The European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency raised concerns Thursday over investigations into alleged migrant pushbacks in Greece, while noting that the country was among seven EU members where independent border monitors had begun visits.
The agency’s migration bulletin, published Oct. 22, covers July through September. It examines border practices and safeguards as countries implement the EU’s migration and asylum pact. Across 12 member states, the agency recorded at least 322 preliminary criminal investigations into alleged border rights violations between 2020 and 2025, with nine convictions. The figures span several countries and years.
Greece’s response under scrutiny
The bulletin also discusses continuing oversight of A.R.E. v. Greece, a European Court of Human Rights case concerning an asylum seeker returned to Turkey in May 2019 without an assessment of the risks she faced.
In a Sept. 16 decision, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers acknowledged Greek efforts to prevent similar violations through an operational manual and officer training. It said those measures did not yet appear sufficient to address the systematic pushback practice identified by the court. The committee asked Greece for further information about its response to the court’s finding that the preliminary investigation was inadequate. It also urged stronger safeguards, effective access to asylum procedures and thorough investigations into pushback allegations.
The committee plans to examine the case again at a human rights meeting in 2027.
The FRA bulletin separately reported at least 852 people dead or missing on Mediterranean routes and the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands during July–September, citing International Organization for Migration data. Of those, 199 were recorded in the eastern Mediterranean, a region extending beyond Greek waters.
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