|
The decision at the court in Strasbourg, France could impact how
Europe handles migrants at its borders, at a time when Greece
and several European Union member states are seeking tougher
immigration controls.
A Turkish woman — identified only by her initials A.R.E. — was
awarded damages of 20,000 euros ($21,000) after the court ruled
that she had been improperly expelled in 2019 after crossing the
Greek-Turkish border, having been presented no opportunity to
make an asylum claim.
“The court considered that there were strong indications to
suggest that there had existed, at the time of the events
alleged, a systematic practice of ‘pushbacks’ of third-country
nationals by the Greek authorities, from the Evros region (on
the Greek border) to Turkey,” the decision said.
Citing a lack of evidence, the court rejected a second claim
made by an Afghan man, who said he had been illegally returned
to Turkey from the Greek island of Samos in 2020 when he was 15.
Greek government representatives at the hearings had denied the
allegations, challenging the authenticity of the evidence
presented and arguing that Greece's border policies comply with
international law.
The U.N. refugee agency has urged Greece to more thoroughly
investigate multiple pushback allegations, while several major
human rights groups have described the alleged irregular
deportations as a systematic practice.
Greece’s National Transparency Authority, a publicly-funded
corruption watchdog, said that it found no evidence to support
the pushback allegations following a four-month investigation in
2022.
The European Court of Human Rights is an international court
based in Strasbourg, France, that adjudicates human rights
violations by 46 member states of the Council of Europe, a body
older than the European Union and its predecessor, the European
Economic Community.
All contents © copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights
reserved |
|
