MEDITERRANEAN: Fall in recorded crossings in first quarter of 2025 ― Greece redesignates Türkiye as ‘safe third country’ ― Frontex investigating allegations of pushbacks by Greece ― Three of ‘Moria 6’ acquitted on appeal ― First relocation of people fr…

• The significant decrease in the number of irregular border crossings into the EU via the Mediterranean routes that was observed in 2024 has continued into the first quarter of 2025.
• Greece has redesignated Türkiye as a “safe third country” for people seeking asylum despite a recent Council of State ruling.
• The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) is investigating 12 cases of potential human rights violations by Greece.
• Three of the six people who were convicted for starting the fire that destroyed the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesvos in 2020 have been acquitted on appeal.
• A group of 40 people whose asylum claims were rejected in Italy have been relocated to the repurposed repatriation centres in Albania.
• The Maltese Minister for Foreign Affairs has said that Malta will not pursue reform of human rights conventions during its upcoming presidency of the Council of Europe (CoE) after all.

The significant decrease in the number of irregular border crossings into the EU via the Mediterranean routes that was observed in 2024 has continued into the first quarter of 2025. According to preliminary data published by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) on 11 April, the number of detected crossings on the Eastern Mediterranean route between 1 January and 31 March 2025 fell by 29% compared to the same period in the previous year. Similar decreases were recorded on the Central Mediterranean and Western Mediterranean routes (-26% and -18% respectively). According to data extracted from the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project, there was also a 35% decrease in the number of people on the move who were recorded as dead or missing in the Mediterranean in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the equivalent period in the previous year (385 down from 595).

Greece has redesignated Türkiye as a “safe third country” for people seeking asylum. On 9 April, the Greek government adopted a joint ministerial decision in which Türkiye is included in the ‘National List of Safe Third Countries’ as a safe third country for asylum applicants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria. According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, the decision will “allow the immediate rejection of asylum applications of those of the above individuals who have entered Greece illegally from Turkey, and their return”. The timing of the decision is controversial as it comes less than three weeks after the Greek Council of State annulled the previous one. ECRE member organisations the Greek Council for Refugees and Refugee Support Aegean, who brought the legal case that ultimately resulted in the annulment, condemned the adoption of the new joint ministerial decision as being “in blatant violation of principles of legality and legal certainty and in dereliction of Article 95(5) of the Constitution” and “an explicitly provocative statement of non-compliance on the part of the Administration with the relevant decisions of the Council of State and the CJEU”. “It is not acceptable for the administration of a law-abiding state to blatantly ignore the courts and to lead people into danger and despair for the sake of short-lived political sensationalism with the sole apparent aim of appealing to extreme, xenophobic audiences,” they added in a joint statement. They also vowed to apply for a judicial review of the decision and to “exhaust legal avenues (…) to legally claim and impose sanctions”.

Frontex is investigating 12 cases of potential human rights violations by Greece. On 8 April, Frontex Spokesperson Chris Borowski said that some of the cases related to allegations of pushbacks “at the border”. Although he provided vey few details about the cases, including whether they had taken place on land borders or at sea, he did specify that two of the incidents had taken place in 2025, nine in 2024 and one in 2023, and stated that each case was being “examined thoroughly”. Borowski also said that Frontex would make recommendations for Greece to implement and that failure to do so could result in a reduction in funding, including for Greek coast guard vessels. “The executive director of Frontex has said that he expects all these recommendations to be implemented. Otherwise, he would consider reducing or cutting funding for co-financed assets,” he said. Commenting on Frontex’s discussions with the Greek government, Borowski said: “We are now putting fundamental rights at the heart of these negotiations. In the past this discussion happened towards the end of the negotiations, so they were kind of a secondary issue, but now they’re really the core of these negotiations”. In an interview with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network published on 8 April, the head of Frontex, Hans Leijtens, explained how he had spent the two years since his appointment trying to engage with the Greek government in order to address allegations of human rights violations but that he had grown “impatient” and felt that a “new approach” was required.

Three of the six people who were convicted for starting the fire that destroyed the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesvos in 2020 have been acquitted on appeal. The three Afghans had initially been classed as adults and sentenced to 10 years in prison each by a court on the island of Chios in June 2021. Following an appeal, in 2024, the court accepted that it had not been proven that they were adults at the time of the fire and their cases were transferred to a juvenile court. On 4 April, the juvenile court of Mytilene ruled that the their involvement in the fire had not been proven. Commenting on the not guilty verdict, the trio’s lawyer, Zacharias Kesses, said: “My young clients were held for almost three-and-a-half years in prisons unsuitable for minors, without sufficient evidence and without due process”. “This case is a typical example of how criminal justice can fail when fear, stereotypes and political expediency prevail,” he added. Two of the other people who were arrested after the fire were tried as minors and sentenced to five years in prison each, later reduced to four. They have since been released. The sixth person lost an appeal against their conviction in March 2024.

A group of 40 people whose asylum claims were rejected in Italy have been relocated to the repurposed repatriation centres in Albania. The transfer, which took place on 11 April, was the first since the Italian government adopted a decree allowing the centres in Gjadër and Shëngjin to be used as repatriation centres. The two centres were initially intended for the detention of people intercepted in international waters in the Mediterranean while their asylum claims were being processed. However, following various legal challenges, all of the people who had been taken to the centres since they opened in October were transferred to Italy shortly afterwards. Following the latest transfer, legal experts have called into question the legality of an EU member state relocating people whose asylum claims have been rejected to a location that is neither their country of origin or a transit country. Most recently, the Italian Asylum Migration Working Group (TAI) has denounced the use of handcuffs on the people transferred to Albania on 11 April as “an unbearable display of cruelty, which tramples on the rights of those people and the principles of our legal system”.

The Maltese Minister for Foreign Affairs has said that Malta will not pursue reform of human rights conventions during its upcoming presidency of the Council of Europe (CoE) after all. Responding to a question from the MaltaToday newspaper, Ian Borg said that Malta will pursue the priorities that he set out in February and which do not include reform of the European Convention on Human Rights. Borg’s statement may be interpreted as a “snub” to Prime Minister Robert Abela who told a group of EU leaders in March that Malta would be putting human rights convention reform on the agenda of its CoE presidency. “I spoke with the prime minister and this is the programme Malta will be pursuing,” Borg said, referring to the priorities that he had previously outlined. Commenting on Borg’s statement, ECRE member organisation the aditus Foundation said: “We welcome this clear statement from Minister of Foreign Affairs Ian Borg in favour of protecting and strengthening human rights during Malta’s presidency of the Council of Europe”.

Related articles