Green Room #2 Interview with the Greek Ombudsman on his latest report on alleged pushbacks

Our Head of Migration Policy Europe, Neda Noraie-Kia, talked to the Greek Ombudsman, Mr. Andreas I. Pottakis, about his latest report on alleged pushbacks to Turkey of foreign nationals who had arrived in Greece in search for international protection. Mr. Pottakis provides an overview of his main findings and explains that the latest report is a preliminary one and that his own investigation is ongoing, looking at both areas, the Greek-Turkish land and maritime border. He furthermore raises serious concerns regarding the level of the protection of human rights in Greece and suggest investigation by the Greek police, but also EU policies in order to improve the transparency of the EU border and coast guard agency’s (FRONTEX).

Early March the Brussels office of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung hosted an online discussion on the role of Frontex in the context of alleged pushbacks at the EU external borders and on potential consequences from legal, political and public authorities’ perspectives. The Greek Ombudsman joined this debate as panelist and expert. You can watch the whole discussion online here: https://tinyurl.com/n7werz8w