Athens, 28 March 2023: On 17 March, the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) and the Hellenic League for Human Rights (HLHR) sent a joint letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of migrants, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe and the European Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs.

In their letter, the organisations highlight the long-standing nature of reported pushbacks incidents at the country's borders. Yet they stress that in recent years there has been a paradigm shift vis-à-vis the management of refugee and migrant arrivals, which has led to an exponential increase in the number of relevant complaints.

The Ministry of Migration & Asylum must immediately comply with the legislation in force and EU law.

Two new Decisions issued on 17 March 2023 by the Administrative Court of First Instance of Athens (AP 721/2023 and AP 741/2023) reaffirm that the submission of an application for scheduling the asylum application registration on the online platform operated by the Ministry of Migration & Asylum, establishes the status of a person as an asylum seeker, despite the contrary practice that the Ministry still applies, in complete contradiction with national, European and international legislation, as well as the now emerging national jurisprudence.

The cases, supported by the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), concern Afghan citizens who, despite having submitted an application for the registration of their asylum request to the online platform of the Ministry of Migration & Asylum and awaited the date given by the Ministry to complete the registration of their asylum request, were arrested and detained, in violation of the legislation in force. In these two cases, their arbitrary arrest and detention hindered them from going to the Malakasa RIC to complete the filing of their application for international protection.

We, the undersigned, 16 organisations, members of the Child’s Rights Advocacy Network, working to support asylum-seeking and refugee children in Greece, wish to express our concerns about the proposed provisions for unaccompanied and separated children in a newly proposed Immigration Code and call on Greek authorities to reconsider Article 162 of this Code and amend it so that and updated version  covers the serious legal gap currently facing unaccompanied children and ensures the rights of all unaccompanied children in practice, including once they have reached adulthood, or will soon reach adulthood, which is currently not the case.

Last week, we were both alarmed and disappointed to see that the newly proposed Immigration Code was suddenly published for an unrealistically short period of public consultation on 7 to 14 March 2023, without sufficient time provided for meaningful review and recommendations to ensure it aligns with what is best for unaccompanied children or that it addresses the significant gaps in legal status these children continue to face in Greece.

We are compelled to express our collective concern regarding not only the insufficient consultation provided, but also the content of the proposed new code, which does not offer solutions for the vast majority of unaccompanied children who remain outside the asylum system. Instead, the proposal seems set to create even more challenges for these children, increasing their barriers to gaining legal status in the country.

This comes despite the explicit commitment we received from the Deputy Minister of  Migration and Asylum, Ms. Sofia Voultepsi, during the event "Children without documents, children at risk. Until when?" organized on July 12, 2022 by members of the Child Rights Advocacy Network. Both at that time and since, the Deputy Minister stated that there was a "clear political will" to address the gap in the legal status faced by unaccompanied migrant children in the country, before and after they reach adulthood.

And, yet the criteria stipulated in the new regulation of how adult citizens from third countries or stateless persons who entered Greece as unaccompanied minors can obtain a ten-year residence permit fail to reflect the reality on the ground.

With this legislative initiative, an important opportunity is lost; that of protecting and acknowledging unaccompanied and separated children who ultimately remain outside the asylum system. Absolutely no provision is included in the proposed bill for unaccompanied children whose request for international protection is rejected while they are minors. This is contrary to the best interests of the child, which should guide the decisions of all public authorities, but also contrary to public statements by these same relevant authorities. As a result, unaccompanied children are once again left without legal documents and exposed to all forms of exploitation, without substantial access to protection, health benefits or education.

As for unaccompanied children who become adults while in Greece, in order to receive the ten-year residence permit, the new Code requires them to have a permanent authorisation of stay in the country, i.e. a permanent residence permit. But, if these unaccompanied children who have just come of age had already secured such an authorisation, they would not even need the legislative intervention introduced by this article in the first place. This, in fact, despite the Prime Minister's own statement on January 17, 2023 that "unaccompanied children turning 18 that have completed three (3) years of education should rightfully be given the possibility to remain in the country and  to join the Greek state if they so wished."

