Family say they were only members of 32-strong asylum-seeker group not forced off Greek island of Samos UNHCR, Council of Europe call for full investigation, end to policy LONDON: A Palestinian woman and her three children have become the latest example of refugees being the victims of a “pushback” policy used by the Greek government to turn away migrants arriving at the borders of the EU. The UK’s Guardian newspaper reported that Aisha (a pseudonym to protect her identity), 31, arrived on the island of Samos as part of a large group on April 21, but was forced to hide in the mountains with her children after authorities arrested and deported other migrants. “It was a stressful and dangerous journey,” Aisha told the Guardian. “We found out the others had been caught and deported back to Turkey, but I made up my mind to stay on the island at any cost and even live on water for many days. I didn’t want to go back to Turkey. “We had been living in a tragic situation in Palestine, and I went to Turkey and it was worse, and then I made it to Greece and it was even worse,” she added. Aisha said that the family was forced to drink from streams and sleep outdoors as they traveled 40 km to the refugee camp at Vathy, Samos’ largest city. “We were (suffering from) hunger, thirst and the terror of being caught,” she said. Once in Vathy, she was told by locals to find a lawyer named Dimitris Choulis, who would be able to help with her case. On April 26, she found him. Choulis told the Guardian: “She said ‘pushback,’ and I understood what had happened.” Aisha and her family were the only members of the group — originally numbering 32, according to the NGO Aegean Boat Report — to avoid removal. On April 22, Turkish authorities said they had rescued 28 people stranded in orange life rafts off the coast opposite Samos. “It’s naturally proof of a pushback,” said Choulis. “I don’t know why we need anything more to prove it.” According to the Border Violence Monitoring Network, Greece has pushed back 6,230 asylum seekers from its territory since January 2020 — a practice many human rights organizations say is illegal. This was backed up in May this year by the Council of Europe, which asked Greece to end pushbacks and launch an investigation into the practice. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said that it believed the events of April 21-22 constituted an illegal pushback. Mireille Girard, a UNHCR representative, told the Guardian: “On April 21, UNHCR received a message that a group, including women and children, had arrived on Samos. We sought information multiple times from the local and central authorities but did not receive confirmation of any arrival. Local residents were reporting on social media that new arrivals had been spotted in the wider area of Ormos Marathokampou and that there was activity, and a vessel in the area that subsequently left the port late at night. “In the following days, UNHCR was informed that a family, reportedly the only one from the group who had arrived at Marathokampou, had remained on the island and was accompanied by a legal representative to the government facility for new arrivals to be registered. “These elements are concerning. They are indications of a pushback from Samos and need to be formally investigated by the authorities,” she added. The Greek coast guard (HGC) denied a pushback had taken place, adding: “While exercising the sovereign rights of the country, the HCG has often become the object of systematic and methodical targeting on social media, in some media, but also from some NGOs. The vast majority of these posts/information are based on unsubstantiated reports and unconfirmed or unreliable sources that cannot be identified.”