A/HRC/47/30 57. The Special Rapporteur remains concerned at reports of large-scale pushbacks of migrants from Algeria to the Niger since 2014, 45 which amount to collective expulsions. These pushbacks are allegedly carried out both through “official” repatriation convoys of Nigerien migrants by Algerian law enforcement authorities, as well as through unannounced collective expulsions, close to the border with the Niger, of non-Nigerien migrants, the majority of whom are from the Economic Community of West African States region, leaving hundreds stranded in a desert environment. 46 Algeria has reportedly unlawfully expelled migrants of at least 20 nationalities to Niger, including many women and children, as well as asylum seekers from African and Middle Eastern countries; in some cases, security personnel have reportedly separated children from their families during mass arrests, and stripped migrants of their belongings.47 58. In 2020, thousands of migrants were expelled collectively from Libya and most of them were sent to Chad, Egypt and the Sudan.48 Pushbacks included persons apprehended near the border area, as well as those detained in urban areas throughout the country and held in detention centres prior to removal, which occurred with no access to asylum or individualized procedures, often involving dangerous transport through the desert in unsafe vehicles, and has included nationals of third countries in conditions that create risks of chain refoulement.49 59. In Cyprus, pushbacks of migrants and refugees to Lebanon and Turkey were reported, including those of Lebanese, Palestinian and Syrian origin, without an individualized assessment of their protection needs or of the risks to them upon return.50 Since March 2020, Cypriot coastguard forces are said to have summarily pushed back, abandoned, expelled or returned more than 200 people at sea arriving from Lebanon. 51 Syrian refugees returned by the Turkish Cypriot administration to Turkey were particularly at risk of chain refoulement to the Syrian Arab Republic.52 60. Mexico and Guatemala have reportedly apprehended and returned migrants departing mostly from Honduras and travelling in so-called “caravans”, without providing them with access to individualized procedures. In Guatemala, reports indicate that “caravans” faced discriminatory and stigmatizing attitudes. In September 2020 and January 2021, the Government of Guatemala declared a state of alarm (estado de prevención) across several departments, effectively authorizing the use of force to dissolve assemblies, linking migrants in “caravans” to the spread of COVID-19.53 61. In Poland, the Border Guard has been found by the European Court of Human Rights to have implemented a “consistent practice of returning people to Belarus”, a policy which amounted to collective expulsion, in relation to Russian asylum applicants from Chechnya, including children, whose repeated applications at the border were not subject to proper review, and who were removed without proper assessment of substantial chain refoulement 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 10 Migration Trends from, to and within the Niger: 2016–2019, sect. 3.3 (p. 12) and sect. 3.5 (p. 15), available at https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/iom-niger-four-year-report.pdf. See A/HRC/41/38/Add.1. Ibid.; and Human Rights Watch, “Algeria: migrants, asylum seekers forced out”, 9 October 2020, available at www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/09/algeria-migrants-asylum-seekers-forced-out. Amnesty International, “Between life and death, refugees and migrants trapped in Libya’s cycle of abuse”, pp. 33–34, available at www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1930842020ENGLISH.pdf; and OHCHR, press briefing note on Libya, 28 April 2020, available at www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25834&LangID=E. Amnesty International, “Between life and death, refugees and migrants trapped in Libya’s cycle of abuse”, pp. 33–34. A/HRC/46/23, para. 40. Submission by Human Rights Watch. Submission by KISA and EuroMed Rights. Submission by Franciscans International.