MEDITERRANEAN: Greece under renewed pressure to end pushbacks ― Cyprus accused of failing to protect vulnerable groups from exploitation ― First deportation from controversial Italian centre in Albania ― IOM reports almost 25,000 deaths in Central Medi…

• The Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights has demanded that Greece adopts a zero-tolerance approach to pushbacks and strengthens border safeguards.
• A report by the CoE Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) has highlighted the exploitation and trafficking risks faced by people seeking asylum, unaccompanied children and migrant workers in Cyprus.
• The first deportation from Italy’s repatriation centre in Albania has taken place (via Italy) while an inspection of the facility has revealed alarming conditions.
• The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has confirmed that the Central Mediterranean migration route is the world’s most deadly, accounting for at least 25,000 deaths since 2014.

The Council of Europe (CoE) has demanded that Greece adopts a zero-tolerance approach to pushbacks and strengthens border safeguards. On 6 May, CoE Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty published a report on his recent fact-finding visit to Greece. He raised concerns about persistent practices of human rights violations, including pushbacks at Greece’s land and sea borders, and urged Greek authorities to adapt a “zero-tolerance approach” to pushbacks and to ensure accountability for abuses against people on move along the country’s borders. He also underlined the importance of creating an environment in which civil society, media and human rights defenders who work to protect the rights of people on the move are able to carry out their activities unhindered. In their written response to the commissioner, the Greek authorities have again denied pushback allegations, claiming: “There is no systematic practice or operational planning of informal returns (‘pushbacks’) of third country nationals from Greece to Türkiye across the borders”. They added that the actions of Greek police officers that were criticised in the CoE report were based on the “lawful prevention of illegal border crossings while migrants are still in Turkish territory and have not yet reached Greece”.

A recent CoE report has highlighted the exploitation and trafficking risks faced by people seeking asylum, unaccompanied children and migrant workers in Cyprus. According to the latest evaluation report published by the CoE Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), although there has been progress in Cyprus, people belonging to those groups were still particularly vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking. The expert group found that many migrant workers, especially domestic workers from countries including the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Vietnam, are excluded from minimum wage protections and are tied to specfic jobs through sector-tied visas which increase their dependency and vulnerability to abuse. It also expressed concerns about reports of people seeking asylum in Cyprus being pushed back into the buffer zone, and called for an immediate end to this practice. Regarding children, it emphasised that limited access to healthcare and education, delays in age assessment processes and deficiencies in legal guardianship put unaccompanied and separated children at risk of abuse, exploitation and even trafficking.

The first deportation from the repatriation centre in Albania has taken place (via Italy). On 23 April, a Bangladeshi national who had recently been transferred from Italy to the pre-repatriation detention centre (CPR) in Gjadër, was first transferred back to Italy and then flown to Bangladesh. The entire operation, which required four separate transfers over the course of a week, reportedly cost more than €5,000 – almost double the average cost of a standard deportation which, according to La Repubblica, the Ministry of the Interior recently estimated at €2,800. It has since been revealed that of the 41 people who were transferred to the Gjadër CPR on 11 April, only 25 remained at the facility at the end of the month. According to records seen by opposition MP Cecilia Strada during an inspection visit on 26-27 April, one person had been transferred back to Italy, six had been released following court rulings, five had been declared unfit for detention and four had been repatriated. Strada described the situation in the CPR as “a hell compared to Italian centres” and “a shameful waste”, and expressed concerns about the 35 recorded incidents, including self-harm, that had taken place during the first 13 days of its operation.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has confirmed that the Central Mediterranean migration route is the world’s most deadly. According to data published on 29 April, almost 25,000 people have died along the route since 2014. According to the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, at least 499 people have died or disappeared in the Mediterranean in 2025 alone. This number may need to be updated soon following a report on 5 May that there were only two survivors after a boat carrying almost 50 people sank in the Central Mediterranean, and six bodies were discovered washed ashore on the Libyan coast on 1 May.

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