[GREECE] Greek Reporter: Greek Authorities Start Evacuating Amygdaleza Migrant Detention Center

24 February 2015

Greek authorities have started evacuating the Amygdaleza migrant detention center last Friday, saying they have released 100 migrants by Tuesday, while 980 remain in the premises.

Deputy Citizen Protection Minister Giannis Panousis had pledged to close down the Amygdaleza facility within 100 days, citing inhumane living conditions, following the suicide of a Pakistani national.

A police official said the plan is to release asylum seekers first, once their files have been studied, and continue with underage migrants and other vulnerable groups, as well as those who have already been detained for six months. The main problem for Greek authorities is to find a suitable open hospitality center to accommodate children and they have been in contact with other bodies to find a solution.

Police also said that those migrants held for criminal offenses or are awaiting deportation will not be released.

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[GRECE] Okeanews: LA GRÈCE S'ENGAGE À FERMER LES CENTRES DE DÉTENTION POUR MIGRANTS

15 février 2015

Le nouveau gouvernement a promis samedi de fermer les centres de détention pour migrants sans papiers. Ces centres ont été critiqués à de très nombreuses reprises pour leurs conditions de détention inhumaines. Un nouveau dé-tricotage de la politique d’extrême droite de l’ancien 1er ministre Antonis Samaras.

Suite à la mort de 3 migrants cette semaine dans plusieurs centre de détention pour migrants du pays, dont le suicide d'un pakistanais au centre de détention d'Amygdaleza dans la banlieue d'Athènes, le sous-ministre de l'intérieur Yannis Panousis a visité le centre hier, accompagné de journalistes.

"Je suis ici pour exprimer ma honte, non pas comme ministre, mais comme être humain," a-t-il dit. "Je ne pouvais pas croire ce que je voyais. Je ne pouvais vraiment pas le croire. Cela doit changer et cela doit changer immédiatement. Les centres de détentions, c'est terminé".

Les Nations-Unis ont accusé la Grèce de détenir les migrants dans des conditions choquantes, sans chauffage ni eau chaude. Panousis a déclaré que le gouvernement allait mettre en place des centres "ouverts" de réception avec de meilleures installations.

L'ancien gouvernement dirigé par Antonis Samaras avait commencé une opération de ratissage en 2012 également très critiquée appelée "Xenios Zeus" (Zeus l'Hospitalier), provoquant les arrestations de milliers de sans-papiers. Legouvernement a également exprimé sa volonté de faire cesser cette opération.

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[GREECE] UNHCR: UNHCR welcomes asylum process reforms in Greece, but more needs to be done

30 January 2015

GENEVA, January 30 (UNHCR) –The UN refugee agency on Friday commended Greece for reforming its asylum process during tough economic and political times for the southern European nation, but noted that more needed to be done.

In a report based on an assessment carried out in the last quarter of 2014, UNHCR also recommended that other European Union (EU) nations should still not return asylum-seekers to Greece, extending advice first given in 2008. As well as applying to returns carried out bilaterally between countries, the recommendation also applies to transfers done under the EU's Dublin regulation – which determines the country in which an asylum claim is processed.

Over the past year, Greece saw a dramatic increase in refugee and migrant arrivals by sea. In all, around 43,500 people arrived there across the Mediterranean, a 280 per cent increase from 2013. About 60 per cent were from Syria, but there were also substantial numbers of Afghans, Somalis and Eritreans. Many move on to other EU states.

But problems remain in Greece's asylum system despite reforms. These problems include difficulties in accessing the asylum procedure, a continuing backlog of unresolved cases under the old procedure, risk of arbitrary detention, inadequate reception conditions, lack of identification and support for individuals with specific needs, push-backs of people at the border, concerns over integration prospects and support for refugees, and xenophobia and racist violence.

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[GREECE] Irin:The real winners of Greece's elections: refugees

26 janvier 2015

Beyond all the talk of debt, austerity and welfare payments lies a less-hyped but far-reaching consequence of Greece’s election bombshell: a dramatically more welcoming policy to migrants and asylum seekers.

The left-wing Syriza party, which trounced the anti-immigration New Democracy party in yesterday’s elections and holds 149 seats in the 300-seat parliament, has pledged to open Greece’s borders and increase support for migrants already inside the country.

