Greece has suspended the processing of asylum applications from people arriving by sea from North Africa for three months.
The Hellenic Parliament approved the temporary measure on Friday despite strong criticism from the United Nations refugee agency and Europe’s top human rights official.
The suspension passed by a 177-74 vote.
The ban was passed amid a surge in asylum seekers reaching the Greek island of Crete and after talks with Libya’s Benghazi-based government to stem the flow were cancelled acrimoniously this week.
It marks a further hardening of Greece’s stance towards migrants and refugees under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s centre-right government, which has built a fence at its northern land borders and boosted sea patrols since it came to power in 2019.
Mitsotakis announced the suspension plans in parliament on Wednesday during an uptick of arrivals. An estimated 2,000 migrants and refugees had landed on Crete since the weekend, leading to anger among local authorities and tourism operators.
“Greece will suspend the examination of asylum applications, initially for three months, for those arriving in Greece from North Africa by sea,” Mitsotakis said.
“Migrants who enter the country illegally will be arrested and detained,” he added.
Mitsotakis said Greece’s navy and coastguard were willing to cooperate with Libyan authorities to keep refugee boats from leaving the country’s territorial waters or to turn them back before entering Greek waters.
Sea arrivals of people departing from northeastern Libya and trying to reach Europe via Greece’s southern islands of Crete and Gavdos have exceeded 7,300 so far this year, according to estimates by the Greek government and aid organisations.
In contrast, total arrivals in 2024 stood at about 5,000.
The sharp increase has strained both islands, which lack formal reception centres and have faced difficulties in securing temporary accommodation.
The migrants and asylum seekers mainly come from the Middle East and North Africa, including nationals from Sudan and Egypt, and also countries that include Bangladesh.
‘Illegal’
Greece’s move drew sharp criticism from human rights organisations.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed “deep concern”. While acknowledging Greece’s right to manage its borders, the UNHCR said border controls “must be in line with international and European law”.
Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, also condemned Athens’s response, arguing it “would legalise returning people to face a risk of torture and other serious violations, in breach of [Greece’s international] obligations”.
In a statement on social media on Wednesday, the Greek Council for Refugees demanded that there be no suspension of asylum, calling it “illegal” and a violation of international law.
The group accused the government of using the increased influx of migrants and refugees as an “excuse”, saying it “only demonstrates Greece’s inability to guarantee basic fundamental rights”.
Greece rescued about 520 people off Gavdos early on Wednesday and was taking them to the mainland, the Greek coastguard said.
The Mediterranean nation was on the front line of the 2015-2016 migration crisis when more than one million people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa crossed into Europe.
