REUTERS: Greek NGO's concerned over immigrant attacks and treatment amidst crisis

Greek NGO's concerned over immigrant attacks and treatment amidst crisis

posted 19 Oct 2012 by Mpelembe Admin

Greek refugee organizations say immigrants are targets in the midst of the economic crisis, from in-access to asylum, police sweeps and racist attacks.

ATHENS, GREECE (OCTOBER 19 2012)(REUTERS) -  Non-governmental refugee organizations in Greece said on Friday (October 19) that they were concerned over the state of immigrants in Greece who they say have become scapegoats of the economic crisis.

Organized by the Greek Council for Refugees, many organizations said immigrants are not receiving access to asylum procedures after being swept up by the government in police sweeps and thrown into detention camps, or the bureaucratic process at the asylum centre is unfair or tedious for them.

That they said causes more of them to be refused legal papers putting them into the illegal immigrants category and causing animosity amongst the public where they are currently suffering racist attacks.

"Amidst an economic crisis and recession that tears apart society they (immigrants) become the scapegoats. And of course this approach to the issue of immigrants and refugees does not but feed extreme and racist opinions that have escalated to such a degree that we are talking about racist attacks on a daily basis," said Spiros Rizakis, director of refugee assistance organization Aitima.

To appease the public's anger the previous and current governments have opened detention centres where they bring illegal immigrants after sweeping them off the streets into police vans if they do not have legal documents and putting them in the centres.

"These new sweep operations only result in taking many people and putting them to camps, so this does not solve any problem, because, ok, you put them in camps but after what? what do you do with these people? So this is practically hiding the problem rather than solving it in my opinion." said immigrant lawyer Maria Sfiliotakara.

The immigrants issue has become a controversial topic in Greece after many voted for a far right ultranationalist party in June elections which has been accused of violence against immigrants and openly speaks outs against them. Backing for the Golden Dawn Party, which has been linked to a rise in attacks against migrants in recent months, stood at 14 percent in a poll released on Friday, doubling their score in June elections that gave the party seats in parliament. The party's anti-immigrant message has stuck a chord with many voters angry over crime and ghettos in their neighbourhoods and who are channelling their anger over austerity - that has propelled unemployment - towards the immigrants. Even though Golden Dawn denies it is neo-nazi, it uses a swastika-like emblem and its supporters have been seen giving nazi-style salutes. Party memberEleni Zaroulia said in parliament on Thursday that immigrants were "subhumans" and its members speak openly in negative terms about immigrants. In September members of Golden Dawn violently overturned stalls at a fair in an Athens suburb in Rafina belonging to immigrants, and immigrant and anti-racist groups accuse them of being responsible for recent beatings of immigrants.

http://world-news.mpelembe.net/home/greek-ngo-concerned-over-immigrant-attacks-and-treatment-amidst-crisis

Associated Press: Greek Rights Groups Slam Asylum Process

Greek Rights Groups Slam Asylum Process

By DEREK GATOPOULOS Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece October 19, 2012 (AP)

Human rights groups in Greece are accusing the government of subjecting asylum seekers to a "degrading and illegal" application process that aims to discourage them from formally requesting state protection.
Fourteen local rights groups said Friday that refugees from war zones, including Syria, and other repressive regimes are effectively unable to file for asylum because Greece's main processing center in Athens accepts as few as 20 applications each week. They issued a 50-page report criticizing the process that they are sending to the European Union.
"The process is ridiculous, degrading and illegal," said Efthalia Pappa, a coordinator of the study. "It's an insult to our humanity."
Greece is the EU's busiest entry point for illegal immigrants and asylum seekers, and has already acknowledged that its asylum screening facilities are insufficient.
Hundreds of asylum seekers, including unaccompanied children, are forced to wait in long lines each week without access to food or toilets at the asylum center, Pappa said.
She said researchers found evidence that criminal gangs were controlling who made it to the front of the asylum line and said police used batons and pepper spray on more than one occasion to control the crowds.
In August, Greece launched a crackdown on illegal immigration after the number of detected entries at the Turkish border spiked to around 2,000 per week, according to the EU border protection agency Frontex. The government ordered a mass roundup of suspected illegal immigrants in Greek cities, created new detention sites at old army bases and added 1,800 additional officers to a 600-strong border guard force on the Turkish border.
But long-delayed plans to overhaul the asylum process have not been completed, giving Greece the lowest rate acceptance in the EU. In 2010, some 10,000 immigrants applied for asylum in Greece, but only 3,500 cases were processed and 105 accepted.
Vassilis Kerasiotis, a lawyer who provides free advice to asylum seekers, said the situation was likely to get worse after an administrative court this week approved a government order allowing authorities to double the maximum detention period for suspected illegal immigrants to a year.
"The situation is a total jungle," he said. "The police do not allow themselves to be held accountable because they act on verbal instructions when carrying out the asylum process.
"We have no choice but to complain to the European Union," he said.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/greek-rights-groups-slam-asylum-process-17518681#.UIGSZGecTMd