Appalling…still
Published by deviousdiva October 15th, 2006 in Immigration.Via the Balkan Human Rights List
A desperate plea for help has been sent to the authourites by a group of 225 migrants who are being held in the disgusting conditions in Mersinidi, Chios (East Aegean). I have posted about this detention centre before and it seems that since the Amnesty International report and urgent action appeal came out in 2005, nothing has changed. If anything the situation has worsened. The “camp” is made up of metal containers which can hold up to 108 people (although I do not think that it is right to hold any human beings in such a place).
The toilets are broken, many “rooms” are flooded with filthy water and disease is spreading. Many of the people detained there have no clothes, blankets or soap. They receive inadequate food and even this is sometimes rotten.
In the letter the group write:
We do not know what crime we have committed to deserve such harsh punishment and treatment. We escaped from war, poverty, oppression and genocide and came here to find refuge in a land of peace
I have never stopped being shocked by the lack of humanity we are capable of. I remember being a very young girl and feeling what I am feeling now. It is not just writing about it here that brings on this sadness and anger at our inability to treat our fellow human beings as we would wish to be treated. It is shameful. We should be ashamed. We should be angry. We should be shouting in the streets. We should be pressuring our governments. We should be doing something.
Yet I sit here writing blog entries and commenting on other blogs and every day a hundred other atrocities find their way onto my desktop. And I sit here reading and writing but I am unable to act. Why ? Well, it all seems so insurmountable.
I also have a life and the everyday reality of that means that mundane things have to get done. I can barely face that at the moment, let alone do something about the appalling conditions other people are facing. It is horrble to admit that this is all I can do at the moment.
I did the urgent action appeal (and blogged about it) when it first came to my attention almost exactly a year ago and it is deeply disturbing that the situation is still ongoing, despite the efforts of Amnesty International and the Greek Helsinki Monitor and many, many others.
I am feeling negative (as you may have noticed). Feelings of “overwhelming pointlessness” strike again. I am putting this out there because I think we need some fresh ideas about what we can do and I don’t have the answers.
If you having any great ideas for action on this or any of the other issues I write about here, please let me know. I am stuck. I just want to crawl back into to bed and hide from it all… and that’s really going to help isn’t it?
Technorati Tags: greece, human rights, immigration, amnesty international
I don’t know how many of you read greek, so I thought I’d post a few things I came across in greek websites. there is a group called ΕΠΙΤΡΟΠΗ ΑΛΛΗΛΕΓΓΥΗΣ ΣΤΟΥΣ ΠΡΟΣΦΥΓΕΣ ΧΙΟΥ (chios solidarity for refugees). they have been providing food and clothing to the refugees, but they have been denied access for the past two months and apparently that is why the situation has worsened. it was through them that the refugees sent this letter. I have been looking all over for any kind of contact details in case there was anything on a practical level one could do to help (send clothes etc). I haven’t come up with anything yet. from some sites where they have been posting updates ( indymedia, anarkismo.net) I gather that many members of this group are ultra left wing. the fact that they don’t belong to any formal political organisation makes them even more elusive. It seems that a lawyer who belongs to the group has a beef with a member of the local authorities called tsakalos. tsakalos even went so far as to ask for the lawyer’s removal from the chios bar ( which thankfully didn’t happen). it seems this tsakalos is somehow responsible for the camp and it is he who has been denying access. now that local elections are over, and the pasok candidate called lambrinoudis has secured another term in chios, he seems like the person complaints should be directed to. local groups in the area appart from the one I already mentioned have been taking steps in that direction. as soon as I find more info I will post it here.
Thank you very much danilena, for taking the time to research this issue. If you can find the contact details for anyone who might be worth lobbying post them here. I will do another post on what we can do when we have gathered enough info.
As you can tell from my post I am sure, I have been feeling at a loss as to what to do in a great many situations I write about here. This gives me hope that together we can do something, however small it might seem. So again, thank you.
I have their contacts and can gladly send them to you but privately. I am sending them to DD now.
Their plea was handed over to the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights when we met in Athens on 27 September.
Here are the links to major mdeia coverage of the issue:
http://ta-nea.dolnet.gr/print_.....7&aa=1
http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dc.....006_201380
Suffice it to say that neither paper care to cover the horrible and much more widespread Roma housing/evictions issue…
I emailed a lawyer who is a member of the solidarity group, asking if there is anything we can do to help. I am posting a part of the reply in greek :
“Για την ώρα η κατάσταση στο camp των προσφύγων έχει βελτιωθεί γιατί έγιναν κάποιες εργασίες μετά την πίεση που ασκήθηκε και λόγω της προεκλογικής περιόδου φαντάζομαι. Γνωριζουμε βέβαια από εμπειρία ότι δυστυχώς σύντομα θα αντιμετωπίσουμε τα ίδια προβλήματα και πάλι. Για την ώρα
οι ανάγκες έχουν καλυφθεί κάπως και οι κρατούμενοι είναι πολύ λιγότεροι. Σε ό,τι αφορά την ομάδα μας θα διακινήσουμε ένα κείμενο για συλλογή υπογραφών προκειμένου να έχουμε πρόσβαση στο camp κάτι το οποίο τυπικά τώρα δεν μας
αναγνωρίζεται όμως στην ουσία έχουμε πρόσβαση ως μέλη του δικηγορικού συλλόγου και του Δικτύου. Βέβαια όλα αυτά είναι στον αέρα και μπορούν πολύ εύκολα να ανατραπούν, όπως έχει ήδη γίνει αρκετές φορές. Ελπίζω σύντομα να λειτουργήσει και
πάλι το site της ομάδας.[...]Ευχαριστώ για το ενδαφέρον. Είναι πολύ σημαντικό να είμαστε πολλοί με τις ίδιες αγωνίες.”
rough translation ” things have improved slightly, as a result of pressure combined with the local elections. unfortunately we know that in a little while the same problems will come up again. right now there are not that many prisoners in the camp and their needs are met. we will be collecting signatures to have official access to the camp as an organisation, because now we are using different ways to do that ( membership of the bar ,and of the Network). of course the situation isvery fragile and could be easily overturned… I hope that our site will soon be up and running again ( http://www.lathra.gr)… thank you for your interest, it is very important that many of us share the same concerns.