The recent reports by human rights groups and investigative journalism documenting the horrific practices of Greek security authorities against helpless migrants in an attempt to push them back were not the first. Such illegal and inhumane practices have been extensively exposed over the past decade, yet they continue unabated.

The latest investigation by the BBC, published a few days ago, has uncovered a particularly disturbing dimension; Greek security has been recruiting migrants themselves to act as masked "mercenaries,” violently pushing back and assaulting other migrants across the land borders with Türkiye.

These findings reveal a systematic pattern of abuse that goes far beyond isolated incidents. Internal police documents obtained by the BBC show that the recruitment of these so-called mercenaries was ordered and overseen by senior officers, indicating state-sanctioned complicity at higher levels. Witnesses have reported migrants being stripped, robbed, beaten until they lost consciousness and even sexually assaulted, whereas the report covered testimonies from victims of such awful practices.

Why the cruelty?

What drives Greece to employ such brutal tactics? The answer lies partly in the country's role as the European Union's southeastern frontier, a gateway for irregular migrants fleeing conflict and difficult living conditions from across the Middle East, Asia and Africa. In recent years, Greece maintained one of the highest rates within the EU of asylum applications, with over 1 million migrant arrivals since 2015, crossing mainly via the Aegean Sea and through the Maritsa (Meriç) River border with Türkiye. According to United Nations figures, 62,119 migrant arrivals were registered in Greece in 2024 before dropping to nearly 48,000 in 2025, due to alternative routes.

However, such pressure of migrant influx does not justify torture or ill-treatment against vulnerable, desperate people. The pushbacks, forcing migrants back across borders without allowing them to apply for asylum, are unequivocally illegal under international and EU law. Yet Greek authorities, rather than processing asylum claims, have constructed a shadow system of expulsion that operates outside any legal framework or oversight. As if they are indifferent to any consequence of such acts, or assured that no accountability would take place.

List of documented abuses

The current scandal is not something transient, but rather the latest exposed chapter in a long history of well-documented human rights violations by Greek authorities, especially in their treatment of migrants. The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly condemned Greece for its treatment of migrants.

A widely cited case is the 2013 Manolada strawberry farm case, which brought international attention to the exploitation of migrant labor in Greece. The incident occurred as Greek security guards opened fire on dozens of migrant workers protesting unpaid wages, wounding nearly 30 people, mostly Bangladeshis.

The European Court of Human Rights condemned Greece in March 2026 for failing to protect these migrant workers, who had been subjected to forced labor, working 12-hour days under armed guard, living in makeshift huts without proper living conditions. The court ordered Athens to pay 16,000 euros ($18,840) to each victim, ruling that Greek authorities had been fully aware of the situation yet failed to act.

Other documented abuses include discriminatory family benefit rules that the European Commission has referred to the Court of Justice, requiring non-EU citizens to reside in Greece for a period of 12 years before accessing certain social welfare benefits, compared to five years for EU citizens, a fully structured discrimination and a clear violation of EU social security coordination rules.

Furthermore, Türkiye has long accused Greece of systematic violence against migrants at sea, stating that Greek coast guard units occasionally fire on migrant boats and deliberately leave them to sink, resulting in deadly drownings in the Aegean. Turkish authorities have repeatedly documented instances of their own coast guard rescuing pushed-back migrants abandoned by Greek patrols, in addition to the official repeated accusations of "inhumane treatment” of vulnerable migrants attempting to cross the sea.

Taken together, these cases reveal a form of consistent pattern: whether at the border, in labor conditions or even through discriminatory legislative frameworks, Greece has exposed itself as a state-sponsoring of violations that contradict the minimum standards of human dignity.

Europe's deafening silence

The most troubling aspect of these violations is the response, or rather the lack of action, from European official bodies. Despite years of documented abuses, despite rulings from the European Court of Human Rights and despite internal reports from the EU Frontex Agency's own Fundamental Rights Office (FRO) confirming that "third-country nationals (migrants)” were acting under the instruction of Greek officers during pushbacks, no meaningful measures have been taken against Greece. The European Commission has issued no sanctions. No EU funds have been frozen. No referrals to the European Court of Justice have been made.

While evidence and testimonies from victims clearly indicate that pushbacks are routine, systematic and are carried out with the knowledge of those meant to uphold the law, the European institutional silence persists to a level of active complicity. When Europe fails to punish or even question Greece for torturing migrants, for operating a shadow system of illegal expulsion, it sends an unmistakable message that it gives priorities over human rights, and that ends justify the means when it comes to preventing the flows of migrants to reach Europe.

There is no explanation for such silence but an implicit consent and complicity with Greece's practices against migrants. The human rights values that Europe advocates so loudly worldwide are selectively and cynically not applicable to its own southeastern frontier.

Between brutality and humanity

Greece possesses the capacity to manage its borders differently. It has the institutional infrastructure, the legal expertise and the resources to process asylum claims fairly, to provide adequate reception conditions and to respect international law. The fact that it has chosen instead to employ brutal, illegal tactics is not a matter of capability but of political will.

The question is not whether Greece can do better. It is why Greece has chosen not to. The answer lies in a less moral calculation that brutality may be politically beneficial to many parties in Greece itself and in Europe, that pushing back migrants wins votes and that Europe will look away as long as the bodies are found on the other side of the border.

The masked mercenaries, the forced labor, the sexual assaults, the deliberate drownings cases, these are not accidents; they are policies. And until Greece and its European partners face genuine consequences, until accountability replaces impunity, such brutality and awful practices will continue. The only questions that remain are: how many more must suffer before Europe finally chooses humanity? And will the EU uphold the legal and ethical standards it formally endorses and asks others to do so?