Returnwatch monitors risks that forced returnees from the European Union face upon arrival in Turkey. We are an initiative of volunteers and researchers who operate under the umbrella of the Post-Deportation Monitoring Network.
This website aims to be an accessible and practical tool for people to reach us after having been forcibly returned to Turkey. We seek to connect returnees to Turkey with lawyers and human rights NGOs in Turkey, as well as to document the procedures implemented by Turkish authorities.
Forced returns to Turkey are expected to start on the 4th of April from Greece and by the 1st of June 2016 from other European Union member states. To be able to hold policy makers in Europe and Turkey accountable, we need to know whether these returns can be qualified as collective expulsions, whether returnees have effective access to international protection on a case by case basis and whether refugees are safe from being sent back to countries where they are at risk of serious harm.
