Α joint letter to the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, by 27 civil society organizations, regarding the use of the “safe third country” concept in Greece.

Read the letter here

Published: 6th March 2022

De facto detention, revenge tactics and despair for people in Samos closed refugee center 

New report from the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) and Oxfam sheds light on the inside of the new 43-million-euro migration center on the Greek island of Samos. The report comes ahead of the 6-year anniversary of the EU-Turkey deal, and in the midst of already more than a million people fleeing conflict in Ukraine to seek asylum in EU countries. If ever there was a time to learn from the failures made in Greece, it is now.

The report found: 

• Approximately 1 in 5 people have been in de facto detention for two months. This is despite a Greek court finding this practice illegal in the ruling on a case of an Afghan resident in the Samos center last December. The Greek administration continues to deny this illegal practice. Yet, testimonies gathered by the Greek Council for Refugees and Oxfam show this practice remains very much a reality. 
   
• The use of “revenge tactics” in response to NGO reports, media coverage, and legal action by asylum seekers on illegal detention measures. This has included early morning raids, unexplained transfers to the police station, and oral eviction notices to residents appealing a negative asylum decision. 
   
• The excessive use of security. There is constant CCTV monitoring of all residents and an 8pm curfew. To exit and enter the camp, residents need an “asylum applicant” card. Some people - like the newly arrived, those who can’t afford the second subsequent asylum application fee, or those waiting for the Greek authorities to examine their subsequent asylum application - do not have this card. In the future, not having these cards may keep people from getting food and clothes. 
   

Read the Bulletin here. 

Read here the Testimonies document : Testimonies 

Photos of the new centre in Samos: 

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Imposition of a fee of 100 euros for access to asylum from the 2nd and every following subsequent application to applicants for international protection, including minors!

Following an official information we received as a Working Group on Legal Aid on the island of Lesvos, the Regional Asylum Office (RAO) of Lesvos after many months of refusal to register 2nd and following subsequent applications for international protection, on 7 February 2022 started to re-register the aforementioned applications of asylum seekers who have been unable to access the international protection procedure for the last 6 months without their own fault. However, this procedure restarts with a necessary condition for the submission of the second and subsequent application, the deposit of a fee of 100 euros per application (legislative regulation of par. 10 of article 89 of Law 4636/2019). In fact, based on JMD no. 472687/2021, if the application is submitted on behalf of several members of the applicant's family, the deposit of an equal amount for each member separately is required, including   minor children. This translates to the fact that for a five member’s family - two parents with three minor children - a fee of 500 euros is required!

On 28 February 2022, the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), responding to an open call, sent its input on the forthcoming report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of migrants, in relation to the human rights violations at international borders.

You can read the comments here.

Last week, the Russian military invaded the Ukraine. Armed hostilities are ongoing. Russia has targeted multiple cities with attacks on residential areas. Children are being forced to leave their homes and seek shelter elsewhere. As in any armed conflict, their safety, access to food and water, medical care, and healthy development are at risk.   

These immediate risks may be compounded with the long-term traumas that these children may face as a result of displacement. Widespread fighting and humanitarian crisis may lead many families to seek safety outside of the Ukraine, including in Europe. This while many children are already facing inhumane conditions at Europe’s borders. 

Any relevant communication will be treated with complete confidentiality.

Άρθρο Popaganda

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