Info Series

Info Series #1: Pushbacks

Defining and understanding the issue of pushbacks

What is a Pushback?

Pushbacks are the practice of stopping asylum seekers at the border and forcibly returning them to the country they entered from instead of granting them their legal right to seek international protection.

They often include violence and human rights violations, including beatings, theft, destruction of personal belongings, assaults and endangerment of life, which sometimes leads to death.

Further Reading:

  •  Black Book of Pushbacks. This was commissioned by The Left Group in European Parliament and made by the Border Violence Monitoring Network, of which Josoor is an active contributing partner. The two volumes of the Black Book feature 1500 pages worth of testimonies on pushbacks, as well as context and statistics of countries where these pushbacks occur
  • Definition by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)


@BVMN: Mr Khalid, a victim of pushbacks, personally delivering a copy of the Black Book of Pushbacks to the Office of the Slovenian Ombudsperson in Lijubljana. The book was received by the Deputy Ombudsperson (pictured).

Where do pushbacks happen?

Pushbacks occur at land and maritime borders across the world. In Europe, Greek pushbacks to Turkey have received a wealth of publicity, as they have increased significantly in recent years. However, they are also observed along the “Balkan route”, most prominently from Croatia, but also Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, Italy, Hungary, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania. Several cases have been documented from Austria as well.

@BVMN, Map of status of pushbacks at the EU’s borders as of May 2019. 

Wherever pushbacks happen, they are measures organized and carried out by state agents with the tacit – or sometimes even explicit – consent of state governments. Testimonies report involvement of uniformed state police, coast guard and military as well as persons dressed in dark coloured civilian-clothes and wearing balaclavas. Additionally, there have been countless allegations of Frontex being complicit in or facilitating pushbacks.


German Frontex officer, @Deutsche Welle, 2021

Further Reading:

Why are pushbacks illegal?

Pushbacks violate several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). Pushbacks violates Article 14 (the guarantee to a fair asylum procedure when fleeing war or persecution), Article 3 (right to life, liberty and security of the person), Article 5 (prohibition of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment), as well as Article 9 (prohibition of arbitrary arrest and detention).

Additionally, they are in violation of the Principle of Non-Refoulment as defined in Articles 32 and 33 of the Geneva Refugee Convention (1951).

While these treaties constitute international law, the European Union has adopted the Principle of Non-Refoulment in its own legislation (e.g. Directive 2013/23/EU), which also makes it binding to national law.

When pushbacks occur at sea, International Maritime Law also obliges captains to help people in distress.

Visual Investigation: Analysis of Video Footage showing involvement of Hellenic Coast Guard in Maritime Pushback; @Josoor & BVMN

Further Reading:

Pushbacks violate three levels of law: national, European and international. They explicitly contradict treaties and the most basic human rights. On top of this, they are almost always accompanied by the use of excessive force and a “sadistic, merciless, humiliating and degrading treatment”.

In short: Pushbacks are illegal and inhumane. We call for the end to border violence and these gross human rights violations.


What is a Pushback?

Pushbacks are the practice of stopping asylum seekers at the border and forcibly returning them to the country they entered from instead of granting them their legal right to seek international protection.

They often include violence and human rights violations, including beatings, theft, destruction of personal belongings, assaults and endangerment of life, which sometimes leads to death.

Further Reading:


@BVMN: Mr Khalid, a victim of pushbacks, personally delivering a copy of the Black Book of Pushbacks to the Office of the Slovenian Ombudsperson in Lijubljana. The book was received by the Deputy Ombudsperson (pictured).

Where do pushbacks happen?

Pushbacks occur at land and maritime borders across the world. In Europe, Greek pushbacks to Turkey have received a wealth of publicity, as they have increased significantly in recent years. However, they are also observed along the “Balkan route”, most prominently from Croatia, but also Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, Italy, Hungary, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania. Several cases have been documented from Austria as well.

@BVMN, Map of status of pushbacks at the EU’s borders as of May 2019. 

Wherever pushbacks happen, they are measures organized and carried out by state agents with the tacit – or sometimes even explicit – consent of state governments. Testimonies report involvement of uniformed state police, coast guard and military as well as persons dressed in dark coloured civilian-clothes and wearing balaclavas. Additionally, there have been countless allegations of Frontex being complicit in or facilitating pushbacks.


German Frontex officer, @Deutsche Welle, 2021

Further Reading:

Why are pushbacks illegal?

Pushbacks violate several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). Pushbacks violates Article 14 (the guarantee to a fair asylum procedure when fleeing war or persecution), Article 3 (right to life, liberty and security of the person), Article 5 (prohibition of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment), as well as Article 9 (prohibition of arbitrary arrest and detention).

Additionally, they are in violation of the Principle of Non-Refoulment as defined in Articles 32 and 33 of the Geneva Refugee Convention (1951).

While these treaties constitute international law, the European Union has adopted the Principle of Non-Refoulment in its own legislation (e.g. Directive 2013/23/EU), which also makes it binding to national law.

When pushbacks occur at sea, International Maritime Law also obliges captains to help people in distress.

Visual Investigation: Analysis of Video Footage showing involvement of Hellenic Coast Guard in Maritime Pushback; @Josoor & BVMN

Further Reading:

Pushbacks violate three levels of law: national, European and international. They explicitly contradict treaties and the most basic human rights. On top of this, they are almost always accompanied by the use of excessive force and a “sadistic, merciless, humiliating and degrading treatment”.

In short: Pushbacks are illegal and inhumane. We call for the end to border violence and these gross human rights violations.


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