ΗumanRights360 presents today its 5th border monitoring report on the Evros land border: “The doctrine of the ‘instrumentalization’ of refugees. The borders of Evros in the era of the securitization of borders”.
The events on the borders between Poland and Belarus, with the violent deterrence of refugees’ entry into the -European- territory of Poland and the death of refugees from the cold and abandonment inhumanly reveal a strategy of continuous deprivation of refugees’ rights. The doctrine of the “instrumentalization” of refugees, which is constantly invoked by the political leaders of the European Union, deliberately removes from the refugees their human condition, and legitimizes the violations of international law and their human rights.
The Evros land border, the border between the European Union and Turkey, is part of this doctrine of “securitization” of borders, especially towards refugees and immigrants. Huge funds are being invested in the militarization and securitization of borders and not in safe and credible procedures of international protection neither in the integration and the capitalization of the potential of the newcomers.
The so-called “hybrid war” in Evros in March 2020 and the corresponding events in Poland currently raise serious questions in the societies of European states: Will we continue to let people die from drowning, hypothermia and persecution and pushbacks? And what does this abandonment of refugees mean widely for the state of democratic rights within European states? HumanRights360 analyzes these questions in the light of its work on the border of Evros. Special reference is made to the legislative changes at national and European level, as well as to the activity of our team at the Reception and Identification Center of Fylakio in Evros.
More information:
Evgenia Kouniaki, Legal Expert at HumanRights360, evgenia.kouniaki@humanrights360.org
