Introduction
Interactive Map
Collaborative Posts
Timelines
Scope
Methodology
Raw Data
The Project
Contributions and Thanks
Contact Details
Scope
Scope of the Collaborative Posts:
The collaborative posts are based on summaries and additional information acquired during the development of the interactive map and a two-year long research project conducted by the Border Violence Monitoring Network. The scope of this project therefore builds on the scope of the map and the research project that traced the development and implementation of border technologies since 2018 (see forthcoming report on the website of BVMN).
Scope of the Timelines:
The scope of the timelines comprises three case studies of different incidents between December 2023 and April 2024. The source scope includes all information found in openly available sources.
Methodology
Methodology of the Interactive Map:
We have categorized them based on the following definitions:
| Category | Definition |
|---|---|
| News | Any information gathered from either print media, online newspapers, or TV news. In most cases, these were secondary sources. |
| Academia | Any information gathered from academic reports or through personal contacts with academics. |
| NGOs/INGOs | Any information gathered from activist groups, non-governmental organizations or international organizations. In most cases these were secondary sources, ranging from testimonies of PoM, but also state sources. |
| State actors | Any information gathered from people acting as state actors. We have included authorities from the North of Cyprus, which we do not recognise as a state in this, as they have similar information access/sources to state actors. |
The sources within these categories were the following:
| Category | Source |
|---|---|
| News | Kıbrıs Postası, Reuters, The Guardian, AP News, ntv, Cumhuriyet, The Daily Star Lebanon, DW, Al Jazeera, PhileNews, Cyprus Mail, Kathimerini, Knews, Politis, France 24, SigmaLive, AlphaNews, The Public Source, Cyprus Times, ABC News, Arab News, Info Migrants, CNA, Wikipedia, Reporter, ant1live, naharnet, The New Arab, Neos Kosmos, euronews, Megaphone, Daraj, North Press Agency. In some cases, the articles were accessed with the help of the Wayback Machine by the Internet Archive. |
| Academia | Nicos Trimikliniotis |
| NGOs/INGOs | Cyprus Refugee Council, Human Rights Watch, UNIFIL, KISA, CEDAR Centre for Legal Studies, Aegean Boat Report, Watch The Med by Alarm Phone, ECRE, Consolidated Rescue Group, IOM, EuromedRights, Border Violence Monitoring Network |
| State actors | Department of State, Frontex, Cyprus Ministry of Interiors, Turkish Coast Guard, Cyprus JRCC |
This map collects data on five categories of events of violence against people on the move that either took place in the Cypriot SAR zone or were on their way to Cyprus. The categories of incidents are: 1) pushbacks from Cyprus, 2) pushbacks from Cyprus with chain refoulement, 3) attempted pushbacks from Cyprus, 4) deaths, 5) missing persons. Some events fall into more than one of these categories.
The incidents are defined as follows:
| Category | Definition |
|---|---|
| Pushback | A pushback is “the informal cross-border expulsion (without due process) of individuals or groups to another country” (sourced here). Pushbacks from Cyprus are pushbacks from within the Cypriot SAR (search and rescue) zone coinciding with the Nicosia FIR (flight information region), the Cypriot territorial waters or land territory under effective control of the Republic of Cyprus. |
| Pushback with chain refoulement | A pushback (see definition above) with chain refoulement is a pushback to the country of departure and then subsequently a pushback to another third country, often their country of origin. |
| Attempted pushback | An attempted pushback (see definition above) is categorized when sufficient evidence has been presented on the intention of conducting a pushback either through statements or practices preparing a pushback. However, due to various reasons, no pushback was conducted. |
| Dead person(s) | An incident involving the confirmed death or deaths of people on the move is tagged with this category. |
| Missing person(s) | An incident involving missing people on the move is tagged with this category. |
We have tagged the incident of violence with other forms of mistreatment that were mentioned. They categories were defined based on the following definitions:
| Category | Definition |
|---|---|
| Ramming of boat | Deliberately colliding with a boat carrying people on the move to cause damage or intimidation. |
| Threats with guns | Using firearms to intimidate or coerce people on the move. |
| Handcuffing | Restraint using handcuffs, often used to limit mobility of people on the move. |
| Use of electric shocks | Using devices like tasers to administer electric shocks. |
| Beatings | Physically striking people on the move with repeated blows, sometimes resulting in injury. |
| Detention | Holding people on the move in custody. |
| Creating waves with boats | Maneuvering vessels in a way that they create large waves in order to destabilize, drown, or intimidate boats carrying people on the move. |
| Stealing of possessions | Taking personal belongings from people on the move without permission. |
| Injuring people | Causing general physical harm to people on the move. |
| Family separation | Forcibly separating family members from each other. |
| Non-assistance | Failing to provide rescue to boats in distress. |
| Refusing medicine/medical treatment | Denying medical care or medicine to people on the move. |
| Lack of food and/or water | Withholding essential sustenance from individuals. |
| Delayed Rescue | Intentionally postponing rescues of people on the move. |
We have color-coded each event based on the specificity of their location. The locations were assigned based on textual and visual material available. As different types and amounts of information were available for each incident, we have graded them based on classifications of location information density. Table (1.1) describes what kinds of information were required to meet each category of specificity. The flowchart (1.2) underneath illustrates how the location specificity rating was determined. Tables (2) provide a series of guidelines for how location was calculated in the absence of precise location information.
