Over 100 small children forced into life rafts and abandoned at sea by the Greek coast guard in July.
In July Aegean Boat Report has registered 47 pushback cases in the Aegean Sea involving 1.314 people.
Of the 5.126 people picked up by the Turkish coast guard in July, 25.6% had been pushed back by Greek authorities.
Of the 47 pushback cases we have registered in July, Greek authorities used life rafts as a tool for deportation in 23 of them, 645 people, men, women and children, were found drifting in a total of 35 life rafts. 48.9% of the pushback cases in July was performed by using life rafts as a tool for illegal deportations, the highest percentage registered.
The number of people pushed back in July have increased 37.3% compared to June, and the highest number registered the last five months.
All the 35 life rafts found were made by the same manufacturer, Lalizas, from Piraeus, Greece, the same manufacturer who has a contract to provide equipment to the Greek Hellenic Coast Guard. Since 2020 the Greek Coast guard has used 1.530 of these life rafts to illegally deport over 26.500 people.
To force people into life rafts and leave them helplessly drifting at sea is illegal, but seems to be of no concern for European politicians, as long as the Greek authorities get the job done, stop as many people as they can, by any means possible to enter “Festung Europa”, they are more than willing to look the other way.
European Parliament and Frontex is not only looking the other way, but also supporting and funding these illegal operations, all in the name of “border protection”, paid for by European taxpayers money.
Perhaps for the same reason, there has been no investigation initiated by the European Parliament to investigate these life raft cases. Even when it was filmed by Fayad Mulla and published in The New York Times, there was no reaction, as if this isn’t happening.
To visualize the 35 life rafts and the 645 people forced into them by Greek authorities, we publish pictures taken from all the cases in July.
As an organization we publish a lot of statistics, but behind all these numbers there are real people, real human beings, just like you and me, all of equal value and importance. It’s easy to forget the people when we don’t see them, no faces, no eyes, just numbers, it’s as if they are not real, they don’t exist.
Please look closely, and you will see that the people in these pictures are real, with hopes and dreams for the future, just like you and me, we are no different, we are the same.
Don’t pretend they don’t exist by looking away, it’s time to open your eyes.
Kudos to all of those who, on a daily basis, do their utmost to fend for the rights of people at our borders!
To support our work and help us continue saving lives in the Aegean, please donate through PayPal by clicking on the link below in comments.
More pictures of the life rafts in July can be found on our Facebook post.