Greece
20.01.03
Urgent Interventions
Greece: illegal detention and ill-treatment of aliens and asylum seekers, including two children
Case GRC 200103 / GRC 200103.CC
URGENT APPEAL / CHILD CONCERN
Arbitrary detention / ill-treatment
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Greece.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by Greek Helsinki Monitor, a member of the OMCT network, of the systematic and potentially very widespread detention for longer than the 3-month lawful maximum detention period, of aliens who have entered Greece illegally, as well as the unlawful and irregular treatment of asylum seekers, notably the forced transfer of 30 applicants from the Rhodes reception centre to Athens on December 27th, 2002 without any provisions having been made for their hosting upon arrival. This lack of provisions has reportedly resulted in 7 men and 2 children aged between 7-8, who could not be accommodated by Medecins du Monde and the Sisters of Calcutta, being left homeless in freezing conditions. In addition 9 more of them were left homeless on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day 2003, while 3 more persons followed on January 3rd, 2003.
Reports indicate that 30 aliens and asylum seekers, comprising 12 aliens arrested in Simi on September 6th), 2002 (10 from Afghanistan and 2 from Iran) and 18 aliens (all from Afghanistan), who had been arrested in Rhodes on September 8th, 2002, had completed three months of detention in a temporary refugee detention facility but were still being detained in Rhodes, and this despite claims from Konstantinos Boutsikos, the Public Prosecutor in Rhodes, that on December 24th, 2002 he gave an oral order to Hellenic Police (EL.AS.) to terminate the unlawful detention of aliens beyond the three-month period.
These 30 aliens were reportedly released by EL.AS. in Rhodes, in the most unacceptable of ways, on December 26th, 2002. EL.AS released the 30 aliens, but also forced them to immediately board the boat to Piraeus Port, threatening that they would not receive their pink cards if they did not comply. When they arrived at Piraeus, on the morning of December 27th, 2002, EL.AS. informed them that they should find themselves a place to stay, and the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) reportedly stated its complete inability to take any measures and requested that the aliens visit them the following week, in order to deal with them at that time. This occurred despite standard procedure guidelines, under which the Ministry of Public Order should first alert the Ministry for Health, which should in turn alert GCR, and a hosting area should be found before any transfer of aliens can be performed. Thanks to the hospitality of Medecins Du Monde and the Sisters of Calcutta, the women and some of the children were sheltered at their centres, however, 7 men and 2 young boys aged 7-8 were left homeless in very cold temperatures for several days and nights before they were able to find adequate shelter.
12 more aliens have reportedly been detained illegally in Rhodes by EL.AS. The group comprises citizens of Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan who entered Greece unlawfully on September 22nd, 2002 via the island of Simi. On October 10th, 2002, they were transferred to Rhodes and immediately filed asylum applications. They were detained for over three months by EL.AS., in the same facility, instead of being provided with the necessary pink cards and released, as should be the case with asylum seekers. EL.AS. claims that following the end of the three-month period, they were regarded as being "under supervision" rather than in detention, although those who requested to leave the premises have not been allowed to do so. Furthermore, an alien who left without permission was reportedly arrested by EL.AS.
The 12 asylum-seekers were released from detention on December 31st, 2002, but were forced to board the boat departing at 8 pm. from Rhodes to the Piraeus Port, Athens, and told to then present themselves at the Medecins Du Monde Refugee Reception Center, which was not informed of their arrival and did not have the capacity to host them. EL.AS. in Rhodes agreed for only three of the aliens to remain in the reception centre in Rhodes, but the remaining 9 boarded the ship and only arrived in Piraeus at 1:30 in the morning on January 2nd, 2003, with the prospect of spending at least the first few days of 2003 homeless in Athens. The three persons who had been allowed to stay in Rhodes were reportedly shipped to Pireaus without a place to stay on January 2nd, 2003.
Before their departure, each person was served a two-page document in Greek, which they could not read, granting the 12 asylum-seekers temporary residence permits in Greece for a six month duration, starting on December 22nd, 2002 – the end of their legal three-month detention period. Therefore, EL.AS., by detaining them 10 additional days over the three-month period, was not only breaching the law but was also in contempt of the General Secretariat of the South Aegean Region’s decision which EL.AS itself had requested.
Six more asylum seekers that had been detained by the police authorities in Rhodes since October 14th, 2003, when they entered illegally Greece, were also released, with a day of delay, after the expiry of the three month detention limit, on January 15th, 2003. The names of all the afore-mentioned persons are available upon request.
Moreover, EL.AS in Rhodes reportedly refused to receive the applications of asylum-seekers that arrived in three groups after mid-October 2002, an action that is against the law and has reportedly been criticized by the Greek Ombudsman when it had previously happened in Rhodes in early 2002 (one of the groups comprising 13 persons should be released on January 19th, 2003 when they complete three months of detention).
