Focus Area Archives

Category / Focus Area

10 / 04 / 2024

How European countries wrongfully classify children seeking asylum as adults

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27 / 03 / 2024

Lost for Words: Lack of interpreters puts asylum seekers’ lives on hold in Greece

In detention-like facilities, asylum seekers have to wait for sometimes over a year for their asylum interviews due to lack…

Focus Area

26 / 02 / 2024

“An Open Secret”: How Frontex and the European Commission turned a blind eye to violent pushbacks in Bulgaria’s bid to join Schengen

Internal documents obtained by Solomon, BIRN, Le Monde and Deutsche Welle reveal aggressive pushbacks, "disappearances" of unaccompanied children, and attacks by guard dogs at the Bulgarian border. The EU is well aware but considers the "excellent results" in Bulgaria’s border management.

01 / 02 / 2024

“It was already too late”: Frontex blames the Hellenic Coast Guard for the Pylos shipwreck

Frontex’s internal report on the deadliest shipwreck in recent years, confirms the investigative reports by Solomon and our media partners. The Hellenic Coast Guard was slow to launch the rescue operation and later refused to answer specific questions.

12 / 12 / 2023

Ursula von der Leyen on Pylos: “Saving lives at sea is a moral duty”

In a letter obtained by Solomon, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calls for an investigation into the causes of the fatal shipwreck in a "transparent, thorough and swift manner."

12 / 12 / 2023

How the Pylos tragedy could have been avoided

A Search and Rescue exercise, carried out just a few weeks after the shipwreck that claimed over 600 lives, raises questions about what the Hellenic Coast Guard did - and mainly did not do - on the evening of June 14, 2023.

01 / 12 / 2023

Dead refugees in the Balkans: bribes to find missing relatives

In comparison to 2015, today more asylum seekers are dying on the Balkan route. While relatives are forced to overcome state indifference to identify their loved ones, they are also forced to bribe authorities, even border guards, in the hope of finding them.

25 / 10 / 2023

Kythira shipwreck, one year later

They were rescued from a raging sea. Now, survivors and relatives of the October 2022 shipwreck are returning to Kythira to thank the residents.

24 / 10 / 2023

Fish farms on Poros: Why the residents are against it

About 25% of the Saronic island is slated for the operation of fish farming units, which plan on increasing their activity by 670%. Municipal Authority and residents — who disagree with the plan — fear that the character of the island will change forever.

06 / 07 / 2023

Under the unwatchful eye of the authorities’ deactivated cameras: dying in the darkest depths of the Mediterranean

A collaborative investigation by Solomon, Forensis, The Guardian and ARD presents the most complete tracing, to date, of the course that the fishing vessel Adriana took until it ultimately sank, causing over 600 people to drown − while under the supervision of Greek and European authorities. A document reveals that according to Frontex recommendations, the Coast Guard vessel was obligated to record the operation on video.

15 / 06 / 2023

“They are urgently asking for help”: the SOS that was ignored

The Hellenic Coast Guard stated that they did not commence a rescue operation to aid the fishing trawler overloaded with migrants before it eventually sank because the vessel refused assistance. International law experts, as well as active and former Coast Guard officials, refute this argument. In addition, communication between Alarm Phone and authorities (which are in Solomon’s possession), prove that the migrants on board had sent out an SOS – which was ignored.