(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The European Union (EU) must sanction Greece for its failure to eradicate the routine and widespread practice of pushing back refugees and migrants arriving at its borders in search of protection, safety, and better futures, said an Amnesty International report published today.
The report contains new evidence "of the ongoing, persistent and shameful treatment" by the Greek authorities of people risking their lives to find refuge in Europe.
"This is in direct violation of Greeceآ's international human rights obligations," says the report and calls on the EU to use its power to start legal proceedings against Greece for failing to uphold its obligations.
"The treatment of refugees and migrants at Greeceآ's borders is deplorable. Too often, instead of finding sanctuary, they are met with violence and intimidation. There are cases where they have been stripped naked, had their possessions stolen, and even held at gunpoint before being pushed back across the border to Turkey," said John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at Amnesty.
Between September 2012 and April 2014, Amnesty said it spoke to 148 migrants and refugees about their traumatic and often violent experiences of trying to enter Greece. Just under half of them said they had been pushed-back from Greece to Turkey, sometimes more than once.
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