The Letter
Published by deviousdiva October 17th, 2006 in Personal.I received a copy of the letter, via the Greek Helsinki Monitor, from the people detained at the camp in Chios. They are pleading for help from anyone who can do something. I am not sure who the letter was originally given or sent to but it has found its way out of that place. It is heartbreaking… Please post this on your blogs or websites. Get the word out. They need our help.
(I typed the letter in full, exactly as written, below the pictures)
To whom it concerned,
We as refugees in this camp have lost the hope even in complaining, so we take you as our only hope.
After many screams and complains about our conditions here, no-one has paid any attention. We are about 225 people in this camp for two weeks and about 190 for one month, and we know this camp can shelter only 108 people; about 21 people in each shelter sleeping over each other; about 90 without shoes, shampoo and blankets; toilets are damaged and many rooms are filled with dirty water which prevent many people sleeping; diseases are increasing and sick persons are ignored and the police is satisfied in giving just “Panadol”; two meals is not enough, bread like stones and some food is damaged; the increasing number of people creates trouble unwillingly.
We feel that we are in an isolated prison, no one talks to us and when we inform the police he says that it is not his responsibility. So we pledge you to inform any power or institution to save us because things have become unbearable and our situations turn to be under zero.
We don’t know what crime that we have committed to take this punishment and harsh treatment; we escaped war, poverty, oppression and genocidal attacks and came here to find shelter in this peaceful land.
We call all committees, Red Crescent, Human Rights, UN and every power. We call the Greek nation and the civilised Europe.
The Camp
Technorati Tags: greece, human rights, immigration
26 Responses to “The Letter”
- 1 Pingback on Oct 18th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
- 2 Pingback on Oct 18th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
What does the European Union say about stuff like this? If the Greeks don’t have a law against inhumane detentions, I’m sure the EU must.
Panayote, can’t you write a letter or contact the EU and tell them what the Greeks are doing down here?
Maybe they don’t know?
they know it as does the Commissioner
and the Committee for the Prevention of Torture has reported it
but it is about time you all realize that “Greece gets away with murder” all too often on human rights as no-one REALLY cares
have you seen any mass demosntartions on these issues? any paper campaigning on them?
thanks Dimitri. Well, if you can’t do anything, and the Greeks themselves don’t care, and the EU doesn’t care.
Does anyone care? What about the Nited Nations?
Hey Lawful. Good thing the Americans didn’t do the same things to you Greeks at Ellis Island.
So, why don’t you start sharing the wealth.
America gives to Greece in the 1950s.
Pay it back forward:
Greece now gives to Albania and other poorer nations.
You (Greece) used to be on the bottom and now you get a little wealth and feel froggy and feel the need to discriminate?
Well, again, I ask you, maybe you should ask your grandparents about the Marshall plan and how Greece was starving and if it wasn’t for the generosity of Americans, you probably wouldn’t have been born.
So, show the same compassion for these “intruders” (sic) as we Americans showed for you Greeks!
Sad thing, is that some Americans considered you Greeks intruders. But, I don’t! Because I’m a better person and know that just because I’m American and from a great country, it doesn’t mean that I’m better than you.
But, apparently because you think that you come from Greece a mid-level country that you can talk down to 3rd world countries?? HUH!!
Quit being a spoiled ungrateful person!! I say we take back the food we gave you in 1950 to teach you a lesson in humility that your grandparents knew!!!!
Anon2day
Please do NOT engage such racists whos messages I hope DD will duly delete
There are specialized sites for fascists to share their guts with each other
Panayote, the other regret I have is that I had to regress to their level to make them understand. This I am sorry for.
Diva, I posted this on my blog. Let’s hope the word gets out as quickly as possible.
Lawful European I find your comments quite discriminating and simplistic. Anon I feel a polarising tone of discussion allienates people, instead of helping everyone face the problem. I am not so sure about your projections on Americas generosity. Yes there are great institutions and very generous people in America but a lot of that has been achieved through mega-corporations and the exploitation of other countries and people.
We live in one world where everything and everybody are becoming increasingly interdependent. We cant ignore forever the problems of close or distant people and nations because the consequences are far reaching and will affect everyone sooner or later. I think it is as simple as that. I also agree that the EU should help tackle such problems by allocating sufficient human and material/financial resources. I live in Samos and immigrants arriving here mainly via Turkey are placed in similar inhumane conditions. A new improved detention center is currently being built. So everyone should do their part. I for feel quite guilty for ignoring this problem in my own hometown..:(
I was just saying to a friend today how refreshing it has been recently without the racist trolls. I guess I spoke too soon….
Babysitting duties have resumed. Comment deleted
Someone wrote to me offering a lot of clothes and shoes to the camp. Any ideas of who to get in touch with about this ?
