The shooting of migrants at sea must stop

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A child rides a bicycle on a dock where naval ships are docked

The Greek Coast Guard’s firing at boats carrying migrants in the Aegean Sea has increased in frequency – this is not a new phenomenon, but since the summer of 2024, it has increased at a rapid rate. The Coast Guard has been using live ammunition against unarmed people who are merely trying to reach Europe, often fleeing other parts of the world where they face the risk of being shot. Since July 2024, incidents involving the Greek Coast Guard firing at speedboats transporting migrants have concentrated around the islands of Symi and Rhodes. However, similar shootings have also been reported near Kos, Chios, and elsewhere. The coastguards have consistently blamed the traffickers and the migrants themselves for the gunfire. We will never know if what the Coast Guard claims is valid since no competent authority has ever investigated the shootings.

On 23 August 2024, a Greek patrol boat spotted a speedboat near Symi and ordered the boat to stop. When the vessel ignored orders, the coastguards opened fire, and a 39-year-old man, likely from Kuwait, died of a gunshot wound. The coastguards claimed they had fired into the air and then “at the engine.” No officer has been detained for the incident.

Greek authorities employ dangerous and sometimes lethal tactics against migrants. Pushbacks have become routine, which involves the illegal expulsion of migrants. For years, human rights organizations have documented how these actions endanger lives and strip people of their fundamental rights, including the ability to seek asylum. But now, they are not only endangering them—they are shooting them.

Greek authorities defend their actions by claiming they face increasingly aggressive tactics from traffickers, who use speedboats and dangerous manoeuvres to evade capture. The truth is the opposite: the routes grow more expensive, longer, and riskier precisely because accessing Europe legally and safely has become impossible.

We cannot live in Soweto and pretend not to hear the gunfire echoing in the night. We cannot live near the cotton fields and pretend we don’t know who bleeds for our clothes. We cannot walk the streets of Phnom Penh and ignore the shadows of the past at every corner. We cannot stroll by the Niger River and act as though we don’t see its oil-stained waters. And we cannot keep swimming in the Aegean Sea each summer while pretending it isn’t one of the largest mass graves in the world.

We pray for the immediate cessation of the shootings against migrants, for justice to prevail, and for the establishment of legal, safe, and accessible pathways for migration to Europe.

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