Number of illegal pushbacks at European external borders exploded in 2023
Last year, more than 300 violent pushbacks took place at Europe’s external borders Pushbacks, where people seeking asylum are forcibly pushed back, are illegal under European and international law. Yet they have become standard policy, with the number rising to a possible record high last year. “If Belgium, as EU president, had one priority, it would be to stop this deadly, utterly illegal policy,” said 11.11.11-director Els Hertogen.
Feb 13 2024
3 minutes
People who are driven into the hands of the Libyan Coast Guard, resulting in abuse, rape and even murder. Families being sent back in rickety boats across the dangerous waters of the Mediterranean. Parents being electroshocked or beaten in front of their children, while border guards complicate asylum applications by destroying crucial items such as phones, medicines and identity papers. At Europe’s external borders, these things have become the norm in the form of illegal pushbacks.
Pushbacks are absolutely illegal according to both European and international law. The number of illegal pushbacks amounted to at least 346.004 in 2023, which amounts to 947 per dagThis is a worrying increase from the already astronomical number of 225.533 pushbacks recorded last year.
Download the report with the number of pushbacks per EU Member State
As a result of these illegal pushbacks, hundreds of people died in 2023. The absolute low point was the shipwreck in Greece in June, in which more than 600 people drowned. Independent investigations showed that the boat capsized as a result of a pushback operation. However, Greek authorities have refused to clarify their role to this day.
At sea with a 6 month old baby
Many of these harrowing pushbacks remain out of the public eye, as border guards systematically destroy cell phones and thus evidence, making footage of these practices scarce. Despite this, The New York Times In May 2023, video footage was obtained showing asylum seekers, including young children, being rounded up by the Greek coast guard, put on a rubber dinghy and pushed out to sea. The 27-year-old Naima Hassan Aden from Somalia and her 6-month-old baby were left to their fate on this raft. "We didn't expect to survive that day," she later testified in an interview. "When they put us on the inflatable raft, they did it without any mercy."
Freeze EU funding for Greece
These pushbacks are a fundamental violation of human rights, yet the silence remains deafening. Despite the immense scale of violations, there is hardly any reaction from the European Commission or the European Council. For example, the recently signed EU Pact for Asylum and Migration is completely silent on this part of the European migration policy. More and more Member States are also pushing aside fundamental human rights and adapting their national legislation to legalize the pushbacks.
Research shows that there European tax money flows to these pushbacks, including buses and cages in which people are locked up or border guards who dump these people in dangerous waters. We want to take concrete action against these practices. For example, we advocate starting an infringement procedure when Member States systematically violate fundamental rules. As in Greece, for example. Pushbacks are normalised here, while it is a deadly and completely illegal policy. European money goes to border management in Greece and this flow of money should therefore be frozen.
We advocate for concrete actionsThe Belgian EU Presidency is a unique opportunity to take a leadership role in these circumstances and hold Member States accountable for violations of European regulations through violence against vulnerable people.
