Monthly Archive for April, 2013

We live like dogs and sleep in shifts

Published on April 30, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , .

“We live like dogs and sleep in shifts”

detained-immigrants-grece

“We could die without anyone even learning about it. It is our fifth day on hunger strike in the detention facilities of the Police Station of Moshato. We live like dogs”, says Armen Mourantian: “We sleep in shifts in a room full of dirt. Six people sharing three mattresses. Three full rooms. In the fourth one, which is the largest, they have cornered more than 15 people”.

5th day of hunger strike in the detention facilities for immigrants in Moshato

It was already past midnight when the young Armenian made a phone call to ‘E’ in order to make a plea for help. “This moment we are aloud to make phone calls. We were arrested by men of DIAS group [special police group on motorbikes] in the street. Our papers were expired. None of us has been charged with theft or any felonies. We are held for 7-8 months with a deportation decision”. Continue reading ‘We live like dogs and sleep in shifts’

Lesvos: 17 refugees on hunger strike

Published on April 25, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed

We didn’t come for eating!

On Wednesday April 24, 17 refugees (12 from Afghanistan and 5 from Syria) detained by the coast guard of Lesvos started a protest against the detention conditions

First no one wanted to register them (thus without papers they cannot leave the island) and when they are finally arrested (in order to be registered), they remain detained under inhuman conditions. Among the refugees small children, sick persons, young mothers and other vulnerable groups. The 12 Afghan refugees on hunger strike have been detained now for more than 12 days in the yard of the coast guarrd where they are constantly exposed to the sun (30 degrees celsius).

foto: SK

foto: SK

Continue reading ‘Lesvos: 17 refugees on hunger strike’

2012 Annual Report of the Racist Violence Recording Network

Published on April 25, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Introduction
The present report consists of two parts: First, the quantitative and qualitative findings of recording incidents of racist violence, through interviewing victims, by organizations participating in the Racist Violence Recording Network during 2012; and, second the Network’s positions on state responses and initiatives to combat racist crimes, including the adoption or amendment of relevant legislation or initiatives to do so.
Continue reading ‘2012 Annual Report of the Racist Violence Recording Network’

watch: into the fire

Published on April 21, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , .

Moroccan detainee jumps from second floor of Corinth detention center/ new hunger strike of detainees

Published on April 19, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

On Thursday April 18 a Moroccan detainee jumped from second floor of Corinth detention center. He was transferred to hospital after falling on the cement. Authorities claimed he had fallen on a special mattress but his inmates saw him fall on the mere floor. While authorities claimed he had only slight injuries, his ankle is destroyed. The young man had started earlier together with other migrant detainees a hunger strike. Reportedly more and more detainees try to commit suicide. Only that day there have been 6 suicide attempts the hospital of Corinth informed!

The young Moroccan after falling from the second floor.

The young Moroccan after falling from the second floor.


Just a few days earlier detained migrants had threatened to jump of the roof but were talked off doing it. At the same time large numbers of detainees inCorinth and Amigdaleza had started refusing food. These protests emerged once again due to the anouncement of the authorities to keep them for another 3 months in prison. Many of them are detained since the summer 2012. In October 2012 the detention period for undocumented migrants had been increased from 6 to 18 months.164670_10151455150453681_854595770_n

avgi (in greek)
antarsia (in greek)

video: syrian refugees in greece 2013

Published on April 18, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

Manolada: Migrant workers shot because they demanded their salaries

Published on April 17, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

Manolada strawberry farmers shoot immigrants who demanded 6 months salaries. More than 20 wounded in hospital.
13cuxpwe1366218665

The immigrant workers had reportedly gathered to demand six-months’ worth of unpaid wages when one of three work supervisors whom they were negotiating with shot them. About 20-30 of the 200 strawberry pickers from Bangladesh got injured. Local media reported that four of them are in a serious health condition. The employer has been arrested and investigations are going on.

Only one day later some of the in Patras hospitalised migrants instead of left to go home were arrested for lacking valid residence permits and transferred to detention for deportation.

Several thousand migrant workers (many of them reportedly undocumented) are empoyed as strawberry pickers in the area.

This is not the first time that immigrants in Nea Manolada have protested against harsh working conditions.

