PRESS RELEASE
REPORT ON NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE'S ACTIVITIES:
DEMONISATION OF MIGRATION AS A THREAT TO THE COUNTRY AND TARGETING OF THE
ACTIVITIES OF ORGANISATIONS DEFENDING HUMAN RIGHTS
Athens, 10 December 2023
"Illegal" immigration is described as the fourth in a row
threat to the country's security by the National Intelligence Agency (EYP) in
its 2022-2023 activity report recently published by the Agency.[1]
In the first ever report in its history that it has compiled, although,
as it says, "for a number of reasons that refer to our troubled history
of civil wars and dictatorial, or even authoritarian, regimes, the EYP still
has a lot of work to do to attain in the common consciousness the position it
should have as a national state institution in the service of the state and the
people as a whole", the Agency again seems to adhere to the logic of
fabricating internal enemies that threaten the security of the country.
Thus, successively, following external threats, espionage activities,
terrorism and violent extremism, it is "illegal" immigration that
threatens the security of the country, in fact, ahead from organized crime and
cybersecurity.
According to the Agency, this threat lies in the "instrumentalization
of the drama of thousands of people seeking a better fate by unscrupulous
traffickers and illegal organized crime rings, acting with the tolerance,
encouragement or cooperation of third parties, both governmental and non-governmental,"
thus leading to "difficult to manage situations with a wider social and
deeply human dimension".
It is indeed of concern that an Agency whose purpose is "to
prevent, deter, contain and neutralize the espionage and militant threat in
order to protect the country and defend national interests" includes
"illegal" immigration as one of the main threats to the country's
security. This is all the more so when this irregular - 'illegal' according to
the Service - immigration leads to the granting of international protection
status to 66.5 % of all applicants, according to the official data available,
in fact from the first instance procedure,[2] and has a broader social and profoundly human dimension.
The Agency even boasts that "during the period covered by this
report, ... it has been instrumental .... in documenting and establishing the
controversial, even criminal, role of certain members of NGOs."
Moreover, although the Agency states that it was primarily concerned with
"attempts to infiltrate migrant populations with terrorist elements,
their radicalizing tendencies and their use for destabilizing actions",
two of the three examples which it mentions in the report that it provided its
services relate to cases of criminalization of NGO members' actions.
As members of the Civil Society who are fighting, struggling and
supporting the right to asylum of all persecuted people who peacefully attempt
to seek protection in our country and consequently throughout Europe, we cannot
but be concerned by the targeting, once again, of organizations involved in
supporting refugees and migrants by state agencies, especially by the EYP. The
equation of NGOs involved in supporting refugees and migrants with external
threats, espionage activities, terrorist organizations or organized crime
cannot but infuriate us.
The report on the activities of the EYP is yet another attempt to
demonize and devalue[3] the work of those who attempt to defend human rights in our country.[4] Treating immigration as a threat to the security of the country provides
an alibi for further targeting and criminalizing the actions of individuals and
organizations defending human rights, targeting migrants and refugees,
dangerously fostering xenophobia and racism, and undermining the right of access
to asylum, thus damaging the foundations of the post-war rule of law, which is
the most important achievement in the history of civilization.
CO-SIGNATORIES (in alphabetical order)
ARSIS-Social
Organization for Youth Support http:/arsis. Gr
Equal Rights Beyond Borders athens@equal-rights.org
Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid https://www.fenixaid.org
Greek Council for
Refugees http://www.gcr.gr
Greek Forum of Migrants https://www.migrant.gr/
Greek Forum of Refugees http://www.refugees.gr
Greek Helsinki
Monitor https://greekhelsinki.wordpress.com
HIAS https://www.hias.org/where/greece
Initiative of
Lawyers and Jurists for Democratic Rights https://pdn-dikaiomata.gr/blog/
Legal Centre
Lesvos https://legalcentrelesvos.org
Mobile
Info Team https://www.mobileinfoteam.org/
Network for Children’s Rights https://ddp.gr
Network for the
Social Support of Refugees and Migrants http://migrant.diktio.org
Refugee Legal Support (RLS) https://www.refugeelegalsupport.org
“To Mov” Panhellenic Women’s Rights Association http://tomov.gr
World without Wars and Violence https://www.kosmosxorispolemous.gr
------------
[1National Intelligence Service Annual Report September 2022–August 2023 (in Greek only)
[2]With another 26.1% not receiving status on procedural
grounds and only 7.4% having their application rejected on substantive grounds.
See. Statistics on International Protection Annex A of the Ministry of
Immigration and Asylum Decade Jan - Oct 2023 in https://migration.gov.gr/en/statistika/
[3]Press
Release of the Campaign for the Access
to Asylum dated 2 June 2023 “Stop the smear campaign against human
rights defenders in Greece”
