Refugee Issues

It is often the way that once a famous person gets behind a campaign, things start moving rather more quickly than before. I have no problem with that if change can happen because of it and I am happy that they are putting their considerable weight behind human rights concerns. I just think that we should also acknowledge the many people who work for little or no money, for NGOs and other organisations, to do this work on a daily basis. It is thanks to them that many of the issues I raise here on this blog ever come to light.

Having said that, I am very happy to read this…

George Dalaras, the singer and now UN Goodwill Ambassador met with ministers, police and other officials to raise a number of serious issues concerning immigrants and asylum seekers in Greece.

* Locating and distinguishing individuals, who seek asylum or are in need of a humanitarian regime, from illegal immigrants

* The quality of asylum procedures, as Greece holds a low recognition percentage for those who are in need of asylum, in comparison to other EU countries

* The existing conditions at detention centres, where illegal immigrants are kept

* The protection of unaccompanied foreign children in Greece, whose trails were lost, although they had been within the jurisdiction of the state authorities

The Public Order Minister Byron Polidoras has promised to visit the detention centres in the near future to assess the situation personally and then arrange what measures to take.

Read the full article from ERT

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