Athens, 21 January 2020

Dear Minister,

With this letter, the below signatory humanitarian, human rights and protection organizations would like to congratulate you on taking up your new post as Minister on Migration and Asylum and wish you every success in your term. We would also like to welcome your intention to establish an EU mechanism that shares responsibility of welcoming refugees and migrants.

However, we can only express deep concern at the fact that, in recent months, the public health system remains inaccessible to thousands of asylum seekers, migrants and their children, with serious consequences to their well-being and public health. Withdrawing the right to the social security number (AMKA), thus de facto annulling newcomers’ right of access to health care, coupled with overcrowding in the islands – as a result of the geographical restriction – and prolonged inadequate living conditions in refugee camps across the mainland, have led to an unprecedented, unacceptable situation, in violation of fundamental human values, national and international law.

Moreover, the Greek Government, while announcing its priorities on migration, consistently fails to include the protection of people, the respect for their rights and the promotion of their integration. The lack of adequate and humane living conditions for asylum seekers, the difficulty in accessing a fair asylum process and the absence of long-term planning for their effective reception and integration, as well as the fragmented and ad hoc approaches, should give place to coherent and integrated solutions based on human dignity. We hope that your ministry will be able to achieve this.

Having been at the forefront of the so-called “refugee crisis”, offering assistance to the Greek State and the refugee population, the signatory organisations know that improving the asylum, reception and integration system in our country is possible. Greece can meet the needs of the asylum seekers that reach its borders seeking protection, fulfilling its legal obligations but also ending the vicious cycle it has found itself in, with a long-term strategy that takes into account both the benefits of integration of refugees and the needs of the local host communities.

On the basis of all of the above, we ask you to:

• Immediately restore access to primary health care to everyone who has arrived since July 2019 and continues to arrive, by restoring access to the social security number (AMKA), by activating the Temporary Number of Insurance and Health Care number or any other equivalent scheme.
• Review the existing legal framework (Law 4636/2019) of the asylum procedure, including by amending the provisions on the inclusion of vulnerable groups in the fast-track border procedures and in expanded use of detention, the provisions on lists of “safe third countries”, which in no way reverse the obligation of the State to examine asylum applications on their merits regardless of the country of origin or previous residence of asylum seekers. Particular emphasis should be given to the effective respect for the right to a fair examination of asylum applications, and in particular to the right of effective recourse in the spirit and letter of national, European and international law and related case law.
• Ensure adequate housing infrastructure in dignified conditions through rational use of existing European funds.
• Take immediate action to protect all unaccompanied minors, to the extent of your jurisdiction, in co-operation with the relevant ministries.
• Immediately and effectively decongest the islands by transferring people to dignified accommodation, based on the needs of each population group.
• Remove barriers to labour market and education integration so that refugees can quickly be included in and contribute to local communities.

In closing, we would like to express our willingness to work with the authorities to establish a fair and humane system of reception, protection and integration. We hope that your mandate will be the basis for a change in attitude, reversing the climate of discrimination and xenophobia that has arisen, and assisting in raising awareness of the fact that, providing refugees with access to healthcare, education and employment represents a benefit for the country, public health and national economy.

The signatory organizations:

ΑCTIONAID

ARSIS

DANISH REFUGEE COUNCIL

DIOTIMA

ELIX

GREEK COUNCIL FOR REFUGEES

GREEK LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE

HIAS GREECE

HUMANRIGHTS360

ΜΕLISSA NETWORK

MEDECINS DU MONDE (DOCTORS OF THE WORLD)

NETWORK FOR CHILDREN’S RIGHTS

PRAKSIS

REFUGEE SUPPORT AEGEAN

SOLIDARITYNOW

TERRE DES HOMMES HELLAS

In recent weeks, the Racist Violence Recording Network (RVRN) has witnessed an increasing number of xenophobic and racist incidents, targeting the transfers of asylum seekers to reception facilities. These incidents may be committed by small groups from local communities but the wide-spread and organized nature they seem to take, as well as the involvement of officials, are of particular concern to us.

