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| - Amnesty International was among nearly 30 NGOs calling Tuesday on Greece to open an "urgent inquiry" into allegations that it was systematically pushing migrants back towards Turkey. "The continued failure to address the serious allegations of pushbacks and violence against people on the move at Greece's borders can no longer be tolerated," said Adriana Tidona, migration researcher at Amnesty. "We call on the Greek parliament to exercise its powers in the interest of all those who have been harmed by these actions and to ensure that there is no repetition," she added. Numerous reports by journalists, researchers and witnesses have catalogued the way in which migrants and asylum seekers have been forced back across the border with Turkey or left stranded in the Aegean Sea without aid from Greek coastguards, despite conservative government denials in Athens. "We have documented the pushback of more than 1,150 asylum seekers from Greek territory in the past three months alone," said Natalie Gruber, spokesperson for research group Josoor, another signatory to the open letter. "These are not isolated incidents but systematic violations of national, EU, and international law that the parliament cannot shrug off as fake news anymore." The Greek Helsinki Monitor added that it had filed some 20 complaints related to pushbacks at Greece's borders, including deaths, but that they were ignored by local prosecutors. Last month, Oxfam and activist movement WeMove Europe filed a complaint with the European Commission, calling for an investigation into Greece's alleged violation of asylum seekers' rights. In June, the UN refugee agency, International Organization for Migration and European Union also jointly called for Greece to investigate the charges. hec/chv/er/bp
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