"Syriza takes a strong stand against the demonizing of immigrants and undemocratic measures like concentration camps and border walls,” the party’s head of migration policy, Vasiliki Katrivanou, said after the vote.

“We will take steps to improve so called “ghetto areas” in benefit of everyone living there: Greeks and immigrants," she added. “We consider our win at the polls a victory for all Greeks and all migrants.”

Matthaios Tsimitakis, a Greek journalist and political analyst, said he expected a major shift in government policy. 

“The previous government was based on the right-wing ideology that dominated politics…Syriza is moving in a different direction. Immigrants are not a threat to national security; they are victims of international wars. They need integration to become productive members of society and not a burden."

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[BULGARIE, GRECE] Slate.fr: Les refoulés de l’Europe

27 janvier 2015

Au croisement des frontières entre la Turquie, la Grèce et la Bulgarie, se déroule une terrible partie de cache-cache entre les autorités et les migrants tentant d’entrer par cette porte de l’Europe. Beaucoup racontent avoir été refoulés, parfois avec violence, au mépris du droit international.

Il aura suffi de quelques minutes sur le territoire turc pour tomber nez à nez avec des familles syriennes se dirigeant vers un checkpoint à la frontière bulgare. L’accès à l’Union européenne leur sera refusée par les gardes-frontières turcs, faute de visa Schengen. «Comment peut-on avoir un visa Schengen? C’est la guerre en Syrie!», s’exclame Hasan[1], croisé en novembre 2014 sur l’autoroute près du poste de douane d’Hamzabeyli.

Du haut de ses 19 ans, ce jeune Kurde qui fuit Alep raconte que c’est sa huitième tentative pour passer en Europe. Les autres, irrégulières, se sont parfois terminées par des «push-backs», c’est-à-dire des refoulements forcés de l’autre côté de la frontière européenne.  Une méthode illégale, puisqu’un réfugié, même entré irrégulièrement dans l’UE, doit avoir l’opportunité d’expliquer le danger qu’il encourt et d'accéder à une procédure de demande d’asile, selon la convention de Genève de 1951.

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[GREECE] Amnesty International: Greece: Farmakonisi migrant tragedy - one year on and still no justice for victims

20 janvier 2015

The Greek authorities’ failure to adequately investigate the deaths of 11 Afghans who drowned at sea shows a blatant disregard for justice for the victims and their families and exemplifies their hard-line approach towards asylum and migration, said Amnesty International on the anniversary of the Farmakonisi tragedy. 

On 20 January 2014, 11 Afghans, including eight children, lost their lives when their fishing boat sank near the Greek island of Farmakonosi. Survivors claim they were towed at great speed back towards Turkey. The authorities dropped an investigation into the tragedy. Since then, more than 100 refugees and migrants have died crossing the Aegean Sea. 

“It is an outrage that, in the face of all the survivors’ testimonies and the inconsistencies in the evidence provided by the coastguard, that the Greek authorities have failed to conduct an adequate investigation into this tragedy. Vulnerable people forced to flee their own country have been left mourning their loved ones with little hope for justice and reparation,” says John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Director for Europe and Central Asia. 

One Afghan survivor, Sabur Azizi, who lost his wife and 10-year-old son in the incident, explained: “Someone showed them the baby asking for help but the coastguards swore at us instead of helping us… When the coastguard cut the rope and tried to move away we started sinking.” 

He and another survivor, who lost his wife and four children, were among 16 of the refugees who managed to get onto the coastguard vessel after their boat capsized. They told Amnesty International they were beaten and held at gunpoint. They also said that the captain threatened “he would cause them more trouble if they dared report any of what happened that night”. 

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[GREECE] Doctors without Borders: EU and Greece turn their backs on refugees arriving at Greek islands.

3 December 2014

Thousands of refugees arriving on the shores of Greece’s Aegean islands are being welcomed with a dysfunctional reception system and inhumane living conditions, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Greece and the European Union (EU) must urgently improve living conditions for refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, and offer them adequate medical assistance and protection.