However, in addition to requiring that they already have a permanent residency permit, and already successfully completed at least three (3) grades of the Greek formal education, the potential beneficiaries of the ten-year residence permit must also have been accepted at either a Vocational Apprenticeship School of the Public Employment Service, a Vocational Training School, or a higher educational establishment.

This last requirement that they must have obtained admission to one of the above schools is particularly onerous since only a very limited number of unaccompanied minors who have reached adulthood can meet this condition. After all, experience in the field has shown us that, for unaccompanied children, even a 3-year "successful" attendance at the Greek school is a significant challenge. This is due to systemic and chronic issues impeding the effective inclusion of children with a migrant/refugee background in the Greek school system, causing a student population of "two speeds".

Finally, we wonder why the second-generation children will now be left without a residency permit (see paragraph b of the above article). Previously, they were able to obtain one with the provisions of Law 4251/2014 regardless of their parents' status, as long as they had established strong ties with the country (birth in Greece, school attendance, etc.).

The signatory organizations of the Children's Rights Advocacy Network believe that a special residence permit should be granted to unaccompanied children solely based on the fact that they are children and that they are transitioning to adulthood, aiming to safeguard the best interest of each unaccompanied child in the country.

THE CO-SIGNING ORGANISATIONS

1. ARSIS Association for the Social Support of Youth
2. Better Days Greece
3. ΕLIX
4. Generation 2.0 for Rights, Equality & Diversity
5. Greek Council for Refugees
6. The HOME Project
7. HumanRights360
8. International Rescue Committee (IRC) Hellas
9. INTERSOS Hellas
10. Lighthouse Relief
11. Mobile Info Team
12. Network for Children’s Rights
13. Safe Passage
14. Schedia (Raft) -Center for Artistic and Pedagogical Training
15. SolidarityNow
16. Terre des hommes Hellas

Pushbacks and intimidation of human rights defenders are a systematic part of an unofficial but carefully planned migration and border policy

A new report by the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) documents extreme violence against people seeking asylum at Europe’s external border. Pushbacks of refugees to Turkey are widespread, and involve humiliation, illegal detention, intimidation, physical and sexual violence, and arbitrary confiscation of personal belongings.

Pushback cases before ECtHR and/or Greek Public Prosecutor

This report contributes to an existing body of extensive evidence of the Greek state’s illegal pushbacks practice, by providing particularly detailed descriptions of 11 pushback cases at the Evros border region and the Aegean islands, and 2 cases of pullbacks by the Turkish authorities in Evros.

Illegal detention in official and unofficial detention sites

In all cases detailed in the report, asylum seekers were arbitrarily held in official or unofficial detention sites, for periods ranging from a few hours to a full day before eventually being pushed back. In three cases, people identified their place of detention as the Neo Cheimonio Border Guard Station.

Sexual Violence

In all the reported cases, asylum seekers were subjected to strip search during their unofficial detention. In at least three cases, people reported incidents of sexual violence, ranging from humiliation to sexual assault and rape.

Pushback of two Palestinian recognized refugees

In June 2022, two Palestinians recognised by the Greek authorities as refugees and legally residing in the island of Kos were illegally apprehended in the middle of the street. They were brought to a small storage room with other people, body searched and then raped. Twelve hours later, the guards tied their legs, put them in a van and boarded them in a boat. They threw them in the sea on a half-deflated raft until the Turkish coast guard rescued them.

Criminalization of legal aid organizations

Evidence from the report also shows how human rights defenders supporting refugees, including NGOs like the Greek Council for Refugees, are increasingly intimidated and obstructed in their work by the Greek authorities. Instead of stopping these rights violations, the Greek government is targeting those who support refugees, framing them as enemies of the state and smugglers in an attempt to silence them and hinder their human rights work.

