The NGO Mare Liberum aimed to document pushbacks in the sea off Greece. Now she is giving up her job. Violations of rights at the EU sea border are now even more difficult to prove.
Above all, he was angry, says Hanno Bruchmann on the phone. The board of directors of the Mare Liberum organization appears contrite: The organization sees itself as a “watch dog” in the Mediterranean.
Since 2018, she has been trying to track down escape boats discovered by the Greek coast guard with her own ship in Greek territorial waters. Again and again she was able to observe how the Greek coast guard pushed refugees back into Turkish waters.
Greek government denies pushbacks
These pushbacks on the high seas are illegal. Every asylum seeker has the right to have their request examined on land. According to the German organization, around 10,000 people were affected by such pushbacks at the EU’s external border in 2020 alone.
Some are said to have been exposed by border guards using force on floating islands. The Greek government has always denied this so-called pushback practice.
Hindered by bureaucratic hurdles
Bruchmann says that the reports from Mare Liberum triggered an echo throughout Europe. However, their work at the EU’s external border was increasingly being prevented by bureaucratic hurdles: registration and certification requirements meant high costs for the organization for lawyers and certified translations.
At the same time, the measures have been tightened further and further. Bruchmann assumes that the Greek government has deliberately adjusted these bureaucratic hurdles so that a small NGO has to fail because of them. Or risk high penalties.
The Ministry of Migration points to the ARD rejects the accusation of preventing NGOs from doing their work with conditions that cannot be met. “A necessary condition for the operation of an NGO in Greece is full compliance with the conditions and rules established for its inclusion in the register of Greek and foreign NGOs,” the ministry said.
“Increasingly Hostile Mood”
Lefteris Papayiannakis, head of the organization Greek Council for Refugees, regrets that Mare Liberum has ceased its work. The organization provided valuable insights that the Greek government might not have liked.
Papayiannakis says that although he thinks it makes sense to register NGOs, other NGOs in Greece have similar problems to Mare Liberum. There is generally an increasingly hostile mood in Greece towards NGOs working on human rights issues.
No more “Watch Dog” at the Greek sea border
Hanno Bruchmann is concerned about the increasing isolationist tendencies in the EU. Corridors for safe entry are needed, he says. And the EU partner countries need to take a more critical stance towards Greece regarding its role at the EU’s external border.
The Mare Liberum ship will now be sailing in Italian waters. Any breaches of the law on the Greek sea border with Turkey will now go unnoticed again. Because Mare Liberum was the only “Watch Dog” in Greek territorial waters.