The drowning of a migrant boat off the coast of Greece last month has been called for by the home affairs committee of the European Parliament. Up to 600 people died in the catastrophe, but the EU border agency Frontex lacks the authority to carry out a thorough probe, leaving only a Greek inquiry as a course of action.
Human rights organizations have expressed concern regarding the scope of Greece's own probe due to a number of circumstances. Many incident survivors have charged the Greek Coast Guard with being complicit in the migrant boat's capsize, claiming a coast guard reaction craft attempted to tow the migrant vessel just before it capsized. This account of events is denied by the Hellenic Coast Guard, and a Greek prosecutor has demanded "total confidentiality" throughout the probe, the very antithesis of the "transparent" investigation that rights groups are calling for.
In a prior case involving a migrant fatality in the Aegean, the European Court of Human Rights concluded that Greek authorities had not conducted a complete and effective investigation of the occurrence. This precedent has contributed to advocates' skepticism.
According to AFP, Dutch MEP Sophie in 't Veld stated that it would be "naive to say "but, you know, the Greek authorities are going to take care of this and we can trust them."
The home affairs committee requested that Frontex and the Hellenic Coast Guard's responses to the incident be investigated by the European Commission.
In support of this proposal, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency suggested that impartial inquiries into fatalities on migrant boats be a subject of EU policy. "Transparency about how shipwreck situations were handled is created by a quick, efficient, and independent investigation. By failing to uphold and defend the right to life, it also aids in determining whether government actions or inactions result in legal liability "In a study made public on Wednesday, the FRA wrote.
Many campaigners, including Takis Zotos, an attorney for four families of victims of the disaster, have compared the response to the implosion of the Titan and the sinking of the migrant boat on June 14 in their arguments. The first incident, which resulted in the loss of five lives, prompted a multimillion dollar, multi-nation response and investigation effort, which included a ROV search to recover human remains and evidence. The second incident, which resulted in the loss of about 100 times as many lives, prompted a local investigation with no ROV survey planned.
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