Issue No. 13362

GREECE’S policy of detaining undocumented migrants and would-be asylum seekers came under heavy fire last year from the German human rights organisation Pro Asyl.

 

The group published a scathing report about the conditions in Greece entitled, The Truth May Be Bitter, But It Must Be Told.

 

The report, which was based on a series of fact-finding missions conducted by lawyers and human rights advocates on the Greek islands of Samos, Chios and Lesvos in August and October 2007, prompted the former New Democracy government to order an investigation into allegations that members of the Greek coastguard “tortured” asylum seekers.

 

The findings of the investigation have yet to be made known. 

 

According to Karl Kopp, a spokesman for a Germany-based rights group called Pro Asyl, Greece has to improve its system for granting asylum. He said the new Pasok government must scrap rules passed by the former government last summer.

 

According to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) and other local rights groups, these new rules make it very difficult for rejected asylum seekers to appeal because it requires applicants to challenge the decision at the level of the Council of State, Greece’s highest administrative court - a process that requires them to hire a lawyer which many cannot afford.

 

The rate of approving the applications of asylum seekers in Greece is the lowest in Europe. Less than one percent of applications are approved, according to official data compiled by the interior ministry and published by UNHCR.

 

The current situation has created considerable juris-prudence in other European Union countries like Austria, Finland, Italy and Sweden, where courts have ruled against returning asylum seekers to Greece on the grounds that it is not a safe country for refugees.

 

By law, the Greek police must process all claims for asylum immediately. Applicants must be fingerprinted and issued a so-called pink card (rose karta).

 

The temporary residence permit grants them access to free medical treatment and the right to work in Greece while their asylum claim is processed.

Officials, by law, have three months to render a decision.

 

 

ATHENS NEWS 30/08/2010, page: 14