In 2008, immigrant farm workers staged a two-day strike (delaying the shipments of strawberries by at least a few days) to protest against harsh working conditions. Their strike exposed slave wage exploitation, shocking living conditions and prejudice.

The government at the time responded to the strike by ordering labour inspectors to crack the whip on farmers exploiting migrant workers in Nea Manolada.

Despite the country’s soaring rate of unemployment, agriculture is heavily reliant on immigrant labour.

In 2009, two farmers in Manolada, alleged to have tied two Bangladeshi immigrants to a motorcycle and reportedly dragged them through a central square.


558878_517768624952921_1017226123_n
the press project (in greek)
left.gr (in greek)
tvxs (in greek)
ekathimerini (in english)
enet (in english)
keeptalkinggreece (in english)
press project (in greek)

older article (2012) on the exploitative working conditions of the Manolada strawberry farms (in greek with videos)

New report on Greece published by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights

Published on April 16, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

Strasbourg, 16 April 2013 – CommDH(2013)6
REPORT by Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights
Following his visit to Greece, from 28 January to 1 February 2013

Summary

Commissioner Nils Muižnieks and his delegation visited Greece from 28 January to 1 February 2013. In the course of this visit the Commissioner held discussions with state authorities and non-governmental, national and international organisations. The present report focuses on the following human rights issues:

I. Intolerance and hate crimes in Greece – the need for urgent action

The Commissioner is seriously concerned by the increase in racist and other hate crimes in Greece, which primarily targets migrants and poses a serious threat to the rule of law and democracy. A number of the reported attacks have been linked to members or supporters, including MPs, of the neo-Nazi political party “Golden Dawn” which won seats in parliament in June 2012. Continue reading ‘New report on Greece published by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights’

press release group of lawyers: No Political Refugee must be extradited to Turkey

Published on April 16, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , , .


SOLIDARITY WITH THE TURKISH AND KURDISH POLITICAL REFUGEES AND ACTIVISTS THAT ARE
AT IMMINENT RISK OF EXTRADITION TO TURKEY

NO POLITICAL REFUGEE MUST BE EXTRADITED TO TURKEY

19 APRIL 2013 AT AREIOS PAGOS (09:30 am) – SUPREME COURT ON THE APPLICATIONS FOR THE EXTRADITION OF ZEKI GORBUZ AND COMERT BULENT AYTUNC

The deterioration in the protection of civil, political and social rights and freedoms has been continuing under the current Greek Government, partially due to the economic crisis. Against this background, and following Prime Minister Samaras’ visit to Ankara and the announcement of closer co-operation between the Greek and the Turkish Government, the Greek authorities, which in the past only reluctantly enacted international arrest warrants against Turkish refugees, have over the past two months engaged in a real witch hunt against all those wanted for their political actions in Turkey.
Pursuant to this governmental agreement, the Greek authorities have so far arrested five refugees with a view to extradite them. Their detention continues until today. At least one of them has been deprived of his liberty since 12 February, more than two months. Continue reading ‘press release group of lawyers: No Political Refugee must be extradited to Turkey’

Greece Becomes Outpost in Turkey’s “Anti-Terror” Campaign

Published on April 13, 2013 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: , , , .

by Apostolis Fotiadis, published in IPS

ATHENS, Apr 13 2013 (IPS) – Zeki Gorbuz, a Turkish asylum seeker in Greece, who was arrested on Feb. 12, remains detained today due to an international warrant that was transmitted by Turkish authorities to Greece just one day before his asylum interview. Turkish media were quick to report the arrest, describing Gorbuz as a radical leftist and regional leader of the Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MLCP), which has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the Turkish government.

On the same day that Gorbuz was detained, Bulent Aytunc Comert, who arrived in Greece as an asylum seeker in 2002, was also arrested. His request for asylum was approved in 2003 but was never cleared by the ministry of police.

Branded by Turkish authorities as a member of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), Comert is a fugitive. He was imprisoned in the notorious solitary confinement units known as the “White Cells” on what he says was a fabricated murder charge.

“Members of several civil society organisations and student groups [in Turkey] have been put into prison, often on flimsy evidence and based on the anti-terrorism law that can be used to charge pretty much any form of dissent as terrorism.”

Continue reading ‘Greece Becomes Outpost in Turkey’s “Anti-Terror” Campaign’