Greece's disappearing child refugees raise concern

Questions still remain about the fate of 12 under age refugees from Afghanistan and Iraq who disappeared from a shelter in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second city. According to reports in the Greek press the 12 were part of a group of 13 minors taken by ferry from a detention centre on the island of Mytiline on Tuesday to stay in shelters run by NGOs in the northern port town.

However, staff at the Arsis shelter for young people stated that 12 of the 13 had signed papers giving themselves permission to leave. The case came to light when Greek member of parliament, Giannis Zogias visited the shelter only to be told that most of the refugees had gone.

According to employees of the Arsis foundation, which is funded in part by the Greek ministry of the interior the document in question is a declaration that the minors have no parents and so are their own legal guardian. Otherwise they have the right to stay in the shelters until they come of age

The fate of the group remains unknown, though probably they have made their way to Athens in order to make their way to Italy according to source quoted in Greek national daily, Rizospastis. The same source also said that over the last month more than 40 young refugees had signed similar documents and had left the Koinoniki Alleleleggi (Social Solidarity) Shelter which is run by the Thessaloniki city council.

The Greek government’s treatment of refugees has repeatedly come under fire by the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, Amnesty International and the European Union for failing to abide by international agreements on the treatment of immigrants and refugees. Currently, less than 1% of those who apply for asylum are granted it.In addition European human rights groups such as Pro - Asyl and the European Commission for the Prevention of Torture have documented numerous cases of mistreatment by members of Greece’s police force and Coast Guard.

In July Arivan Osman Abdulach, a 29 year Afghan refugee died of injuries sustained after allegedly being beaten by members of the Greek port police in the northern port of Igoumenitsa in April.

The issue of immigration as become a political hot potato for the ruling New Democracy party following its recent poor showing during this year’s European parliamentary elections. Stung by loss of votes to the far right LAOS party, Greek prime minister, Kostas Karamanlis has announced a new “get tough” policy on illegal immigrants. Actions have included clean sweep operations in the centre of Athens and swifter procedures for the deportation of immigrants without papers. In addition the government has ordered that deportees be not given the right to appeal.

However, critics of the government’s new policies have pointed out that the country is violating both European Union law and international accords on human rights.

NowPublic

Tags: Europe | Greece | Human Rights | World | immigration | refugees | unhcr | amnesty international | Thessaloniki | child refugees

Greek government slammed over abuse of refugees

Photo: Chiara Tamburini, Brussels, all rights reserved

In a damning international report the Greek government was severely criticised for systematically denying refugees rights and turning a blind eye to abuse of those seeking asylum on its territory.

The German based PRO-ASYL (National Working Group for Refugees) report on the country claimed theat the situation was out of control and the the state had reneged on its international treaty obligations to treat asylum seeker humanely.

In the report published in October Karl Kopp, head of PRO - ASYL referred to a number of violations by the Greek government of refugee’s rights, including the summary deportation without hearing of thousands who had entered Greek territory from Turkey and the ill - treatment of other refugee by the police and border guards. One such example was given by A 34-year-old Iraqi Turkoman from Kirkuk who said that he made 10 attempts to cross into Greece before succeeding.

"One time I crossed the river into Greece and arrived in Komotini," he said. "They put us in jail for five days and then took us to the river and pushed us back. We were 60 persons. They put us in a small river boat with a motor in groups of 10. They did it in the middle of the night. It was raining hard, and the Greek police started beating us to make us move more quickly. I saw one man who tried to refuse to go on the boat, and they beat him and threw him in the river. They beat us with police clubs to get us to go on the boat."

Last year the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) also noted in its report considerable number of allegations of abuse by police officials of foreign nationals in custody including the case of a detainee allegedly tortured with pliers while in custody in the northern Greek city of Alexandroupoli.
It should be noted that the land crossing from Greece and its traditional rival Turkey is littered with anti-personnel mines and that between 1997 and 2006 61 people lost their lives due to land mines.

In addition the PRO - ASYL report outlined the unwillingness of Greek authorities to accept asylum seeker’s applications. In the first six months of 2008 the authorities issued 8,387 decisions concerning asylum applications of which all 8,387 were rejected. During the same period just 71 of 2,886 appeal decision resulted in the granting of refugee status under the Geneva Refugee Convention. In 2007 just eight of the 25,111 claims proved successful.

Also simply getting access to offices dealing with asylum applications can be a risky business. On 25th and 26th October 2008 one immigrant died in custody and several were hospitalised after 3000 desperate asylum seekers applying for papers at the Petrou Ralli police station in Athens clashed with police. The police station had ceased to accept applications from the 3rd October for an unspecified period of time according to the Greek ombudman so leaving those without documents with the possibility of arrest and deportation.

In addition refugees deported to Greece from other European Union countries under the Dublin II accord have also had their rights violated and sometimes face violence at the hands of the police according to human rights organisations. A joint report published in 2007 by the Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and Greek Helsinki Monitor wrote of the case of Noori, an Afghan asylum seeker transferred from Austria to Greece in December 2007.

“The policemen hit my face and the back of my head until I began hitting myself to make them stop. I thought that it is the same everywhere, the police is as bad. I thought of throwing myself out of the window in order to end my life. “

The situation has gotten so bad that that the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees has recommended that no asylum seeker be deported back to Greece from within the EU. Indeed Germany and Norway have already suspended such deportations in some cases citing concerns over human rights violations.

In a recent article on immigration in Greece for Time, Greek officials argued that the small Balkan state can not handle what is a pan European problem, however, such claims have to be seen in the light of the state’s ability to suddenly find 28 billion euros to prop up the country’s banking system in the wake of the global credit crisis.

Despite all this the conservative New Democracy government is unlikely to act to ease the plight of refugees at a time of rising domestic unemployment and embroiled as it is in the latest finance and influence peddling scandal to hit the prime minister, Kostas Karamanlis’s administration since being re-elected in September 2007.

PS. I just came across this comment on the Al Jazeera video posted above.

"Giati de tous petane pisw sth 8alassa?
Arketa me tis oumanistikes malakies , de ginete o ka8e apovlitos apo th koloxora tou na erxete edw.
Gia th metanasteush yparxoun diakratikes simfonies opws px me th Voulgaria pou erxontai oi an8rwpoi kai mpainoun se doulies kanonika kai me kanonikous mis8ous.
H paranomh metanasteush prepei na timwrite me 8anato epi topou . "

Translation

"Why don't we throw them back in the sea? enough of this humanistic b#llshit. It's just not on for every scumbag from his f#cking country to come here. As far as immigration is concerned there are discreet agreements, such as the one with Bulgaria by whuch people come and get work normally at regular wages.Illegal immigration should be punished by death.. on the spot."

NowPublic

Tags: Greece | Time | World | unhcr | human rights abuse | immigration karl kopp | pro - asyl | european immigration