Rightlessness & violence at Europe’s borders

Cases (14)

• Lithuania – Detention – ECtHR

  Lithuania’s illegal detention of asylum-seekers

  Sajjad M was one of the first asylum-seekers to enter Lithuania from Belarus in the summer of 2021, after having fled his home country Iraq. Despite his attempt to access protection, he was detained in Lithuania for nearly one year. From detention he independently filed an application to the European Court of Human Rights against Lithuania for multiple violations of the European Convention on Human Rights.

• Croatia – Pushbacks – Sexual violence

  Croatia: Pushback of refugees using extreme violence and sexual assault

  Four refugees subjected to brutal ill-treatment including sexual violence during a pushback operation by Croatian officers in late 2020 demand justice. Together with the Croatian NGO, CMS (Centre for Peace Studies), they have filed a criminal complaint and insist that the perpetrators are identified and held accountable.

• Greece – Pushbacks – ECtHR

  Greece before the European Court of Human Rights

  In December 2021, the European Court of Human Rights communicated eight cases from a total of 47 applicants, filed against Greece between January and December 2021. ECCHR and its partners PRO ASYL and Refugee Support Aegean have submitted a third party intervention to the European Court of Human Rights in July 2022 in all eight cases regarding Greece’s systematic human rights violations at its borders.

• Libya – Migration – Crimes against humanity

  Migrants and refugees in Libya face crimes against humanity: The ICC must investigate

  Enslavement, arbitrary detention, sexual violence – these are just some of the serious crimes that migrants and refugees have been systematically subjected to in Libya. In order to bring an end to impunity for such crimes, ECCHR, Lawyers for Justice in Libya (LFJL) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) have, in cooperation with 14 survivors, filed a Communication to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in November 2021.

• Bulgaria – Pushbacks – ECtHR

  Bulgaria’s pushback practice condemned by ECtHR

  Bulgaria’s systematic expulsion of refugees and migrants to Turkey without an examination of the individual risk of ill-treatment violates the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in July 2021.

• Croatia – Pushbacks – UN HRC

  Pushbacks in Croatia: Complaint before the UN Human Rights Committee

  A 21-year-old Syrian refugee crossed the Bosnian-Croatian border. He and other refugees were pushed back by armed Croatian police officials. The Syrian, supported by ECCHR submitted a complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee urging it to examine Croatia’s practice of expulsions.

• Germany – Pushbacks – “Seehofer Deal”

  “Seehofer Deal” denies access to asylum procedures and effective remedy

  Germany and Greece concluded the so-called Seehofer Deal in 2018. The administrative agreement named after German Minister of Interior Horst Seehofer says: migrants and refugees who have already applied for asylum in Greece and arrive to Germany via Austria should be refused entry and returned to Greece within 48 hours. This is what happened to Syrian asylum seeker HT.

• Croatia – Pushbacks – ECtHR

  Croatia to answer to European Court of Human Rights

  Croatia is obliged to account for its pushback practice to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) before the European Court of Human Rights. The court accepted the individual complaints brought by three Syrian refugees. The applicants were denied any individual assessment as they were summarily and collectively expelled in October 2018 at the border between Croatia and BiH.

• Italy – Rescue at sea – Sea-Watch 3

  Criminalizing sea rescue: ECCHR demands UN intervention

  For years, Italy has intimidated, threatened and prosecuted sea rescues that provide vital humanitarian assistance to refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean. To counter this, ECCHR submitted a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders regarding Sea-Watch 3 crew members, in particular Captain Carola Rackete.

• Italy – Rescue at sea – Iuventa

  Acquittal for Iuventa sea rescuers

  The NGO ship Iuventa (owned and operated by German organization Jugend Rettet) has been rescuing refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, off the Libyan coast, thereby providing crucial aid to those abandoned by state-administered sea rescue. In August 2017, Italian authorities seized the Iuventa, preventing any further rescue missions. In May 2022, pre-trial proceedings against four crew members began.

• Greece – Hotspots – EASO

  Greek hotspots: Complaint against European Asylum Support Office to the EU Ombudsperson

  According to ECCHR’s analysis of a series of admissibility interviews conducted on the Greek Islands, EASO fails to respect core standards of fairness. The interviews do not permit a fair assessment of cases and do not give room for a thorough investigation of vulnerability.

• Spain – Pushbacks – Melilla

  ND and NT v. Spain

  ND and NT crossed the border fence structure in Melilla and entered Spain in August 2014. The Spanish Guardia Civil apprehended them, along with approximately 70 other individuals from sub-Saharan Africa who also had climbed the fences. They were immediately “pushed back” to Morocco – without access to any legal procedures or protection.

• Spain – Pushbacks – Minors

  UN condemns Spain’s pushback policy

  Spanish authorities apprehend and summarily deport unaccompanied minors to Morocco without a procedure to identify them and protect their rights. This policy was strongly condemned by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in February 2019 in a decision that clearly upholds the fundamental rights of unaccompanied minors at Europe's borders.

• Spain – Pushbacks – Ceuta

  Spain in front of UN Committee Against Torture

  At least 15 dead and many more injured: this was the outcome of a brutal pushback operation on 6 February 2014 by the Spanish Guardia Civil - a paramilitary police force - at the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on the beach of El Tarajal.

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