15 Dec 2023
Ecuador
In recent decades, the European Union has consistently strengthened its external borders with additional surveillance and control devices, including the visa system required for citizens of the Global South and the outsourcing of border control to third countries. The goal is to prevent access to the so-called “Fortress Europe.” With increasing surveillance and violence at the borders, migrating people venture out on new routes and adopt new migration strategies that expose them to increasingly higher risks. In recent years, one such route for Ecuadorian people and migrants from other Latin American countries involves travelling to Türkiye, which does not require a visa for the first three months of stay, and then attempting to enter the EU across the border with Greece. For years, the stretch of border marked by the Evros River has been the site of illegal pushbacks, abuse, and violence against those attempting to enter Europe.
In January 2025, the European Court of Human Rights issued a ruling recognizing, for the first time, the reality of systematic pushbacks of migrants attempting to enter Greece from Türkiye—a practice that is illegal under both national and international law.
In this section, you can read the testimony of the family members of Edwin Jara, an Ecuadorian citizen who went missing on December 13, 2023, while attempting to cross the Evros River to enter the EU and reunite with his family in Italy.