DD I have sent you the contacts of the activists in Chios - just give them a call
Sorry, Panayote, I didn’t get your email with the contacts!? Can you please resend it. Thanks
“Panayote, can’t you write a letter or contact the EU and tell them what the Greeks are doing down here?
[...]
Good thing the Americans didn’t do the same things to you Greeks at Ellis Island.
So, why don’t you start sharing the wealth.”
this kind of talk is unacceptable… especially by people who obviously have no idea what they are talking about
first of all, the immigration problem is in fact a EU problem and the EU has failed to take care of its responsibilities. The immigration pressure in Greece, Italy and Spain is extremely high because there are people coming not only to stay these countries but with the purpose of going to the rest of the EU too. But the rest has so far failed to lift its share of the burden.
I am appalled by the behaviour of some Greek authorities, but cant stand the lecturing from people who have done nothing better themselves.
And while I am an open borders advocate, comparing the US 100 years ago with Greece or Europe now is ridiculous. The US NEEDED immigrants to fill its huge underpopulated expanse of land. Nobody can say the same about the EU today. Or even some densely populated parts of the Us in fact, which are not very accommodating to immigrants nowadays.
Lastly, if you are going to play the “sensitive bleeding heart” card, check what is the humanitarian foreing aid of the US as a percentage of GDP comparing with any EU country (Greece inlcuded). Then tell me about helping others and sharing the wealth…
S.G.
Apparently, you are driven also by logical fallacy. GDP???
The common sense truth is that the majority of foreign aid of the world comes from the USA. Anyone saying different is just anti-american, and really we just don’t care. Will we (USA) stop giving aid just because of ungrateful people? NO, we won’t.
People like you S.G. are just jealous of the states, and in Greece what is called “Axharistos”.
So, go back and watch your Alter TV and make yourself feel good believing that America is a bad country!
P.S. The Marshall plan was roughly 50 years ago, not 100 years, but I’m sure you’ll have some excuse on how time has passed. Well, ask your grandfather if the food the USA gave him was rejected???
EU: Outsourcing Migration Control Puts Human Rights at Risk
Policies Should Ensure Rights Protection for Migrants, Asylum Seekers
(Brussels, October 17, 2006) European Union efforts to shift responsibility for migration to countries beyond EU borders threaten the human rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released today. On Friday, European leaders are expected to discuss migration at an EU informal summit in Lahti, Finland.
Current EU migration polices are largely focused on keeping migrants and asylum seekers outside EU borders. However, these policies have failed to ensure that the rights of migrants and asylum seekers are respected, particularly in neighboring transit countries to the east or across the Mediterranean.
Migration poses immense challenges for EU countries, both at home and abroad,said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. But shirking responsibility for the rights of migrants and asylum seekers is not the answer.
EU efforts to develop common policies on migration and asylum inside its borders have come under increasing criticism, including from the European Parliament. The Human Rights Watch briefing paper concentrates on the less well-known externaldimension of the EUs efforts, which rely on a mixture of assistance and pressure in order to shift responsibility for refugees, migrants, and asylum-seekers to transit countries, such as Ukraine or Libya, and regions of origin.
The European Union is pressing neighboring states to take on greater responsibility for migration. The case of Ukraine, detailed in the briefing paper, illustrates the ways in which many neighboring countries are already incapable of fulfilling their basic obligations, including proper access to asylum, adequate conditions of detention, and protection from return to torture or persecution. Like most other neighboring countries, Ukraine is keen on closer ties with the European Union. But EU pressure on Ukraine to detain, host, and accept the return of ever-greater numbers of migrants is not matched by an emphasis by Brussels on refugee protection and migrants rights. Greater cooperation from Ukraine may exacerbate its already poor record on migrant and refugee rights.
If the EU wants other countries to take more responsibility for migration, it has to start by making sure they are up to the task,said Cartner. And it needs to set a positive example by living up to its own obligations towards migrants and asylum seekers.
The most controversial dimension of the EU externalization agenda processing asylum-seekers outside the EU apparently has been shelved. But the European Union remains committed to outsourcingboth control of migration and the determination of asylum. Current components of this approach include:
the refusal of entry into EU territory of asylum-seekers who come from countries designated as safe countries of originor transit through countries deemed to be safe third countries;
the interdiction at sea of persons attempting to reach EU territory;
the conclusion of readmission agreementswith countries outside the European Union, by which the countries agree to accept the return from EU territory of migrants and asylum seekers who transited through their territory en route to the European Union; and
support to border enforcement and detention capacity in neighboring transit countries.
The European Union has also proposed an approach offering development aid and humanitarian assistance to increase the ability of countries outside the EU to host refugees from the region through a European Commission-designed Regional Protection Programme. Whether such efforts genuinely improve protection capacity, or are used instead as a pretext by EU states to deny access to asylum in the EU and return those at risk to what are deemed safe countries,will be a fundamental test of the European Unions commitment to its obligations toward refugees and others in need of protection.
