionally, they are in violation of the Principle of Non-Refoulment as defined in Articles 32 and 33 of the Geneva Refugee Convention (1951).
While these treaties constitute international law, the European Union has adopted the Principle of Non-Refoulment in its own legislation (e.g. Directive 2013/23/EU), which also makes it binding to national law.
When pushbacks occur at sea, International Maritime Law also obliges captains to help people in distress.
Further Reading:
Pushbacks violate three levels of law: national, European and international. They explicitly contradict treaties and the most basic human rights. On top of this, they are almost always accompanied by the use of excessive force and a “sadistic, merciless, humiliating and degrading treatment”.
In short: Pushbacks are illegal and inhumane. We call for the end to border violence and these gross human rights violations.
