Via the Yale Journal of Human Rights
Refugees in Greece are in danger. Though the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention grants asylum seekers protection, recent regulations and the Greek government’s bureaucracy are putting lives in jeopardy by illegally deporting refugees with pending asylum cases.
Greece’s long shorelines and eastern border with Turkey have made it a common [...]
Via the Athens News
ROZITA has spent one-third of her life in prison. She’s three years old.
Her parents, undocumented migrants from Afghanistan, were arrested in Greece and sentenced for forgery and immigration violations. They had illegally entered the country last year and were caught trying to leave on forged passports.
A court in Kilkis, a town in [...]
From an article in the New York Times today
The Greek government has come up with a novel solution to a growing backlog of asylum appeals: Abolish appeals.
No backlog. No Problem.
But the problem can’t be dismissed so easily. Greece has a backlog of about 30,000 cases. A part-time asylum appeals board hears about 60 cases a [...]
UPDATE: It was brought to my attention that I had used the wrong word in this post. I used the word “trafficker” when it should be “smuggler”. Thank you for pointing out the mistake. I have corrected it below
The less than 1% recognition rate of asylum seekers in Greece (the lowest in Europe) may be [...]
Via the Financial Times
Greece’s asylum-seekers’ policy under fire
By Kerin Hope
The Council of Europe’s senior human rights official has sharply criticised Greece over its policy towards asylum-seekers amid a surge in arrivals of illegal immigrants from Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A report by the Council published on Wednesday says there are “serious deficiencies” in Greek procedures for [...]
Via Kathimerini
A group of lawyers working on a voluntary basis to help refugees and immigrants seeking legal status in Greece yesterday accused the police of having stopped processing asylum applications nearly a month ago.
“For the past 25 days, the Athens immigration unit has closed its doors and is refusing applications while a large number of [...]
This article by Sean Brander covers the story of Sahar Kamrani who is fighting for asylum in Greece. She fled Iran after being arrested.
When she was 19 and still living in Tehran, Iran, just eight years ago, the wind blew back her headscarf, revealing her hair, and the police stopped her on the street. They [...]
I was inspired by a comment from merhan who called for some action from me on asylum in Greece. I have decided to start a blog/website/facebook campaign for proper asylum procedures here. I am currently designing the logo for it and here is what I have come up with:
The “LESS THAN 1%” comes from the [...]
From an article today at BBC News entitled Asylum seekers ‘abused’ in Greece
Allegations that Greek police are abusing, threatening and torturing asylum-seekers are clearly taken very seriously in Athens.
The man responsible for the treatment of immigrants, spokesman for the Public Order Department of the Interior Ministry, Athanasios Andreolakos, offers the BBC more than an [...]
Via the BBC News from Athens based reporter Malcolm Brabant
Last week I posted about the children at a detention centre in Leros who went on a hunger strike to protest conditions there. The good news is that
Their action embarrassed the Greek government, which is under increasing pressure from its European Union partners to improve [...]
Via BBC
There has been a fair bit written recently about the current situation facing asylum seekers in Greece. You can find some of the articles covering the issue here. Greece is now rejecting the criticism made by the the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Greece says the UN’s accusations are untrue and it is trying to [...]
Another article about the difficulties of seeking asylum in Greece.
Via IPS
The European Council of Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) has called on all European member states “to follow the example of Norway by immediately suspending Dublin transfers to Greece”.
ECRE Secretary General Bjarte Vandvik said recently that
Greece is not a safe place for those in [...]
From the Norwegian Helsinki Committee
Oslo, Athens, 8 April 2008
Report on the violation of asylum seekers’ human rights by Greece
The situation for asylum seekers in Greece is alarming. Thousands of asylum seekers live under unworthy conditions, and without any forms of legal protection. The chance of receiving protection in Greece is close to zero. Transferring asylum [...]
From the EU Observer
A Swedish court has decided not to extradite an Iraqi man to Greece on the grounds that he might not recieve proper treatment here. This is the third country in recent weeks, that has gone against the Dublin agreement under which asylum seekers can be returned to the European country where they [...]
From the Athens News
After Norway, Germany could become the next European country to suspend the return of all asylum-seekers to Greece on the grounds that their rights may be violated. It has already suspended the return of unaccompanied minors to Greece.
Greece has the lowest asylum recognition rate in Europe at less than 1%.
Efthalia Pappa, director [...]
Loading...
Recent Comments