To view the Human Rights Watch briefing paper, European Union: Managing Migration Means Potential EU Complicity in Neighboring StatesAbuse of Migrants and Refugees,please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/eca/eu1006/
Anon, you seem quite unforgiving and bitter in your responses to some commentators here. You are no different from those you accuse when you clearly express biased opinions, curse people in their own language and humiliate them with your degrading personal attacks. I am surprised actually that your behaviour here is not addressed, it clearly does not contribute to any positive or informative dialogue!
If you are going to address American generosity in general around the world, you should also address the global military presence, the wars that the US has been and is currently engaged in, the exports in weapons and military technology, the selective collaboration with dictators and undemocratic regimes and so on..
I am pretty sure that if you add all the resources that just went on the current wars the US is engaged, in as well as the resources lost and destroyed in other countries it will exceed by far all the good it has offered in recent years.
Ionk/S.G.
Ok, thanks for reminding us that America is bad.
But, the mistake that many knee-jerk anti-american views make is that they paint America with a broad brush stroke when many just want to vent on Bush and his administration.
Please don’t forget the generous contributions of the private sector of America who give tons of money to charities around the world and has nothing to do with Bush and his wars. (Remember, many Americans are upset with him too).
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are two of the richest men in America, if not the world and do alot to help people in need.
I am sad to read letter. I will pray for them. I read discusion others have it seem not to have in common the subject of the letter. I sorry but please shold talk about victims, not amerika or who better. Amerika just doing what any land does in power. ancient Rome did same thing and so did ancient greece. Powerful countrys make rules and other follows. Amerika no different. Sorry for change suject.
Yistoky, you are absolutely right (and welcome to the blog)
This discussion is way off track. Let’s please focus on the letter and the people at the camp who are pleading for our help.
I will delete off-topic comments.
I apologise for not being here and moderating the discussions so much lately. I have a lot of other things going on in my “real” life.
There are a few steps being taken behind the scenes tp help the people in Chios (that I cannot share publically)
Please let me know of any other offers of help/ideas that you have. Email me if you don’t want to post them here. Details at the top of the page.
Thank you
Yistoky, you are absolutely right but unfortunately one has to somehow draw a line and address blatantly discriminating, offensive statements.
Will, no need to be cynical. Unfortunately others seem to forget some of the aspects of American foreign policy and rather focus on the parts they choose best. To simply declare Bush, his administration or the media as scapegoats is not good enough. The American voters have their own share of resposibility, just like the German people had for Nazi Germany.
I think there is a strong element of denial and confusion within ordinary Americans regarding their countrys’ foreign policy. I cant accept the sweeping generalizations of many Europeans but even very recently, polls show that a very large portion of the American public *still* believe that Iraq and its dictator Sadam( once a close all of the US) were direclty involved with 9/11?!
I dont deny the fact that the likes of Gates or Buffet offer a lot of money for good causes. (Isn’t Buffet the same guy who supported Schwarzenegger for Governor of California?) I am though very sceptical regarding the source of a lot of American wealth and more specifically the illegitimate practices of many American corporations in foreign lands.
One day Dick Cheney may offer half his wealth to poor nations but we cant ignore the fact that a lot of that wealth is tainted with the blood of innocent people and stolen from the American people by Halliburton.
Diva, I am sorry I only saw your last post right after I posted mine. You are right, some of us including myself are off track. But I think this discussion is a perfect example of why collaboration on such matters can be so difficult: When there is the feeling of those directly involved or close to the problem that others from the “outside” trying to help are using the events to project their own ideologies. It feels disingenuous on the side of those who need help, in this case the Greek authorities/people who must act and take mesures to offer humane conditions and services to these poor immigrants.
@anon2day
Why should I answer to you? I don’t know… you’re just full of bullshit.
Greece (as an ally) fought bravely in ww2 with tremendous losses. UK and US found a lot of gold and other treasures that nazi’s had looted from the european countries that were occupated during the war. It was nice of them to give something back to these countries that were completly destroyed by the war.
If not anything else, it’s funny to cite US as a country welcoming greek immigrants (aka greek intruders). US had soooo much better care for the greek immigrants. And at this moment we speak, US is the moooost beloved country in the world, I think we certainly need to take some lessons from the US on how to treat third world countries and their people.
Oh, the nerve of some.
The word’s getting out in the Greek blogosphere as well as I’ve come across the letter on several greek language blogs. Hopefully, more people will find out about this.
Hi craig, thanks for tracking this through the Greek blogworld. Let us know if there are any positve developments. Any news on the media bods you sent emails to ? I have had no response as yet. I will post if I do.