A high EU courtroom dismissed Wednesday a damages declare made by a Syrian household towards the bloc’s border company for deporting them from Greece.
The EU General Court decided that Frontex was not liable for the underlying determination to take away the household, solely Greece was, and that the border company offered solely “technical and operational support.”
The household subsequently was “incorrect” to argue that their illegal elimination by Frontex gave rise to their damages declare of 136,000 euros ($146,000), it mentioned.
Frontex carried out the deportation from the Greek island of Leros to Türkiye in 2016 in a joint operation with Greek authorities, regardless of the household having lodged an asylum request that was being processed.
International legislation prohibits the deportation of asylum-seekers in such a state of affairs.
The European Union skilled a mass influx of greater than 2.5 million asylum-seekers in 2015-2016, most of them Syrians fleeing the warfare of their nation.
Numbers have been subsequently vastly decreased after the EU reduce a take care of Türkiye to clamp down on irregular border crossings.
Greece has since taken a hardline stance towards refugee arrivals and has been accused of inflicting deaths by having its border and coast guards push again arrivals. Athens denies the allegations.
Frontex has additionally been criticized by rights teams and EU lawmakers for aiding strongarm actions and for not deploying satisfactory assets to detect incidents and perform sea rescues.
Lawyers for the Syrian household referred to as the ruling “unsatisfactory”.
“They are disappointed that Frontex is not held accountable for its role in the illegal pushback they are victims of and the way they were deported,” they mentioned in a press release.
The Syrian household, who now reside in Iraq, took Greece to the European Court of Human Rights and gained a “friendly settlement” from Athens, mentioned the workforce from the Dutch authorized agency Prakken d’Oliveira, supported by different human rights legal professionals.
Frontex, in a press release on social media website X, emphasised that the courtroom discovered it was not able to “assess the merits of return decisions.”
It mentioned it was placing “more safeguards” in place in an effort to attempt to shield migrants’ rights, and anticipated EU governments to make sure that deportations have been carried out in step with worldwide legislation.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