According to the authorities, this year more than 14,000 people – of whom more than 90 percent are fleeing war-torn Syria – have made the perilous journey in small boats across the Aegean sea from Turkey to the Dodecanese islands, in search of protection. With too few suitable facilities to host them, many refugees find themselves forced for days at a time to sleep outside in the cold and rain or in badly overcrowded police station cells while waiting to be transferred to the Greek mainland.

“Over the past four months, we have seen no will to improve the reception system,” says Kostas Georgakas, MSF field coordinator . “No medical screening is provided for the arrivals and, more importantly, vulnerable people are neglected. Recently a group of doctors from the Ministry of Health was sent to screen refugees for Ebola – despite the fact that most refugees come from Syria and Afghanistan, not from West Africa. But those suffering cardiovascular problems or diabetes receive nothing.”

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[Grèce] Libération - Grèce: des Syriens campent devant le Parlement pour de meilleurs conditions d’accueil

23 novembre 2014

Environ 200 réfugiés syriens campent depuis mercredi devant le Parlement à Athènes, parfois en famille, pour réclamer de meilleures conditions d’accueil en Grèce, où le nombre de réfugiés a triplé entre début 2013 et début 2014.

Face au Parlement grec, place Syntagma, lieu symbolique des défilés anti-austérité, une dizaine de familles sont allongées à même le sol sur des couvertures colorées.

Des hommes tiennent des banderoles portant, en anglais, grec et arabe, la même inscription : «Nous demandons au gouvernement de trouver une solution immédiate pour les réfugiés syriens.»

D’autres proposent aux passants de signer une pétition improvisée sur un cahier d’écolier. «Laissez-nous partir ou donnez-nous des conditions de vie dignes de tout être humain. Voilà ce que nous demandons au gouvernement grec», explique Abdul Antaky, 21 ans, en Grèce depuis deux mois.

«Nous voulons avoir un logement, pouvoir travailler, étudier, pouvoir être soignés gratuitement. Nous pensions y avoir accès en venant en Europe», poursuit cet ancien opposant au régime de Bachar al-Assad qui a passé deux mois dans les geôles syriennes avant de s’enfuir et de demander l’asile en Grèce.

Selon l’administration grecque, le taux de réponses positives aux demandes d’asile des Syriens s’élève à 99,3%.

Mais l’étude des demandes peut prendre plusieurs mois pendant lesquels aucune infrastructure n’est prévue pour les accueillir. Sans le statut de réfugiés, ils ne peuvent ni voyager, ni travailler, ni même s’inscrire dans le système éducatif.

Les familles et les enfants ne sont pas plus aidés par le gouvernement grec.

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[Frontex] Yle Uutiset - Border Guard forwarding equipment and experts to the Mediterranean

The Finnish Border Guard is dispatching a patrol vessel to Greece, and a surveillance aircraft and a team of experts to Italy to help deal with irregular entry and human trafficking into the EU.

The Border Guard Dornier plane involved in operations by the EU's Frontex will be based in Lampedusa, Italy for one month. The patrol vessel provided will be in Greek waters for two months.

Frontex is the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union. Its main role is to protect the EU’s external borders from irregular entry and people trafficking, as well as infiltration into Europe by possible terrorist elements.

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[Grèce] Keanews - CAS DE TORTURE DANS DES CENTRES DE DÉTENTION POUR MIGRANTS EN GRÈCE

15 octobre 2014

La Cour Européenne des Droits de l’Homme a taxé le pays d’amendes d’un montant total d’1.5 million d’euros pour ses violations des lois relatives à la détention des migrants. 150 affaires attendent encore d’être jugées à la Cour Européenne des Droits de l’Homme. Pourtant, la situation ne semble pas s’améliorer pour les détenus.

Le Comité Européen pour la Prévention de la Torture et des Traitements Inhumains, qui dépend  du Conseil Européen, vient en Grèce chaque année afin de jauger les centres de détentions pour migrants, d’identifier les problèmes existants et de proposer des solutions aux situations considérées comme « problématiques ».

