A Syrian family is demanding compensation for being illegally returned to their homeland.
According to TV2 and Ritzau, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg will issue its ruling on Wednesday, which will show whether the European Border Agency Frontex committed human rights violations against a Syrian family in 2016. The Syrian family filed a complaint against the European Border Agency because the family believes that their asylum application should have been processed before they were sent out of the European Union. According to the German Press Agency, the European Union Court in Luxembourg is expected to issue its decision on Wednesday.
Did the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, commit human rights violations against a Syrian family seeking asylum in Greece in 2016?
Family: We were deceived about the plane's flight path.
Like many Syrians, the family came to Europe in 2016, after the civil war in their homeland had developed violently in the preceding years. When they arrived in Greece, the family of six applied for asylum. When you apply for asylum in the European Union, according to international law, you are entitled to have your asylum application processed.
Therefore, it is illegal to return people seeking asylum in the European Union across borders before their case has been processed.
According to the family, they were put on a Frontex plane and told it was headed to the Greek capital, Athens, as their lawyer, Lisa Marie Combe, had informed them. Instead, the plane landed in Turkey, which is outside the European Union.
“They prevented us from speaking to each other.”
According to the lawyer, all family members were separated on the plane, and the lawyer says they were not even allowed to speak to each other, adding that this is also a violation of the children's rights.
The family, who currently live in Iraq, claims that Frontex acted unlawfully because their asylum applications were not processed before they were sent out of the European Union. Therefore, the family has demanded compensation for the material and non-material damages they suffered as a result of the repatriation process, according to the lawsuit filed by the family.
According to the German Press Agency, several different non-governmental organizations have accused Frontex of violating the human rights of migrants.