The RVRN has many times in the past emphasized the link between the rise in xenophobia and racist manifestations with both the absence of a coherent migration policy and the prolonged overcrowding on the islands and in accommodation sites (camps) on the mainland, under very precarious conditions, which hinder the smooth integration of refugees and migrants in the Greek society.

We call on the representatives of the State, the local officials but also the media, to abstain from the xenophobic rhetoric that reproduces negative stereotypes and fake news, while normalizing, or at times encouraging, extreme xenophobic reactions.

Any concerns of local communities should not be allowed to be exploited by organized racist groups. Therefore, we urge the State to secure the safe transfer and smooth adaptation of refugees into accommodation facilities and fully implement the anti-racist legislation – in view also of the process to establish the National Council against Racism and Xenophobia – thus sending a clear message that such actions are not tolerated in a country governed by the rule of law.

Finally, specific attention should be paid to inform and support local communities, and manage the problems that may arise.

On 16 May 2019, on the occasion of the Roundtable Conference “Child Protection & EU Funding for migrant populations in Greece: A reality check and the way forward” several child protection experts and migration stakeholders met to discuss the reception system and integration perspectives of children in migration in Greece, from the perspective of EU funding.

The discussion was focused on child protection challenges that the Greek State encountered in the aftermath of the so-called refugee crisis of 2015 that revealed chronic deficiencies of the reception, asylum and child protection systems of the country.

Read the joint NGO recommendations here

Over 100 independent organisations are calling the new European Commission to stop the criminalisation of solidarity with migrants in Europe in a joint statement published today.

The organisations are calling the European Commission and its newly elected head Ursula Von der Leyen to reform the EU Facilitation Directive, which currently allows Member States to criminalise humanitarian aid.

In particular, the signatories wrote:

“Most investigations and formal prosecutions are related to the vague definition of crime in the EU Facilitation Directive which fails to properly distinguish between human smuggling and humanitarian work. But the European Commission has been reluctant to consider the links between the EU Facilitation Directive and the criminalisation of solidarity”.

The statement also refers to a recent study by the European research platform ReSOMA which found at least 158 Europeans have been criminalised for their help towards migrants since 2015.

The signatories wrote:

“The targets include volunteers, activists, NGOs, crew members of rescue ships, migrants’ family members, and also journalists, mayors and priests. The recent arrest of the Sea Watch 3 captain, Carola Rackete, is just the latest example of how people are being blamed for saving migrants’ lives and providing the humanitarian assistance which Member States are unwilling or unable to provide, despite being obliged to according to international and EU law.”

Notes to the editors:

• The signatories to the joint statement include organisations working for human rights and humanitarian aid.
• The full list of signatories is available in the joint statement in attachment.

Read the statement here.

Yesterday, together with 12 other organizations, #SolidarityNow addressed the European institutions and the political, civilian and judicial authorities of Italy, asking them to protect the rights of captain #Carola_Rackete, the people she has rescued, the rule of law and ultimately, the value of solidarity in Europe.
Today we are relieved that justice has been done and Carola, whose only ‘wrongdoing’ was to protect people’s lives, is FREE!
SN has previously taken action against the pan-European trend that criminalizes acts of solidarity, supporting two humanitarian volunteers, Sara Mardini and Seán Binder when they were arrested for helping people arriving safely to Lesvos islands, in 2018. Through close collaboration with other organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, we worked towards their release from pre-trial detention. #FreeCarola #FreeCarolaRackete

Read here the appeal

Dominika Spyratou is an Advocacy Officer with SOLIDARITYNOW, an organisation supporting those most affected bythe economic and humanitarian crises in Greece. She looks back on the launch of an important new report on the country that took place in May.  Dominika is a mentee  in the Social Change Initiative’s (SCI) migration mentoring programme – this programme provides mentoring support to leaders working on migration in six countries.