Exposed: 2,000 Refugee Deaths Linked to Covert EU Pushbacks

An investigative analysis by The Guardian unveils the grim reality: EU nations resort to ruthless measures, resulting in the deaths of over 2,000 refugees, all to thwart nearly 40,000 asylum seekers from crossing their borders.

In a sweeping expulsion campaign unseen for decades, European countries, backed by the EU’s border agency Frontex, have systematically repelled refugees—some of them innocent children fleeing war zones—using illicit methods ranging from physical assault to inhumane treatment during detention or transit.

Drawing upon reports from UN agencies and data compiled by non-governmental organizations, The Guardian’s comprehensive scrutiny highlights a troubling escalation in the frequency and brutality of these pushback tactics amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Recent accounts indicate a surge in migrant fatalities in their quest to reach Europe, coupled with intensified collaboration between EU and non-EU nations like Libya, resulting in the thwarting of numerous rescue missions,” remarked Fulvio Vassallo Paleologo, a prominent authority on human rights and immigration at the University of Palermo, Italy.

This grim revelation coincides with a probe initiated by the EU’s anti-fraud watchdog, Olaf, into Frontex’s alleged involvement in harassment, misconduct, and unlawful operations aimed at obstructing asylum seekers’ access to EU territories.

Despite a decline in migrant arrivals since January 2020, countries like Italy, Malta, Greece, Croatia, and Spain have ramped up their hardline migration policies. Leveraging partial or complete border closures under the pretext of containing the pandemic, these nations have resorted to contracting non-EU entities and employing private vessels to intercept distressed boats at sea, subsequently pushing back occupants into detention facilities. Disturbing reports have emerged of individuals subjected to physical violence, theft, humiliation at border checkpoints, or abandonment at sea.

In Croatia, designated with patrolling the EU’s longest external border, instances of systemic violence and migrant pushbacks to Bosnia have surged, as documented by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC). Shocking testimonies collected by The Guardian over the past eighteen months paint a harrowing picture of migrants allegedly enduring beatings, robbery, sexual abuse, and dehumanizing treatment at the hands of Croatian law enforcement.

Meanwhile, Greece stands accused of orchestrating pushbacks of approximately 6,230 asylum seekers, with reports indicating an alarming 89% prevalence of excessive force and abuse during these operations.

Such grave violations of human rights extend beyond Europe’s shores, with Libyan authorities, aided by Italian support, intercepting and repelling an estimated 15,500 asylum seekers back to Tripoli since the onset of the pandemic. This contentious strategy has resulted in the forcible return of thousands to Libyan detention centers, where reports of torture abound, and hundreds have perished amidst a lack of intervention from either Libyan or Italian authorities.

The complicity of European nations in these tragedies underscores a stark departure from democratic principles, human rights obligations, and international law. As calls for accountability grow louder, the haunting specter of migrant deaths looms large, a damning indictment of Europe’s collective conscience.