Greece

Greece: Amnesty International Annual Report 2013

Published by on May 23, 2013

Amnesty International 23 May 2013 The economy was in crisis, and unemployment reached 26.8% in October. Further austerity measures were voted by Parliament in February and November, amid protests in Athens and other cities. In May, the European Committee on Social Rights found that austerity legislation relating to public sector workers violated various provisions of the European Social Charter. Golden Dawn, a far right-wing party with an aggressive anti-migrant rhetoric, won 18 seats in the June parliamentary elections. Read the full report here.

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Greece: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012

Published by on April 19, 2013

US Department for State 19 April 2013 Greece is a constitutional republic and multiparty parliamentary democracy. On June 17, the country held national elections and swore in a new coalition government composed of the New Democracy (ND), the Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement, and the Democratic Left political parties, with ND leader Antonis Samaras as prime minister. Security forces reported to civilian authorities. The most important human rights problems during the year concerned unprovoked racist violence against migrants and individuals perceived to be foreigners, conditions in migrant detention centers and prisons, poor treatment of undocumented migrants, discrimination against Roma, and exploitation of Read the full article…

Europe: End forced evictions of Roma in Europe

Published by on April 15, 2013

Amnesty International 15 April 2013 Forced evictions are cruel, humiliating and in breach of international law. In Europe, they happen all to often and affect those who are least able to resist. Most of the those who are forcibly evicted are people who live in poverty or on the margins of society. Roman people are one such easy target; they are often poor, socially excluded and and treated with hostility by the public. Roma are the largest and one of the most disadvantaged minorities in Europe. Between 10 and 12 million in the region, around 6 million in the European Read the full article…

Greece: Freedom in the World 2013

Published by on March 8, 2013

Freedom House 16 March 2013 Greece’s debt crisis continued to worsen in 2012 despite the adoption of austerity measures in order to secure bailout funds from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. The fiscal cuts were followed by significant social unrest throughout the year. A second round of parliamentary elections held in June led to victory for New Democracy, which formed a coalition government with two other parties. Meanwhile, the right-wing extremist party Golden Dawn, which captured seats in Parliament for the first time in 2012, embarked on a campaign of terror aimed at immigrants, the political left, and Read the full article…

Greece: Must improve detention conditions for migrants - UN experts

Published by on January 31, 2013

UN News Service 31 January 2013 available at: UNHCR RefWorld A group of United Nations independent experts today stressed that Greece must improve the conditions of detention for migrants and effectively implement recent legislation to enhance screening procedures for asylum-seekers. “In most detention facilities visited by the Working Group, the conditions fall far below international human rights standards, including in terms of severe overcrowding,” stressed one of the members of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Vladimir Tochilovsky. The group, which just finished an 11-day visit to the Mediterranean country, found pre-trial and convicted detainees in the same cell, as Read the full article…

Greece: Human Rights Watch, World Report 2013

Published by on January 31, 2013

Human Rights Watch World Report 2013 - Greece Published 31 January 2013 Available at Human Rights Watch Extract: Legislation passed in April permits police to detain migrants and asylum seekers on overly broad public health grounds, including susceptibility to infectious disease based on national origin and living in conditions that do not meet minimum hygiene standards, prompting condemnation by the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT). The new government continued its predecessor’s heavy-handed immigration control approach. Construction of a 12.5-kilometer fence along the border with Turkey, begun in February, neared completion at this writing. A vast sweep operation launched in August Read the full article…

Greece: Summary Returns of Unaccompanied Migrant Children and Adult Asylum Seekers from Italy to Greece

Published by on January 22, 2013

Human Rights Watch January 22, 2013 Press release: Italy is summarily returning unaccompanied migrant children and adult asylum seekers to Greece, where they face a dysfunctional asylum system and abusive detention conditions, Human Rights Watch said in a report published today. Stowaways on ferries from Greece, including children as young as 13, are sent back by Italian authorities within hours without adequate consideration of their particular needs as children or their desire to apply for asylum. The 45-page report, “Turned Away: Summary Returns of Unaccompanied Migrant Children and Adult Asylum Seekers from Italy to Greece,” documents the failure of Italian Read the full article…

Greece: Asylum-seekers and migrants hounded by police and right-wing extremists

Published by on December 20, 2012

Amnesty International 20 December 2012 Greece: The end of the road for refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants Greece is seriously failing to respect the rights of asylum-seekers and migrants, Amnesty International warned in a briefing published today. Every year, tens of thousands of irregular migrants and asylum-seekers from the Middle East, Asia and Africa cross the Greek land and sea border with Turkey in search of shelter, refuge or just a better life within the European Union (EU). Few of them find it in Greece. Amnesty International’s briefing Greece: The end of the road for refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants charts the Read the full article…

Greece keeps violating asylum seeker’s human rights according to Amnesty International

Published by on January 26, 2012

Amnesty International 26 January 2012 While over a year has passed since the landmark ruling by the Grand Chamber of European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the case of M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece, Amnesty International remains profoundly concerned about the treatment of asylum-seekers in Greece. The organization is deeply concerned that asylum-seekers are routinely detained for prolonged periods of time that can reach up to six months. In particular, the detention of unaccompanied or separated asylum-seeking children continues. Such children are held routinely for prolonged periods while a place is found for them in a reception centre for Read the full article…

Greece: Immediate action needed to improve unbearable living conditions in detention facilities

Published by on January 27, 2011

Immediate action needed to improve unbearable living conditions in detention facilities in Evros, Greece Medecins Sans Frontieres, 26 January 2011 MSF is calling for immediate action, and for the Greek authorities to respond to the emergency medical and humanitarian needs of the detained migrants and asylum seekers in Evros and ensure the physical and mental health of migrants Athens – The Greek government should immediately improve living and hygiene conditions in the border police stations and detention centres for migrants and asylum seekers in Evros region, according to the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The situation in Read the full article…