Les ministères responsables de la gestion des centres de détention pour migrants doivent alors répondre à des questions très précises du Comité. Cette année, le gouvernement Grec a décidé de ne pas publier le rapport résumant les importants problèmes identifiés par le Comité durant sa dernière visite au printemps 2013. Le gouvernement a aussi évité de rendre disponible le document contenant les réponses aux questions posées par le Comité. Finalement, le document fut rendu public, lorsque le problème fut soulevé par Maria Giannakaki durant une enquête parlementaire. Cependant, 8 pages étaient manquantes, et bien sûr, les réponses du gouvernement Grec n’y figuraient pas.

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[Death at sea] Times of Malta - NGOs call on EU to explore possibility of humanitarian visas

Tuesday, September 23, 2014, 17:00

Ten Maltese non-governmental organisations this afternoon called on the European Union to explore the possibility of establishing humanitarian visas in a bid to prevent tragedies at sea.

In a statement, the NGOs expressed condolences with the families and loved ones of those who tragically lost their lives off the coast of Malta in recent weeks.

They also expressed solidarity with men and women working hard to save lives in the Mediterranean.

Aditus Foundation, the Foundation for Shelter and Support of Migrants, Integra Foundation, the Jesuit Refugee Service, KOPIN, the Malta Emigrants’ Commission, the Migrant’s Network for Equality, the Organisation for Friendship in Diversity, the People for Change Foundation and SOS Malta said that with very limited legal and safe ways of entering the European Union and availing themselves of the Common European Asylum System, thousands of refugees were driven to North African shores to embark on life-threatening journeys.

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[Frontex - Mediterranean ] The Guardian - Sea patrols in Mediterranean extended as borders agency faces €2.3m shortfall

Massively increased numbers of migrants sailing to Europe this year is stretching EU border resources to breaking point

Operations to secure Europe's frontiers face potential cutbacks in order to finance extended patrols in the Mediterranean in the wake of a series of migrant deaths, including the apparent murder of around 500 people by traffickers, the EU's borders agency says.

Frontex says it faces a shortfall of €2.3m (£1.8) after extending operations off Italy, which were due to finish this month, until the end of November; this is a significant sum for an already hugely stretched organisation with an annual operational budget of just €42m.

The operation, covering waters to the south of Sicily and the Pelagie islands – among them Lampedusa, a common landing point for migrant boats from Africa – involves planes and crew provided by the Netherlands and Spain but is paid for by Frontex, and has already cost €13m this year. When the Dutch and Spanish mission finishes at the end of September they will be replaced by aircraft from elsewhere in the EU, something the agency says could affect operations elsewhere.

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[Greece] Ekathimerini - Final articles of anti-racism bill passed by MPs

The last three articles of the anti-racism bill were passed through Parliament on Tuesday in a roll call vote. Articles 1, 2 and 3 received clear majorities from the 100 MPs allowed to vote as Parliament is still in its summer session. The three articles were voted on separately after requests by SYRIZA and Golden Dawn last week. The bill, passed after months of delays, foresees jail terms of up to three years and large fines for those who incite attacks against people based on their race or sexual orientation. Those who praise historical acts of genocide such as the Holocaust, the mass killings of Armenians, Christians in Asia Minor and Black Sea Greeks face similar treatment.

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[Greece] Ekatherimini - Greece seeks extra EU aid to protect sea borders

Greece has called for emergency additional funds from the European Union to contain the rising tide of illegal crossings into its territory propelled by conflict in Syria and Iraq.

“We are facing a great challenge,” Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis told a press conference in Athens on Thursday, saying that the number of undocumented migrants intercepted in the Aegean Sea was expected to triple by the end of 2014 over the same period last year.

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Find out more on maritime interceptions and push-backs at the Greek-Turkish border in EMHRN/FIDH/Migreurop joint report

[Turkey] Hurryiet Daily News - 82 refugees rescued after two days stranded at sea

Eighty-two illegal refugees who human traffickers had promised to transport to Romania have been rescued after being marooned on a small boat 24 miles off the coast of Istanbul. 

The group of 82, composed of Afghans, Syrians, and Iranians, included 15 children and 20 women, two of whom were pregnant. They had been left at sea after the captain promised to bring help to fix to a technical problem but never returned. The capacity of the 15-meter boat was 50 people, according to news reports. 