Alkistis Agrafioti Chatzigianni, Advocacy Officer at the Greek Council for Refugees, said:

“This research shows that unless the EU and Greek authorities finally put an end to these illegal border policies, they will only become more violent and widespread. The government must immediately cease all violations at its borders and allow human rights defenders to do their important work of supporting people seeking asylum.”

Kleio Nikolopoulou, Advocacy Officer at the Greek Council for Refugees, said:

“Pushbacks and border violence have become the rule rather than the exception in Greece. They are an unacceptable symptom of a broken European asylum policy and what is even more alarming is the EU standing by as these rights violations become a common trend throughout European borders. The EU needs to put in place a migration system that upholds asylum rights.”

Notes to editors

Alkistis Agrafioti Chatzigianni and Kleio Nikolopoulou are available for interview and comment.

Link to the Report.

Link to the Executive Summary.

GCR is calling for the EU and European countries to work together to create an asylum system that works. We want the EU to:

• Take disciplinary action and launch infringement proceedings against the Greek state for well-documented, long-term, and systematic breaches of international and EU law in its treatment of asylum seekers, including during the conduct of pushback operations.
• Increase transparency and scrutiny over the Greek authorities’ use of EU funds for migration management purposes, to ensure that EU funds are not being misused to fund operations that endanger migrants and refugees or violate EU law.
• Stop striking up dubious migration deals with non-EU countries to outsource the EU’s responsibility for people seeking safety.
• Recognize the shrinking civic space in Greece and the dangerous trend of criminalization of HRDs at EU’s external borders.

We call the Greek Government and the Greek judicial authorities to:

• Stop the illegal pushback operations and not remove asylum seekers and recognized refugees from Greek territory.
• Initiate criminal investigations bringing to justice those accountable for the criminal offences committed against the asylum seekers during the pushback operations.
• Ensure that human rights defenders and civil society organizations can operate without undue interference and legal representatives of asylum seekers can provide legal assistance without hindrance.

Contact information

GCR Communications Officer I Kostas Vlachopoulos: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Η ΕΕ μοιάζει να κάνει σχεδιασμούς μέσα σε μια φούσκα, αποκομμένη από την παγκόσμια πραγματικότητα και εντέλει χωρίς να αντιλαμβάνεται τον ρόλο και την ευθύνη της εντός του πλαισίου των παγκόσμιων εξελίξεων.

Σπύρος - Βλαντ Οικονόμου*

Την Πέμπτη 19 Ιανουαρίου, η επίτροπος Μετανάστευσης και Εσωτερικών της Ευρωπαϊκής Επιτροπής, Ιλβα Γιόχανσον, εκφώνησε ομιλία στην Ολομέλεια του Ευρωκοινοβουλίου, στο πλαίσιο συζήτησης για την ποινικοποίηση της ανθρωπιστικής βοήθειας.[1]

Η ομιλία παρουσιάζει ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον για την τρέχουσα ελληνική πραγματικότητα, όπου η διαχείριση του προσφυγικού-μεταναστευτικού έχει καταλήξει σχεδόν ταυτόσημη, στον δημόσιο λόγο, με ζητήματα ασφάλειας και προστασίας των συνόρων και το μέτρο σύγκρισης της επιτυχίας συνώνυμο με τη μείωση στις αφίξεις προσφύγων και μεταναστών.

Ο πρώτος λόγος είναι η αυξανόμενη και συστηματική δυσφήμηση, συχνά με όρους που θολώνουν τα νερά μεταξύ κριτικής και απλής συκοφαντίας, του έργου οργανώσεων και ακτιβιστών της κοινωνίας των πολιτών, με ενεργή συνεισφορά στο πεδίο της έρευνας και διάσωσης στη θάλασσα, αλλά και ευρύτερα, στην παροχή βοήθειας σε πρόσφυγες και μετανάστες στα σύνορα της χώρας και στην ανάδειξη των συστηματικά καταγγελλόμενων από διεθνείς φορείς και εποπτικά όργανα επαναπροωθήσεων.