(1) Location Specificity
(1.1) Accuracy Table
Location specificity and accuracy is attributed based on the quantity and quality of verified location details for each event.
| Classification | Available information |
|---|---|
| LOW ACCURACY/SPECIFICITY | No data OR departure location |
| MEDIUM ACCURACY/SPECIFICITY | Cardinal direction from shore AND exact location at the shore OR approximation of location at the shore based on details of journey |
| HIGH ACCURACY/SPECIFICITY | Exact distance from shore (in nautical miles) AND cardinal direction from the shore OR location at shore |
| EXACT | Coordinates shared by people on the move OR social media verification |
(1.2) Specificity Flowchart
(2) Location guidelines
We use calculation guidelines to provide transparency and structure when determining the location of incidents with varying information density. The guidelines do not aim to reach the most accurate location, but make the process of location assignment transparent. In table (2.1), we explain how we have differentiated the calculation guidelines based on the type of incident. In (2.2), the types of information are differentiated by trajectory information from which we determine vectors of travel and distance information from which we determine the location on the path of travel. The guidelines are the following:
(2.1) Target location guidelines
| Incident | Type of Location |
|---|---|
| Pushback | The location indicated or identified is the location where the people were detected. Deviations of this are described in the “context” field. |
| Attempted pushback | The location indicated or identified is the location where the people were detected. Deviations of this are described in the “context” field. |
| Pushback with chain-refoulement | The location indicated or identified is the location where the people were detected. Deviations of this are described in the “context” field. |
| Dead Person(s) | The location indicated or identified is the location where the dead person(s) was/ were found or, if they were not found, died. Deviations of this are described in the “context” field. |
| Missing Person(s) | The location indicated or identified is the location where the person(s) went missing. Deviations of this are described in the “context” field. |
(2.2) Location calculation guidelines
| Location guidelines: Named locations were determined based on the following guidelines |
| Information | Guideline |
|---|---|
| Location of city, district or defined small strip of land | When a city, district or defined small strip of land (such as a national park) location was named we determine its location based on the generic coordinates given by Google, when typing in “[location name] coordinates”. |
| Country of administrative area | When countries or large administrative areas named, we chose determined generic location points for the location calculation
|
Direction guidelines: Directions from locations were calculated based on the following guidelines
Distance guidelines: The distances were calculated based on the following guidelines |
| Information | Guideline |
|---|---|
| Distance from shore in nm, km or miles (with a margin of error of ±1 nautical mile) | If a specific distance in nautical miles, kilometers or miles is named, we first determine the closest shore location from the location information, and then measure the distance given in the determined direction. |
| Undefined distance from shore location with administrative sea area | If a specific shore location and an administrative sea area (such as territorial waters) is named, but no distance information is given, we first determine the closest shore location and then in the determined direction, the median distance between the shore location and administrative water boundary. |
| Undefined distance from shore location | If a specific shore location, but no distance information is given, we first determine the closest shore location and then in the determined direction, find the location on the territorial water boundary. |
| Undefined distance without shore location, only journey information | If the only information given is the journey (between two countries or administrative land areas), the distance was calculated at the median location between the departure and arrival location. |
| Exact coordinates | If an exact location can be found through coordinates shared by people on the move or via cross referencing social media/visual data and satellite imagery, we will provide the exact coordinates and determine them by putting them into Google maps. |
The range and number of radars was sourced from the JRCC (presentation). However, the data is not exact, as the quality of the image is not very high and part of the image is cut.
Camera data was sourced from the JRCC (presentation).
Mobile surveillance unit data was sourced from the JRCC (website) and from a two-year research project, which will be published on the Border Violence Monitoring Network website.
Drone data was sourced from tenders (Drone 1, Drone 2) and from a two-year research project, which will be published on the Border Violence Monitoring Network website.
SAR (search and rescue) Zone was taken from the GIS page of the Cyprus Airspace Management Cell (linked here).
Territorial waters outline the twelve nautical miles (NM) off of a territory’s coast over which a state has sovereign jurisdiction shapefile sourced from Marine Regions.
Methodology of the Collaborative Posts:
Methodology for the Timelines: