The UN Special Rapporteur on the humanrights of migrants, Prof. François Crépeau, has completed a nine-day official visit to Greece, the
fourth and last country visit in connection with a “a one-year comprehensive
study to examine the rights of migrants in the Euro-Mediterranean region,
focusing in particular on the management of the external borders of the
European Union.”
The Special Rapporteur will present a
thematic report on the human rights of migrants at the borders of the European
Union to the UN Human Rights Council in May/ June 2013. In addition to the visit to Greece, he
previously conducted official visits to EU offices in Brussels, Tunisia,
Turkey, and Italy.
One
point of particular interest in the Special Rapporteur’s end-of-mission statement is that Frontex sea patrols in Greece are not along being used to
patrol the external sea border of the EU (Greece-Turkey), but are also being
used to patrol the sea border between Greece and Italy to prevent irregular
migrants from leaving Greece.
