A/HRC/50/31 vulnerability of people crossing international borders. 20 In 2021, thousands died or went missing in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean while trying to reach European territory. Hundreds were also reported missing or dead while crossing the land borders between Belarus and Poland, Turkey and Greece, and Mexico and the United States of America, among other borders.21 The Special Rapporteur raises concern that some border governance measures have instilled hostility and have failed to ensure the safety and dignity of migrants, including by intentionally depriving them of adequate access to humanitarian assistance and the basic means of survival.22 Pushbacks have resulted in family separation and trauma- and fear-induced health conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety.23 25. The absence of adequate State-led search and rescue capacity along maritime migration routes, combined with the obstacles non-State search and rescue operators face, particularly in the Central Mediterranean, have significantly increased the risk of death at sea and disappearances for migrants.24 Those who are intercepted and returned to the hands of Libyan authorities face torture, ill-treatment, unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, sexual violence, arbitrary arrest, indefinite detention in inhumane conditions and other human rights violations, including, at times, the detention of children with adults.25 26. In Greece, Law 4825/2021 of 4 September 2021 imposes limitations and conditions on private and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) willing to engage in search and rescue voluntarily. New terms of cooperation limit the involvement of civilian search and rescue and prescribe registration and authorization with the Hellenic Coast Guard. 26 Currently, organizations may only operate under the orders and instructions of port authorities, and rescuers risk significant fines and imprisonment if they act on their own initiative to save lives. 27 It remains a source of concern that, in Italy, nine new legal proceedings were started against private actors involved in search and rescue in 2021, with ships often prevented from operating through lengthy administrative inspections, and that delays and difficulties in finding a safe port for disembarkation persisted. 28 C. Legalization of pushback practices 27. The Special Rapporteur notes with concern the regrettable continuation of a trend to legitimize pushback practices through the introduction of legislation and by means of government executive orders. Several States have recently taken to such tactics as a means to whitewash unlawful practices and to pursue them as general policy, in some cases accompanied by public relations campaigns. 28. The Special Rapporteur reiterates that migrants arriving at international borders, regardless of how they have travelled, and of whether they are part of larger and/or mixed movements, should have access to their human rights, including individualized, prompt examinations of their circumstances, and referral to competent authorities for a full 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 6 See statement by Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, of 7 March 2022, available at https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx? NewsID=28225&LangID=E. See IOM, “Rising Migrant Deaths Top 4,400 This Year: IOM Records More Than 45,000 Since 2014”, 10 December 2021; UNHCR, Operational Data Portal, “Europe – Dead and missing at sea”; and IOM, Missing Migrants Project database. See, e.g., the submissions by Médecins sans frontières (MSF). See submissions by Médecins sans frontières and Psychosocial Innovation Network; see also Physicians for Human Rights, “Neither Safety nor Health – How Title 42 Expulsions Harm Health and Violate Rights”, 28 July 2021. See submission by UNODC. See also OHCHR, “Lethal Disregard”: Search and Rescue and the Protection of Migrants in the Central Mediterranean Sea, May 2021. See statement by Michelle Bachelet of 7 March 2022. See also OHCHR, Unsafe and Undignified: The Forced Expulsion of Migrants from Libya, May 2021. See submission by Greece. See joint submission by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) and HumanRights360. In total, 59 proceedings were initiated since 2016 by Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands and Spain. See European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, “December 2021 Update – Search and Rescue (SAR) operations in the Mediterranean and fundamental rights”. See also the submission by the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT).