++Refugees left to survive in Moria under inhuman conditions++Vulnerable groups unprotected for days in war zone like areal++
This child doesn’t stop crying as it is exhausted and afraid / copyright: Salinia Stroux
“I am queueing since 10 days!,” a Syrian man says. “I am single, but my family is left in Syria and I have to get them out to save their lives. I am very anxious. In this camp the is no human rights. It is zero zero.”
Continue reading ‘Moria / Lesbos: “Hot Spot” reminds of war zone’
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras visited Lesbos island on October 6, accompanied by Austrian chancellor Werner Feymann, to ostensibly appraise the refugee crisis on the islands firsthand, but what they saw there did not correspond to the everyday reality as thousands of refugees had left in four unscheduled extra ferries beforehand, the port had been cleaned, bus transportation of refugees from the north of the island to the camps had been halted, suddenly no boats were crossing the sea border just for the time during the short visit and his visit in Moria camp was focused on an inspection of the almost empty First Reception Centre, while in the meanwhile a few meters further inside the fenced territory at the pre-removal detention centre where registration takes place the desperate crowds were repressed by riot police with tear gas and severe beatings.
Queue of single men after tear gas attacks and beatings when registration halted / copyright: Salinia Stroux
A father tries to help his son after another tear gas attack by lightening a small fire and holding the smoke near his eyes / copyright: Salinia Stroux
“Why don’t the authorities apply a registration system that works? Who is the responsible here? I really would like to speak to him. There are easy solutions to the problem. I am in the queue for three days and three nights now. Look around. This looks like the end of the world here!”
Continue reading ‘Moria / Lesbos: “This looks like the end of the world here!”’
A 17-year-old Afghan self-injured himself to protest against the long detention duration in Moria “first Reception” detention camp in Lesvos, Greece.
He has been transferred to the psychiatric clinic of Lesvos Bostation Hospital. A number of unaccompanied minors have stayed even up to two months in Moria awaiting transfer to a special open camp for separated children. The long duration of detention is the reason for many minors to register themselves as adults in fear of being locked up long periods. Anyway, thereby they loose not only their rights as children but also often end up in 18 month (and longer) detention as adults in one of the many pre-removal detention centres at the mainland.
Moria in April 2014 while the construction of the fences was not yet finished
Detention of babies and children under inhuman and degrading conditions in Greece
Z.M. from Afghanistan, a young mother of a one-year-old and a six-year old was arrested in the end of April 2014 in Eleftherios Venizelos, Athens Airport for the try of “illegal exit” of the country and the “use of false documents” (§ 83 and § 87 par. 7 of law 3386/2005). After two days of detention in the airport prison they were brought before the one-headed Misdemeanor Court of Athens, which pronounced a sentence of four months imprisonment on suspension. Then they were both transferred to the detention cells of the Aliens Police Department in Petrou Ralli. “We were detained in the second floor. In the beginning there were also two other mothers with their small children. When they were released we stayed alone in the cell. Next to us there was a cell where they locked up people who were getting crazy inside the prison. These poor people were crying and shouting throughout the nights. My baby was afraid, crying often instead of sleeping. … We were given only once weekly milk while the food was of very low quality lacking vitamines and oil. We couldn’t go out every day and the toilette and bathroom were filthy as we shared it with all other people.” The mother with her baby were released after one month on June 4th and only after a lawyer appealed against the detention.
Continue reading ‘Mother with baby detained one month in Petrou Ralli detention cells’
How “real” asylum recognition rates are in Greece in reality… About the temporariness of being a recognised refugee in Greece:
by D. Angelidis
The General Secretary of the Ministry of Citizen Protection and Public Order, Mr Ath. Andreoulakos is destroying consciously and illegally the work of the Asylum Committees while he is rejecting arbitrarily the renewal of the two-year protection status (subsidiary and humanitarian) of many refugees who then end up without papers.
(…)
NGOs speak of an industry of rejections when it comes to the renewal of humanitarian or subsidiary protection in Greece. The refugees who understood they had to renew their papers and who applied for that depend on the decision of the General Secretary of the Ministry. It is highly questionable if he has the expertise to take such a decision, but he doesn’t even examine case by case if the grounds of persecution in each case are still valid, instead he actually just rejects the applications and turns upside down the decisions which were taken two years ago by the Asylum Committees.
Continue reading ‘Mass rejection of renewal of 2-year refugee status’
The appeal against detention that was brought to court by the Greek Council for Refugees is of broader significance as it was the first case of its kind against the “endless detention duration. The decision 2255/23.5.2014 says that the endless detention defined as measure of compulsory stay in a detention centre by the states Legal Council Opinion 44/2014 is not according to law.
It states:
“it is not founded on any legislative provision”
“the compulsory measure imposed on the affected person is actually a continuation of his detention”
The case affects an Afghan refugee who was detained until May 5th 2014 a total of 18 months. Three days before that date (not even three months before as the Councils Opinion had defined) he received a documented informing him that his detention would be continued until he would “cooperate” to his “voluntary” deportation. The court decision was ruled on May 23rd and the refugee was released.
koutitispandoras (in greek)
efimerida ton syndakton (in greek)
Igoumenitsa port police has discovered the dead body of an Afghan refugee inside the cargo ares of a truck. The truck was going to board on a ship departing for Italy. The corpse has been transferred to the Coroner in Ioanena.
According to the Afghan community in Greece, Nezam Hakimi died on November 4th, 2013 after four months of detention. His cancer had not been treated during that period. He is another victim of the new mass detention centers for migrants.
Only four months earlier, in July 27th, Mohammad Hassan had died after 11 months of detention in Corinth.
facebook of the afghan community in greece (in farsi)
tvxs (in greek)
for more information on the new detention centers in Greece see:
AI 2013: Frontier Europe
for more information on the arbitrary arrests during police raid Xenios Dias operation see:
HRW 2013: Unwelcome Guests
On August 24th, 2013 an Afghani migrant jumped out of the window of the detention center in Corinth. He was seriously injured. Earlier, the detainee had climbed the iron bars of the windows, threatening he would jump, to protest his prolonged and inhuman detention. Only recently authorities in Corinth had announced to extend detention from 12 to 18 months. The injured man has been transferred to the General Hospital of Corinth. At the moment there is no further information about his health condition.
Around 5,000 immigrants have been arrested and detained in Greece since the launching of “Xenios Dias” police operation in August 2012.