BY BOB NARMER
IDN HUMAN RIGHTS DESK
Migrants and asylum seekers in Greece are ‘Stuck in a Revolving Door’, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned, while renewing its call on Greek authorities to "Halt Crackdown, Arrests of Migrants".
“Greek authorities are arresting large numbers of migrants and asylum seekers in the country's cities and islands and moving many of them to the north, raising fears of illegal expulsions to Turkey,ö says the international human rights organisation.
Human Rights Watch, a leading non-governmental organisation dedicated to defending human rights for 30 years now, received reports from a credible source that, in mid-July 2009, police transferred a group of Arabic-speaking people from Chios Island to the Evros border region, where they were secretly forced to cross the border into Turkey.
On July 23, according to HRW, local human rights activists prevented authorities from transferring 63 migrants from Lesvos Island to the north by blocking access to the ferry. On July 25, the police took most of them to Athens under heavy police escort.
"These operations and transfers are very worrying," says Bill Frelick, Refugee Policy director at Human Rights Watch. "We fear that people are being prevented from seeking asylum, that children arriving alone are not being protected, and that migrants are kept in unacceptable detention conditions and possibly even being secretly expelled to Turkey," he adds.
HUNDREDS LOCKED
HRW reports another recent episode: in a large-scale operation July 16-18, the police in Athens surrounded what appeared to be several hundred migrants and locked them inside an abandoned courthouse. “The police arrested anyone who left the building."
It is feared that some of them may have needed protection and did not have a chance to file a claim for asylum. In fact, the police prevented HRW from speaking to the people held inside. Besides, HRW does not know the whereabouts of those who were arrested when they tried to leave.
In a November 2008 report, 'Stuck in a Revolving Door: Iraqis and Other Asylum Seekers and Migrants at the Greece/Turkey Entrance to the European Union', HRW documented “how Greek authorities have systematically expelled migrants illegally across the Greece-Turkey border, in violation of many international legal obligations".
“These ‘pushbacks," it says, "typically occur at night from detention facilities in the northern part of the country, close to the Turkish border, and they involve considerable logistical preparation.ö
The organisation at that time interviewed 41 asylum seekers and refugees -- all privately and confidentially -- in various locations in both Greece and Turkey, who gave consistent accounts of Greek authorities taking them to the Evros River at night and then forcing them across.
It also documented how Greek authorities miscategorise unaccompanied children as adults and detain them for prolonged periods of time in conditions that could be considered inhumane and degrading. The human rights organisation issued last December a report on this issue, under the title 'Left to Survive: Systematic Failure to Protect Unaccompanied Migrant Children in Greece'.
POLICE DESTROYS CAMPS
In yet another recent incident, on July 12, police destroyed a makeshift migrant camp in Patras, on the Peloponnese peninsula, HRW reports. "In the days before the camp was destroyed, the police reportedly arrested large numbers of migrants there, and according to credible sources, transferred an unknown number to the northern part of the country.ö
On July 17, Human Rights Watch met with several Afghans in Patras, including 12 unaccompanied migrant children now homeless as a result of this operation, who were in hiding in abysmal conditions out of fear of being arrested.
A 24-year-old man told Human Rights Watch: "We're living like animals in the jungle ... we can't take a shower and we don't have proper food ... before I lived in the camp, but all of my things and clothes were burned. Now I have a shirt and a pair of pants, nothing else."
PUSHED TO FORESTS
A 14-year-old Afghan boy who arrived in Greece one year earlier said: "The worst situation during the past year is now, in Patras -- now that I'm living in this forest .... There's not enough food and we only eat bread with water."
Human Rights Watch also observed on July 17 how more than 1,000 migrants lined up all night, largely in vain, trying to file asylum applications at Athens main police station.
Greece recognises as few as 0.05 percent of asylum seekers as refugees at their first interview. The country passed a law at the end of June that abolishes a meaningful appeals procedure, making it virtually impossible for anyone to obtain refugee status, informs the organisation. Greece also extended the maximum length of administrative detention for migrants to 12 months -- and under certain circumstances, up to 18 months -- from previously 90 days.
"It appears Greece is doing everything it can to close the door on persons who seek protection in Europe, no matter how vulnerable they are," says Frelick.
EU STANDS BY GREECE, BASHES TURKEY
Greece jointed the European Union 28 years ago in 1981. Hence, as a full EU member Greece is bound to all European Charta, principles and policies in the field of human rights.
This means that Greece is to obliged to abide by the EU's dictum that “human rights, democracy and the rule of law are core values of the European Unionö and that the “respect for human rights is a prerequisite for countries seeking to join the Union and a precondition for countries who have concluded trade and other agreements with it.ö
Instead of reacting to Greek human rights activists' and HRW demand that "the European Union must hold Greece accountable for acts contrary to international and European human rights and refugee law, and it needs to act fast, as the lives of many are at risk", an EU top official came out with a surprising declaration.
The EU's Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot on July 2 described illegal immigration via Turkey “a risk to Greek democracy and called again on Ankara to do more to combat people-traffickers.ö
Barrot who is also vice-president of the European Commission, told a Brussels news briefing on July 2 after a visit to Athens that he had promised the Greek government financial help to deal with the problem and more active EU talks with Turkey to ensure better supervision of illegal migration. "Because we can indeed imagine a major risk of destabilising Greek democracy through migrations that are absolutely uncontrolled and uncontrollable," he said.
According to EurActiv, Barrot said the EU's executive European Commission would work more actively towards an agreement on readmission to Turkey of illegal migrants and on better monitoring of illegal departures from the Turkish coast.
"Turkey has to help us to fight against facilitators and traffickers," the European Justice Commissioner said. "We cannot do nothing and we need to obtain, with Turkey, much firmer and stricter negotiations ... we will, for our part, help Turkey through readmission agreements we hope to sign with Pakistan and maybe other Asian countries," he added.
In Athens, Barrot had accused Turkey of turning a blind eye to trafficking of illegal migrants to Greece.
EurActiv quoted the Greek government saying in July that it had last year arrested about 47,000 illegal immigrants coming from Turkey, an EU candidate country. Greece insists Ankara must take back illegal migrants who have crossed Turkey.
“Ankara says the migrants come from countries such as Iraq and Pakistan and it should not have to handle those crossing Turkey to reach the wealthy EU,ö reports EurActiv, a network set up in 1999 to bring together the skills of professionals with experience in EU affairs
The report concludes: “The conservative Greek government, stung by far-right gains in an EU Parliament election, said this month it would get tougher on illegal migration including by detaining illegal migrants for up to 12 months, instead of three currently.ö
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RELATED LINKS:
Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org
EurActiv http://www.euractiv.com |
