Greek land borders and migration fatalities - Humanitarian disaster described from the standpoint of Evros

Abstract

The area of the regional unit of Evros in northern Greece is considered the main gateway to the East and marks the end of the European territory and the beginning of the Asian continent. The natural boundary of the Evros River has been the last major obstacle to overcome before entering the Schengen area for hundreds of thousands of migrants on the eastern Mediterranean route. The river stands, however, for the main place of death for thousands of people who try to enter the country, and therefore the European Union, illegally. The international social, political and economic conditions that prevail at times often determine the flows of migration on the eastern Mediterranean route and eastern land border of Greece into the European Union. On the Greek side of the Greek-Turkish border, for the last nineteen years, 398 cadavers of deceased migrants have been recovered. The majority of the illegal immigrants, or asylum seekers, who pass away in the Evros region are found after several days, weeks or even months. The diagnoses of the causes of death and the determination of the time of death are questions the coroner seeks to answer. Consequently, as the majority of the deceased are in an advanced state of putrefaction, the identification and attribution of the corpses to their relatives become matters of crucial importance and a high degree of difficulty. Until today, drowning in the Evros River remains the leading cause of death among border-related death incidents. The present article aims to depict the humanitarian disaster as it unfolds in the regional unit of Evros in northern Greece and the easternmost land border of the European Union along the Mediterranean route as well as the contribution of forensic science to the possible extent.

Keywords: Evros; Forensic science; Greece; Identification; Mediterranean; Undocumented migrants.