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Istanbul -  Doğan News Agency

[Grèce]: Migrants morts en mer Egée : la Grèce enterre le dossier Farmakonisi

Le procureur de la Cour militaire de Justice a annoncé le 31 juillet dernier sa décision de classer le dossier de « l’affaire Farmakonisi », et de mettre fin aux poursuites judiciaires. Cette décision du procureur a été par la suite approuvée par le procureur en chef de la Cour d’Appel.

Quatre organisations de défense des droits des réfugiés ont dénoncé la clôture du dossier par la justice grecque. Le procureur aurait tranché sur la base des seules déclarations des garde-côtes, sans tenir compte de l’illégalité des interrogatoires menés auprès des migrants survivants, qui n’ont pas eu droit au service d’interprètes maîtrisant leur langue.

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[Greece]: Greek Reporter - Activists Demand New Investigation Into Farmakonisi Deaths

In January 2014, a small boat that was transporting illegal migrants in Greek waters went under during a Greek Coast Guard operation near the Aegean islet of Farmakonisi. During the controversial operation, 11 Afghan immigrants lost their lives.

On Thursday, the Greek prosecutor made the decision to shelve the investigation causing the indignation of human rights activists and the victims’ relatives, who demand a new investigation and threaten to present their case to the European Court of Human Rights.

“We want the investigation to be reopened. The people who are responsible for the death of our loved ones must be brought to justice,” said the families of the victims in a joint statement at a press conference that was organized in Athens by the Greek Council for Refugees, the Hellenic League for Human Rights, the Network of Social Support to Refugees and Migrants, and the Group of Lawyers for the Rights of Migrants and Refugees.

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[Greece]: The Guardian - Greek court acquits farmers who shot 28 Bangladeshi strawberry pickers

A Greek court's decision to acquit farmers who admitted shooting 28 Bangladeshi strawberry pickers when they asked for months of back pay has sparked outrage in the country.

Politicians, unions and anti-racist groups condemned the verdicts, describing them as a black day for justice in a case that had shone a light on the appalling conditions in which migrant workers are often kept in Greece.

"I feel shame as a Greek," said the Bangladeshis' lawyer, Moisis Karabeyidis, after the ruling in the western port city of Patras. "This decision is an outrage and a disgrace … the court showed an appalling attitude toward the victims."

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[Grèce-Turquie]: Migreurop - Press release: “Frontex between Greece and Turkey: at the Border of Denial”

At the Greek-Turkish border, the European Agency for controlling the external borders, Frontex, is taking part in a process that prevents refugees from benefitting from international protection. The latest report of the FRONTEXIT Campaign, “Frontex between Greece and Turkey: The Border of Denial”, underlines the dramatic consequences of the intensification of surveillance at that border (push-backs, lack of access to the asylum procedure, physical and verbal violence, etc.), and also the Agency’s lack of accountability.

On the basis of dozens of testimonies and numerous exchanges with Frontex, the report documents the serious Human Rights violations committed in this centre of gravity of the Agency’s operations. The Council of Europe, the European Union’s Agency for Fundamental Rights and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, as well as numerous civil society organisations have recently expressed their deep concern regarding the violations committed at that border.

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[Grèce/Turquie]: FIDH, Migreurop, REMDH - « Frontex entre Grèce et Turquie : la frontière du déni » - Le déploiement de Frontex nuit au droit d’asile

A la frontière gréco-turque, l’agence européenne de surveillance des frontières extérieures, Frontex, participe à un dispositif qui empêche les réfugiés de bénéficier de la protection internationale. Le dernier rapport de la campagne FRONTEXIT, « Frontex entre Grèce et Turquie : la frontière du déni » souligne les conséquences dramatiques de l’intensification de la surveillance à cette frontière (« push back », non accès à la demande d’asile, violences physiques et verbales, etc.) ainsi que le défaut de responsabilité de l’agence.

S’appuyant sur des dizaines de témoignages, ainsi que de nombreux échanges avec Frontex, le rapport documente des violations graves des droits humains commises dans ce centre de gravité des opérations de l’agence. Le Conseil de l’Europe, l’Agence des droits fondamentaux de l’Union européenne et le Rapporteur spécial des Nations Unies sur les droits humains des migrants ainsi que de nombreuses organisations de la société civile ont récemment exprimé leurs vives préoccupations vis-à-vis des violations commises à cette frontière.

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