On the 2. February 2022 the bodies of 19 migrants<\/a> were found on the border between Greece and Turkey. They had been stripped of their clothes and shoes. They had all frozen to death.<\/p>\n Greece has since been accused by Turkey of forcing the 19 migrants back across the border, to prevent them from applying for asylum in Greece. This narrative has been rejected by Greek authorities, who maintain that it is Turkey who turns a blind eye to the people who attempt to cross the border, and bear the responsibility for the deaths.<\/p>\n The story of the 19 dead migrants on the border between Turkey and Greece is not the first of its kind. When refugees and migrants are forced back in this manner, back to the countries or the waters from which they came, it is called pushbacks \u2013 <\/i>and it is a practice that has been documented<\/a> on the border between Greece and Turkey for many years.<\/p>\n But pushbacks <\/i>do not only occur on the border between Greece and Turkey. It is also happening in the English Channel<\/a>, on the border between Poland and Belarus<\/a>, and in the waters between Italy and Libya<\/a>.<\/p>\n NGO\u2019s and experts agree – they say that pushbacks <\/i>violate international human rights law.<\/p>\n In spite of the critique raised against pushbacks<\/i>, the EU Commission is currently in the process of expanding the controversial practice, through a proposal that would change the rules governing the Schengen Area.<\/p>\n The Commission is proposing, amongst others, to limit the number of border crossings, increase border controls, and allow Member States of the EU to send people on the border back in emergency situations. These changes will improve the governance of EU\u2019s external borders, the Commission argues.<\/p>\n NGO\u2019s and human rights experts see it very differently.<\/p>\n Martin Lemberg-Pedersen, Head of Policy and Society at Amnesty International in Denmark, fears that the proposed changes of the rules governing the Schengen Area will lead to more pushbacks<\/i>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe fear that the changes would essentially institutionalize the possibility for pushbacks\u201d, says Lemberg-Pedersen, who has formerly researched Western asylum, border, and deportation practices, and is one of the leading experts in this area.<\/p>\n \t\t\t