Pushbacks are the act of forcibly pushing someone back across a border into the country they’re trying to leave, denying them access to their right to seek international protection.
Pushbacks are illegal – and yet, they’ve become a systematic and carefully planned part of border control across Europe. Arriving traumatised by what they left behind as well as the journey to safety, people are facing violent push backs at many EU borders.
A report from our partners, the Greek Refugee Council, documents extreme violence against people seeking asylum at Europe’s external border at the hands of Greek authorities or their collaborators, from strip searching to groping, forced nudity and rape.
Hosted by The Irish Times’ Jade Wilson, our event From Legal Obligations to Illegal Practices, will explore this breakdown of the rule of law at EU borders and the human rights abuses taking place as a result.
This is a unique opportunity to hear directly from people resisting pushbacks by legally representing survivors. You’ll hear from Dimitris Choulis, Lawyer with Human Rights Legal Project in Samos, Greece and Maciej Nowicki, President of the Board of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Poland. Oxfam Ireland’s Aideen Elliott will talk about how this relates to us in Ireland, as an EU member state, and what we can do from here to protect human rights at EU borders.
Join us on Wednesday 7 June at 6.30pm via Zoom. |
