Development & Aid, Europe, Headlines, Human Rights, Migration & Refugees, Population

RIGHTS: EU Oversees Greece Failing Refugees

Apostolis Fotiadis

ATHENS, Apr 16 2008 (IPS) - EU regulations are giving sanction to Greek government moves to deny rights to refugees. The principal European instrument used against refugees is the Dublin agreement under which the rights of an asylum seeker must be determined in the first member state that he or she enters.

The European Council of Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) has called on all European member states “to follow the example of Norway by immediately suspending Dublin transfers to Greece.”

Norway announced suspension of all transfers under the Dublin Treaty in February. Germany followed by suspending the return of unaccompanied minors.

Under the Dublin agreement, an asylum-seeker who travels on to a more sympathetic country cannot be given asylum there, and there is little hope of getting it in a country like Greece, which along with Italy is often the first destination of refugees coming across the Mediterranean.

The system, which came into force in 1997 and was updated in 2003, aims to prevent applications in multiple member states and to reduce the number of “orbiting” asylum seekers shuttling from one state to another.

“By requiring that those fleeing persecution must claim asylum in the first country they reach, the Dublin system fails to take account of the fact that a person’s chance of being recognised as a refugee varies hugely from one EU country to another. Greece is not a safe place for those in need of protection,” said ECRE Secretary General Bjarte Vandvik.

A report ‘A gamble with the right to asylum in Europe’ published by the Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) underlines the high possibility of mistreatment by Greek authorities.

During the last 15 months the country has been severely criticised for failing to protect human and legal rights of migrants that enter Greece. In November 2007 the German group Pro Asyl exposed the torture of incoming refugees on the Greek-Turkish border by officials from the coast guard.

Greek officials have said they have only a limited capacity in handling refugees. But several groups point out that Greece is being supported by the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU.

“The Commission is strongly committed to helping Greece cope with this pressure,” Friso Roscam Abbing, spokesperson for the Justice, Freedom and Security department of the Commission told IPS. “More than 5.5 million euros have been allocated to Greece under the European Refugee Fund (ERF) in 2000-2007 and over 1.5 million more will be available in 2008. The Commission will pay particular attention to reception conditions.”

Abbing says the Dublin system is not problematic even if the Commission is preparing to amend those regulations in the next few months.

“The Dublin mechanism did not increase or decrease the total number of asylum seekers by more than 5 percent in most member states. In Greece, Malta, Italy, Spain and Slovenia, this proportion was between 3 percent and 6 percent. From January 2005 to June 2007, around 1,200 asylum seekers were sent back to Greece under the Dublin II Regulation. This is a small number.”

The Commission is aware that recognition rates for applicants from the same countries of origin still vary significantly among the member states, Abbing said.

“Nevertheless, we are currently promoting further harmonisation of the EU asylum legislation within the second stage of the Common European Asylum System with a view to ensure that the persons transferred from one member state to another under the Dublin Regulation have equal access to protection.”

On Jan. 31 this year, the Commission took Greece to the European Court of Justice for not complying with Article 3 (1) of the Dublin II Regulation, which requires the responsible member state to examine the substance of asylum applications.

It has also sought clarification on the situation of non-European nationals seeking protection in Greece. In a letter sent to its Permanent Representative before the EU Mar. 6, the Commission asked specifically whether an investigation had been opened into the alleged ill-treatment of such third country nationals in detention facilities.

Still, many believe that legal action by the Commission, and harmonisation of the Common European Asylum System, are unlikely to address the essence of this issue.

GHM legal advisor Spyros Rizakos told IPS that the issue of asylum in Greece is strictly political. “It is a political decision which aims to discourage people from coming to Greece by spreading the message that here they have no hope.

“The conversation about burden sharing and to increase financing is misleading. Of course you do not expect a country to allocate financial and human resources after having taken this decision. Plus there are issues independent of this; mistreatment does not depend on resources.”

 
Republish | | Print |

Related Tags



the struggle for democracy 13th edition