According to that media outlet, the Hellenic coast guard caused this terrible end for the undocumented immigrants for three years, “some thrown overboard of the ships in which they were traveling.”
We have just learned of the BBC investigation and the terrible allegations made, said community spokesperson Eric Mamer at the EC’s daily press conference.
The Commission’s position is well known: migration must be addressed in a dignified and humane manner. Efficient border management must be firmly based on respect for fundamental rights, including human dignity and the principle of non-refoulement, he said.
His statements come after the approval, in April, of a reform to the community immigration policy, which seeks to outline actions to confront this phenomenon, amid strong criticism from the international community for the absence until today of a common position on the issue.
Mamer said that ‘it is the responsibility of Member States to investigate any allegations of wrongdoing and stressed that Greek authorities must respect obligations under international law, including access to the asylum procedure.
According to a report citing witnesses, the Greek coast guard caused the deaths of dozens of migrants in the Mediterranean over three years, nine of them deliberately thrown into the water.
The Greek coast guard caused more than 40 deaths in those waters due to maritime patrol practices that include, according to the BBC, the forced expulsion of boats with clandestine migrants or their return to the sea after reaching dry land.
Despite this, the Greek coast guard rejected all the accusations made in the British public entity’s investigation, which will appear developed in the documentary Dead Clam: Killing in the Med.
The material had the collaboration of NGOs, local media and the Turkish coast guard; analyzed 15 incidents in the Mediterranean between 2020 and 2023, and concluded that these resulted in the death of 43 people.
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