With the help of Tommy Olsen, the large German newspaper The mirror reveal in June 2020 how Greek authorities violate human rights and European laws.
Olsen works daily as a preschool teacher in Tromsø. For the rest of the day, he juggles his role as a family man and his role as a kind of rescuer over the encrypted communication app Whatsapp for boat refugees trying to cross the Aegean Sea.
– DURING INVESTIGATION: Tromsø resident Tommy Olsen can most likely never return to Greece. Photo: Daniel Berg Fosseng / TV 2
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In 2015, Olsen traveled to the Greek islands to help in the refugee crisis. He received daily those who crossed the sea from Turkey to Greece in crowded and bad boats. There were few people who had an overview in the chaos. That is why he created the Facebook page Aegean Boat Report (ABR) in 2017.
– I noticed that there was an enormous need for information. Especially for people who had been down there, but later also for most people, says Olsen.
And then it kicked in. Today, Olsen and ABR are used as a source in major media houses around the world. If Greece violates human rights, Olsen is often the first to be able to prove it.
– FORCED BACK: This is how Olsen can document how the Greek authorities pull a boat with refugees back across the sea border to Turkey. Photo: Private
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– Hundreds of videos and photos
Like when Greece in October this year was accused of violating European and international law by trying to force a ship with nearly 400 refugees back into Turkish territory. With the help of documentation from Olsen, The Guardian, among others, was able to tell about how the Greek Coast Guard towed the ship for four days before they were forced to tow it ashore.
– In the last two years, not only have I, but quite a few organizations and news media around Europe have worked quite intensely to obtain good documentation of what is happening, says Olsen.
As with the incident in October, Olsen was sent the geolocation to the refugees, and could see how the ship drifted to and fro along the Greek coastline. He also receives videos from the refugees. They often document the brutality human beings are exposed to.
– IN AUTHORIZATION: When boat refugees are in distress at sea or are exposed to power and violence in the Aegean Sea, they call Tommy Olsen. Photo: Private
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– There are hundreds of videos and pictures of this, so there should be no doubt about who does what.
The Tromsø resident can most likely never return to Greece.
Suspected of human trafficking
– If I were to travel there, I would probably be arrested, Olsen says.
He is under investigation for human trafficking and espionage due of the work he does through the Aegean Boat Report.
– The Greek authorities obviously do not want this information to come out. They do not want to admit that it happens at all. When one can then time and time again prove that it is happening, and in addition work very closely with the international press which puts pressure on the EU, and which in turn contacts Greece, it becomes a problem for them. The way to get rid of that problem is to scare those who work with it, like me, Olsen explains.
He denies that he has in any way helped people to cross borders.
– It happens that people call me in Turkey and want help to get to Greece. But I have always and consistently said that there is nothing I help with, says Olsen.
Kidnapping and use of weapons
It all started with Olsen exchanging telephone numbers for families who had lost each other on the trip to Greece. If he found them missing, he could help reunite them in that way. Today, it has developed into desperate people fleeing across the Aegean Sea contacting Olsen if they are in distress at sea, or are exposed to “pushbacks”.
– The boat takes in water, or the Greek coast guard has removed the engine, so the boat just lies and drifts. Then they contact me, says Olsen.
Speak up «pushbacks» in the Aegean Sea has increased enormously in the last year. According to ABR, 599 were documented “Pushbacks” with over 15,000 people from January to mid-December this year.
«Pushbacks»
- If an asylum seeker is physically forced back across the border that has just been crossed by the authorities in the country to which it came, it will be called a “pushback”.
- “Pushbacks” prevent refugees and migrants from seeking asylum in the country they come to, as pushbacks usually take place only hours after crossing the border.
- All asylum seekers have the right to stay in the country they are seeking asylum in until the case has been processed. That is why “pushbacks” are in conflict with, among other things, the European Convention on Human Rights and the right to asylum.
Source: ECCHR and Statewatch
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Olsen can receive between 60 to 100 messages in a week. There he gets videos and a picture of a Greek coastguard who cuts petrol hoses, removes engines from boats or shoots at the boat the refugees and asylum seekers are sitting in.
Inflatable boats are attacked by military personnel who cut the fuel hose or remove the entire outboard engine. Then they pull the boat to a place where the wind transports it over to the Turkish side again.
– HAPPENS MORE OFTEN: Greek coastguards preventing refugees from seeking asylum are happening more and more often, according to figures from the Aegean Boat Report. Photo: Private
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TV 2 has repeatedly asked for a comment from the Greek authorities, without success. In other media, Greece has denied all forms “Pushbacks” and violations of human rights.
– Asylum rescue under press
Such “pushbacks” are undoubtedly illegal, according to the UN.
– “Pushback” is first and foremost illegal because it risks depriving people of the right to seek asylum. The right to seek asylum is a fundamental human right that is enshrined in both international and European law, Anders Aalbu states.
He is the spokesperson in Norway for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Aalbu adds that the right to asylum also applies even if the refugees and migrants cross the border in an irregular way, such as by entering the country by sea. One can thus not be refused to seek asylum even if one does not cross the border at an official border station.
– The right to seek asylum is not something countries can choose to ignore, says Aalbu.
– UNDER PRESSURE: Anders Aalbu, Norway’s representative in the UNHCR, says basic human rights are under pressure. Photo: UNHCR
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– But when such «pushbacks» is clearly illegal, so why can Greece and other countries do this extensively?
– Unfortunately, we see a negative trend both in the Mediterranean and other parts of the EU’s outer border that the right to seek asylum is under pressure. It is difficult to say why this is happening. but we notice that the will to stand up for basic human rights is under pressure, something we look at with great concern. This is a negative trend we really want to counteract, Aalbu concludes in UNHCR.
Several European countries break the law
It is not only Greece that performs “pushbacks”. Over the past year, a number of media and aid organizations have revealed extensive use of “pushbacks” in several countries.
Lithuania, Poland, Italy, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Macedonia and Hungary are some of the countries mentioned by BBC and the non-profit organization Lighthouse Reports, as a country that performs “pushbacks”.
Among other things, Lighthouse Reports has carried out an eight-month investigation of “pushbacks”, in collaboration with the media Der Spiegel, SRF, Rundschau, ARD Monitor, ARD Studio Wien, Libération, RTL Croatia, Novosti and Pointer.
– INVESTIGATION: EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson demanded that countries that are to blame for the crime should investigate the debts. Photo: Olivier Hoslet
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Of the revealed violent doctor «pushbacks» performed by Croatia, Romania and Greece. In Greece, they analyzed a large number of videos of pushbacks, performed by masked men. German Der Spiegel identified the men as members of the Greek Coast Guard’s elite team. After the many revelations, the EU demanded its Commissioner for Internal Security, Ylva Johansson, that the countries should investigate the debts.
“This could damage the EU’s reputation,” Johansson said.
But so far, the illegal practice continues. This is documented by the boat refugees themselves, and followed up and published by, among others, Tommy Olsen in the Aegean Boat Report.
On average, Olsen works between five and six hours a day with “pushbacks” and the boat refugees, in addition to being a family man and preschool teacher. Although he experiences threats and is suspected of human trafficking in Greece, he does not want to give in to the work.
– But if it ever gets to the point that the threats become so serious that it affects my family, then I have to consider it, says Olsen.
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