It’s dawn in the Aegean Sea. A dozen asylum seekers are crammed into a rubber dinghy, hoping to land on the Greek island of Lesbos. They are already within EU waters — and they have the right, under international law, to claim asylum. But a huge ship is blocking their way.

This week we are looking at the phenomenon of pushbacks: illegal efforts to push people back across a border so that they cannot claim asylum. And we’re looking at mounting evidence that the EU’s border agency, Frontex, has witnessed or even participated in these pushbacks.

We recommend that you check out Lighthouse Reports' investigations on Europe's borders.

This episode was produced as part of Sphera, a collective of independent European media. Find out more at hub.com/">sphera-hub.com.

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This podcast is part of the Are We Europe family. Find more like-minded European podcasts at areweeurope.com/audio-family.

Reporter and producer: Andrei Popoviciu

Editorial support: Katz Laszlo, Katy Lee, Dominic Kraemer, Wojciech Oleksiak 

Senior producer: Katz Laszlo

Sound design: Andrei Popoviciu and Wojciech Oleksiak

Editor: Katy Lee

Mixing: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne, Bluedot Sessions, Artlist.io

Sound effects: Freesound.org