Greece
toughens asylum rules as migrant arrivals rise
Lawmakers
pass law that aid groups say compromises the right to international protection.
By NEKTARIA
STAMOULI 10/31/19, 1:22 PM CET Updated 11/1/19, 1:20 AM CET
Migrants
with a child, helped by rescuers arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos | Aris
Messinis/AFP via Getty Images
ATHENS — As
Greece grapples with a rising number of refugees and migrants arriving at its
shores, the country's conservative government is pushing for tougher asylum
legislation.
In the
early hours of Friday, the Greek parliament voted in favor of a controversial
bill introducing sweeping changes to the national asylum system, including
cutting some options for appeal and facilitating the deportation of failed
asylum seekers. The governing New Democracy party and the Socialist “Movement
of Change” party backed the new law.
Proponents
say the legislation will streamline and shorten the asylum process, but
international organizations — including the United Nations Refugee Agency
(UNHCR) — warn that it will reduce safeguards for people seeking international
protection.
Michalis
Chrysochoidis, the minister for citizen protection, told POLITICO the new rules
are "simply a precise adoption and implementation of the European [asylum]
directive and the Union's asylum legislation."
He added:
"It aims to achieve speeding up asylum procedures, respect by asylum
seekers of the country's laws and the rules set by the authorities, respect of
their human rights and cooperation between them and the Greek authorities.”
The cases
of unaccompanied minors and other vulnerable asylum seekers will be subject to
accelerated procedures, which aid groups say lack the necessary safeguards.
Critics,
however, say the procedural changes would impede access to asylum and
compromise the right of appeal.
Philippe
Leclerc, UNHCR's representative in Greece, said ahead of the passage of the
bill that it “introduces stringent procedural requirements and formalities
which an asylum seeker cannot reasonably be expected to fulfill."
He warned
the new legislation "may not be in compliance with" European law,
adding that the reform introduces unreasonable obstacles to receiving
international protection.
“It puts an
excessive burden on asylum seekers and focuses on punitive measures,” Leclerc
said. “For instance, if [applicants] do not observe certain procedural formalities,
their asylum claim will be considered implicitly withdrawn and rejected,
without being examined on substance."
Campaigners
are worried about unaccompanied minors
He added:
"In some circumstances, it will be so difficult to appeal against a
rejection that the right to an effective remedy, enshrined in international and
EU law, will be seriously compromised."
Controversial
reforms
Refugee
advocates are also concerned the new law allows for a longer period of detention
— enabling authorities to detain asylum seekers for as long as 18 months, up
from three months — and warn that some provisions may severely limit the right
to family unity.
The cases
of unaccompanied minors and other vulnerable asylum seekers will be subject to
accelerated procedures, which aid groups say lack the necessary safeguards. In
addition, post-traumatic stress disorder will no longer qualify an applicant
for "vulnerable" status.
The
government has already tightened access to some benefits for asylum seekers.
One of its first steps after winning this summer's general election was to
cancel legislation that granted unrestricted access to Greece's public health
system to foreigners, including asylum seekers, by providing them with a social
security number.
Having a
social security number also meant asylum seekers were able to search for and
take up a job under the same legal conditions as citizens and residents in
Greece.
Villagers
in northern Greece blocked asylum seekers from moving into local hotels by
throwing rocks at the buses carrying them.
“Granting a
social security number to everyone and giving them access to the labor market
was an unbearable luxury,” said Chrysochoidis, the minister.
But he said
asylum seekers would still be able to access health care services simply by
showing their documents. Moreover, he added, they would be able to start
looking for a job after six months in Greece if their asylum application had
not already been rejected.
Rising
arrival numbers
The asylum
reform comes as Greece has once again become Europe's main entry point for
migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean.
In 2015, at
the height of the European refugee crisis, hundreds of thousands crossed the
Aegean Sea, but numbers dropped drastically following the EU-Turkey migration
agreement in March 2016. In all of 2018, UNHCR in Greece counted about 50,000
arrivals.
But in the
first 10 months of this year, more than 55,000 people have arrived in Greece,
with most traveling via Turkey and the Aegean Sea to its easternmost islands.
That's more than the arrivals in Italy and Spain combined, which together saw
around 35,000 people arrive in the same time period.
Amid the
spike in numbers — sea arrivals surged past 10,000 in September for the first
time since 2016 — conditions on Greece's islands have deteriorated sharply.
Nearly
35,000 people are currently living in squalid conditions in the islands'
overflowing camps, which are designed to house only about a third of that
number.
The
government wants to alleviate the situation on the islands by moving some
20,000 people to the mainland by the end of this year, housing one half in
hotels and apartments and transferring the other half into tents within unused
military or industrial facilities.
These
plans, however, have been met with opposition from local authorities and
hoteliers. And among the Greek public, too, the prospect of asylum seekers
settling on the mainland has prompted protests.
Last week,
villagers in northern Greece blocked asylum seekers from moving into local
hotels by throwing rocks at the buses carrying them, forcing the authorities to
look for an alternative place to house them. Videos on social media earlier
this month showed locals and city council members in a town hall meeting in an
affluent Athens suburb reacting with anger and contempt to the idea of hosting
asylum seekers.
For Gabriel
Sakellaridis, Amnesty International's executive director in Greece, the new
asylum law is a reflection of a growing "toxic" climate in the
country.
"The
toxicity in public narrative and the cultivation of a xenophobic climate
identifying people coming to our country as 'invaders' is an exceptionally
negative development," he said during a press conference earlier this
week.
Chrysochoidis,
meanwhile, blames Turkey and the inaction of Greece's fellow EU members.
“Local
communities are afraid and react, because they realize that Greece is alone on
this issue. The problem continues unabated and the country cannot resist,” he
said.
He urged
other EU states to take in a share of asylum seekers, echoing Prime Minister
Kyriakos Mitsotakis' demand for an end to voluntary burden-sharing within the
bloc.
“Europe has
rules," Chrysochoidis said. "If its members don't follow them, but
act only voluntarily, then this Union simply cannot move forward."
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