Greece is detaining more than 450 people on a naval vessel docked in the Mytilene harbor in Lesbos and is refusing to allow them to lodge asylum claims in flagrant violation of international and European law, Human Rights Watch said today. Detention aboard the ship may amount to arbitrary deprivation of liberty.
“The refusal to allow people in its custody to seek asylum and the open threat to send them back into the hands of their persecutors flies in the face of the values and principles that Greece claims to represent,” said Bill Frelick, Refugee and Migrants Rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Greece should immediately reverse this draconian policy, properly receive these people in safe and decent conditions, and allow them to lodge asylum claims.”