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The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued a landmark ruling on Tuesday finding that Greece had unlawfully expelled a woman to Turkey, describing the use of summary expulsions or “pushbacks” as a systematic practice.

The Strasbourg court’s ruling could have a significant impact on how European countries deal with migrants at their borders, especially as Greece and several EU member states push for stricter immigration controls.

The Turkish woman, identified as ARE, was awarded €20,000 in damages after the court found she was unlawfully deported in 2019.

After crossing the Greek-Turkish border, she was denied the opportunity to apply for asylum.

“The court considered that there was strong evidence that, at the time of the alleged events, there had been a systematic practice of “pushbacks” of third-country nationals by the Greek authorities from the Evros region (on the Greek border) into the Türkiye,” the ruling said.

A separate application from an Afghan man who claimed he was deported from the Greek island of Samos to Turkey in 2020 at the age of 15 was rejected due to insufficient evidence.

Greek officials have denied the allegations, questioned the credibility of the evidence and insisted their border policies are in line with international law.

Representatives at the hearing argued that Greece’s actions were consistent with obligations under international agreements.

The UN refugee agency has called on Greece to conduct a thorough investigation into repeated allegations of pushback, which several major human rights organizations have described as a systematic practice.

Greece’s National Transparency Authority, a publicly funded watchdog, reported in 2022 that a four-month investigation had found no evidence to support claims of illegal deportations.

Additional sources • AP