[promoted from comments. Thank you Kat]
While a couple of people are squabbling over who can call themselves what, there is a real crisis happening on the island of Lesvos.

Greece is locking hundreds of migrants in an overcrowded centre on the Mediterranean island of Lesvos without proper sanitation and medical care in what French charity Medicins [...]

Very interesting…

After 34 years of watching the reception’s humdrumness, this year someone finally DID something to actually remind people that beyond the hedges of the beautiful (as I have been told) gardens of the Presidential Mansion are citizens living in our democracy with no voice, who are not recorded as existing citizens

Go and read what [...]

Legislation in progress on immigration:
Greece backs the new EU plans on immigration
More on the EU plans
A new bill aimed at children of migrants
Education of the children of immigrants
Technorati Tags: greece, immigration, migrants, children

Immigration issues have been very much on the agenda across Europe in the past few years. As you know, I follow the subject very closely in relation to Greece. I am not an expert but I do have opinions on the issues like many others.
I would like to raise a question today about descriptions. [...]

Thank you to Panayote Dimitras of the Greek Helsinki Monitor for providing more information about the recent decision of Holland not to send asylum seekers back to Greece under the Dublin agreement. As Panayote points out, it was a court decision that forced this move and was NOT the refugee authorities own policy.

DON’T SEND ASYLUM [...]

Sorry people.
It’s summer.
It’s too hot to sit down, research and write about anything very much. Expect more links and block quotes for the time being.
Holland joins the list of European countries refusing to send migrants back to Greece (Norway, Sweden and Germany) because of human rights violations here.
From Kathimerini

A court in The Hague yesterday barred [...]

From the Athens News

THE INTERIOR ministry announced on June 17 that non-European Union nationals in Greece who are in the process of renewing their residence permit may travel to their homeland this summer as long as they leave after June 20 and return before September 19.
Immigrants will be allowed to re-enter the country on or [...]

From Kathimerini
[The links are mine]

The Greek office of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) yesterday expressed serious concerns about the situation of “dozens of unaccompanied minors” being detained at a substandard migrant reception center on Lesvos.
Many children are said to be in a “poor psychological state,” with some reportedly threatening to go on hunger strikes.
The [...]

Immigrant farm workers seeking a rise of three euros a day were attacked and in some cases beaten in Nea Manolada, Greece.

Please read the whole disgusting story at Teacher Dude’s Grill and BBQ
More at the BBC
Technorati: migrant, immigrants, workers rights, greece

From the Athens News

PIRAEUS Mayor Panayotis Fasoulas has decided to create a special committee to assess the problems faced by his municipality’s immigrant residents and help local officials find solutions. This is part of the municipality’s local immigrant integration initiative.
A total of nine Piraeus municipal council members and four local immigrant community representatives will sit [...]

From Inquirer Net (via Agence France-Presse)

Human rights group Amnesty International on Friday called on Greece to investigate the case of 13 Afghan immigrants, including eight minors, who accuse members of the Greek coastguard of mistreating and robbing them.
In statements to Amnesty in January, the migrants said they were intercepted by the crews of two vessels [...]

Immigration was a major hot-button issue in Greece throughout 2007. Debate raged over whether the Greek-born children of immigrants should be given birth certificates and wage rates for illegal migrant workers. A snapshot of the year

This is from an article in Spero News by Kathy Tzilivakis who regularly writes for the Athens News. It looks [...]

Following on from the “lively discussion” on Living without Papers
From Kathimerini

Greece only recognizes citizenship by blood, not by birth, meaning that even being born on Greek soil does not bring citizenship if the parents are foreign. The authorities only issue birth certificates to parents listed on municipal registries, which are only open to Greek [...]

Some good news for change…
Via Kathimerini

Immigrants living in Greece who are planning to visit their homelands for Christmas may do so between December 10 and January 31 without fear of being refused re-entry even if they lack a valid residence permit, police said yesterday. However, they must have a valid passport, their expired residence permit [...]

Born in Greece to a Nigerian father and a Cameroonian mother, Catherine Ananois has waited 20 years for her adoptive country to even acknowledge her existence.
The young dancer is one of thousands of second-generation immigrants who feel Greek, speak Greek and pursue a Greek education but are helpless against a state bureaucracy and laws that [...]