Out the Back Door The Dublin II Regulation and Illegal Deportations from Greece

The main information presented in the report was gathered during a fact-finding mission to Greece, Turkey and Iraq in April-May 2009, with follow-up investigations throughout the summer of 2009. The team interviewed a number of representatives of NGOs, government representatives and numerous current and former asylum seekers in Norway, Greece, Turkey and Iraq. Based on evidence gathered during investigations in Greece, Turkey and Iraq between April and September 2009, and corroborated by reports and findings of international human rights monitoring bodies and NGOs, the report argues that the principle of non-refoulement is severely threatened by the Greek practice of illegal deportations, and consequently by transfers of asylum seekers to Greece under the Dublin II Regulation.
In this report we present specific instances of illegal deportations by the Greek authorities of persons with pending asylum cases, as well as of other groups. Such deportations take place in such an arbitrary manner that there is no basis for claiming that Dublin returnees enjoy a higher degree of protection than others.