The Greek authorities have intercepted migrant boats at sea and
\npushed them back to Turkey.<\/p>\n
Human rights activists said several migrants sailing from Aegean coast have
\nbeen forced back to Turkey by Greek police.<\/p>\n
The activists slammed the Greek authorities for violating European Union
\ntreaties and human rights conventions.<\/p>\n
Over recent years, activists have held the Greek authorities responsible for the
\nmounting tension in overcrowded migrant facilities, saying refugees have been
\npsychologically distressed due to the substandard living conditions they have
\nbeen made to endure in reception centers and the absence of life-saving
\nhealthcare services at a time when reports of coronavirus cases have soared.<\/p>\n
The migrants, including hundreds of Palestinian refugees, have been subjected
\nto dire conditions on the island and deprived of their basic human rights,
\nincluding access to water, power, and relief services.<\/p>\n
Recently, human rights groups have warned that Greek police have been using
\ntear gas, water cannon, and stun grenades to push back the border crossers.
\nGreek authorities have made no secret of their resolve and even their use of
\naggressive tactics to block illegal crossings. But the government in Athens is
\ndenying accusations of deadly attacks on migrants.<\/p>\n
In a March 17 report last year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Greek security
\nforces and unidentified armed men at the Greece-Turkey land border have
\ndetained, assaulted, sexually assaulted, robbed, and stripped asylum seekers and migrants, then forced them back to Turkey.<\/p>\n
Between March 7 and 9, Human Rights Watch interviewed 21 asylum seekers
\nand migrants, 17 of whom were men and 4 women, in Turkey about how they
\ntried to enter Greece over the land border following the Turkish government’s February 27 announcement that it would no longer stop asylum seekers and migrants from leaving Turkey to reach the European Union.<\/p>\n
All those interviewed said that within hours after they crossed in boats or waded
\nthrough the river, armed men wearing various law enforcement uniforms or in
\ncivilian clothes, including all in black with balaclavas, intercepted everyone in
\ntheir group. All said the men detained them in official or informal detention
\ncenters, or on the roadside, and stole their money, mobile phones, and bags
\nbefore summarily pushing them back to Turkey.<\/p>\n
Seventeen interviewees also described how the men assaulted them and others,
\nincluding women and children, through electric shocks, beating with wooden or
\nmetal rods, prolonged beating of the soles of feet, punching, kicking, and
\nstomping.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Greek authorities have intercepted migrant boats at sea and pushed them back to Turkey. Human rights activists said several migrants sailing from Aegean coast have been forced back to Turkey by Greek police. The activists slammed the Greek authorities for violating European Union treaties and human rights conventions. Over recent years, activists have held […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[151],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-90563","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.tech\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.tech\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.tech\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.tech\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.tech\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.tech\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.tech\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.tech\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.tech\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionpal.tech\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}