Greece rejects media report on migrants

Authorities will however “investigate mistreatment allegations”.

By ANSAMed,

Greece’s Ministry of Migration and Asylum on Wednesday rejected a report in the New York Times that the Greek authorities have been mistreating asylum seekers or acting outside the law, however stating that they intend to investigate all allegations of any kind of wrongdoing on the part of border forces.

On Tuesday a report was published in the US-based media outlet with quotes from the top human rights officer at Europe’s border agency Frontex, who said in a confidential report that the agency “should stop working with Greece because border guards there were mistreating asylum seekers”, among other claims relating to so-called illegal pushbacks which were allegedly being performed on a regular basis.

Greece’s Migration Ministry have released a strongly-worded statement in response to the report, which has once again stirred up the debate about the Greek government’s migration policies which have been constantly criticized by NGOs, human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW), and media observers.

“Greece protects and will continue to protect the external borders of the European Union, in accordance with national and international law. Protecting Europe from irregular arrivals is a priority for the European Council, as concluded. While, under the EU/Turkey joint statement such flows should be prevented before departure, smuggling networks continue to put, daily, lives at risk. This model must stop,” said the Ministry.

The statement added: “The EU is working on concrete measures to safeguard Europe’s security, reinforce the EU’s external borders, while promoting legal pathways for eligible applicants.

We work closely with the European Commission, EUAA, FRA and Frontex on all migration related issues. All allegations are being investigated by Greece and it is worth reminding about the fake allegations against Greece for a “dead child” in Evros. An incident reported but then retracted by the media and NGOs.

Incidents investigated to-date identified no wrongdoings by the Greek authorities.” According to the statement, the Ministry said that Greece has appointed a Fundamental Rights Officer and has approved an Action plan, with the EU, to monitor compliance with Fundamental rights, about which it said “progress reports on implementation have been conducted and positively assessed by the Agency in the previous Frontex Management Board in Stockholm”. (ANSAmed).