The Director of the Refugee and Migration Studies Hub, Maria Gavouneli, in her role as the President of the Greek National Commission for Human Rights, was invited on the LIFO Politics podcast by journalist Vasiliki Siouti to discuss the newly established Recording Mechanism of Incidents of Informal Forced Returns.

You can listen to the podcast episode in Greek here.

The Recording Mechanism was founded by a decision of the Plenary of the GNCHR in September 2021 as the response of the National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) following two major findings: a) the absence of an official and effective data collection mechanism of informal forced returns; and b) the need for coordination among organisations who record on their own initiative any alleged incidents of informal forced returns from persons who recourse to their services.

The Recording Mechanism consists of Civil Society organisations that are active in the field, offering pro bono legal, medical, psychosocial, or other services to third country nationals. Moreover, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Office in Greece within the framework of its mandate, contributes its expertise and technical support to the Recording Mechanism, as a co-operating Agency.

The Recording Mechanism aims to monitor, record and report incidents of informal forced returns of third country nationals from Greece to other countries, through personal interviews with the alleged victims and through a common, transparent, and scientific recording methodology. It seeks to promote and consolidate respect of the principle of non-refoulement as well as to safeguard guarantees and compliance with legal procedures. Moreover, the aim of the Recording Mechanism is to boost accountability for reported human rights violations alleged to have occurred during informal forced returns of third country nationals from Greece to other countries.