Furthermore, the police authorities in Rhodes - ignoring relevant recommendations made by the Ombudsman and claiming to be acting on an official order from the Ministry of Public Order - on January 7th, 2003 denied access to the detention area to a representative of the Rehabilitation Centre of Torture Victims of Rhodes (also visiting under her capacity of GHM representative), although four detainees had specifically asked her to visit them, as she spoke their mother-tongues. One of the asylum seekers had kidney pain, which increased considerably after he had allegedly been ill-treated by a drunk policeman during his detention on the island of Simi, while another had reported blood in his urine.
In addition, there are also reports indicating that around 1,000 aliens who also entered Greece illegally and are being hosted in the area of Thrace, are being held in conditions that constitute ill-treatment, with many of them thought to be being held beyond the 3-month period. Similar information was reported in the mainstream newspaper “Eleftherotypia” on December 23rd, 2002 for some 100 asylum seekers in the island of Chios. A great number of them have reportedly been detained for more than three months.
The International Secretariat of OMCT therefore requests that the Greek authorities take all necessary measures to guarantee the rights of all aliens and asylum-seekers, in particular by providing the currently homeless individuals in question with appropriate shelter. OMCT urges the authorities to make sure that such persons are accommodated as soon as possible, as was finally the case with two children between the ages of 7 and 8. Furthermore, OMCT requests that the authorities ensure that unlawful detention exceeding the three-month period in all of Greece’s reception centres, such as that found in Rhodes, be immediately halted, as this represents violations of both Greek law and European and International human rights laws and standards. OMCT recalls that Greece currently holds the EU Presidency and has announced that amongst its priorities is the issue of refugees and immigrants. In light of this, OMCT calls upon the Greek authorities and the Greek Ombudsman to launch an immediate investigation into the afore-mentioned violations and that the authorities immediately release all aliens being detained illegally throughout Greece.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in Greece urging them to:
i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the above-mentioned aliens and asylum-seekers, notably those who are without shelter;
ii. guarantee an immediate investigation into the circumstances of these events, identify those responsible, bring them before a civil competent and impartial tribunal and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions provided by law, and provide those detained illegally with adequate compensation as prescribed by law;
iii. take all necessary measures to ensure that aliens who enter illegally in Greece are treated with full respect of human rights; that their asylum applications are duly accepted and registered; that they are not detained while awaiting answers to those applications and in any way beyond the lawful three months, and that they are provided with adequate shelter;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws international human rights standards, particularly the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Addresses
· Constantine Simitis, Prime Minister, Prime Minister’s Office at the Hellenic Parliament, Greek Parliament Blgd, Constitution Square, Athens / Greece, Fax: +30 210 724 17 76, Email: Mail@primeminister.gr
· Filippos Petsalnikos, Minister of Justice, Ministry of Justice, Mesogeion 96, Athens 115 27 / Greece, Fax: +30 210 775 58 35
· George Papandreou, Foreign Minister Athens, Fax: 30 210 36 81 433, Email: gpap@mfa.gr
· Mihalis Hrysohoidis, Minister of Public Order, Athens, Greece, Fax: + 30 210 6917944
· George Kaminis, Deputy Ombudsman for Human Rights, Fax 30 210 7289643
Please also write to the embassies of Greece in your respective country.
Geneva, January 20th, 2003
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
URGENT APPEAL / CHILD CONCERN
Arbitrary detention / ill-treatment
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Greece.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by Greek Helsinki Monitor, a member of the OMCT network, of the systematic and potentially very widespread detention for longer than the 3-month lawful maximum detention period, of aliens who have entered Greece illegally, as well as the unlawful and irregular treatment of asylum seekers, notably the forced transfer of 30 applicants from the Rhodes reception centre to Athens on December 27th, 2002 without any provisions having been made for their hosting upon arrival. This lack of provisions has reportedly resulted in 7 men and 2 children aged between 7-8, who could not be accommodated by Medecins du Monde and the Sisters of Calcutta, being left homeless in freezing conditions. In addition 9 more of them were left homeless on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day 2003, while 3 more persons followed on January 3rd, 2003.
Reports indicate that 30 aliens and asylum seekers, comprising 12 aliens arrested in Simi on September 6th), 2002 (10 from Afghanistan and 2 from Iran) and 18 aliens (all from Afghanistan), who had been arrested in Rhodes on September 8th, 2002, had completed three months of detention in a temporary refugee detention facility but were still being detained in Rhodes, and this despite claims from Konstantinos Boutsikos, the Public Prosecutor in Rhodes, that on December 24th, 2002 he gave an oral order to Hellenic Police (EL.AS.) to terminate the unlawful detention of aliens beyond the three-month period.
These 30 aliens were reportedly released by EL.AS. in Rhodes, in the most unacceptable of ways, on December 26th, 2002. EL.AS released the 30 aliens, but also forced them to immediately board the boat to Piraeus Port, threatening that they would not receive their pink cards if they did not comply. When they arrived at Piraeus, on the morning of December 27th, 2002, EL.AS. informed them that they should find themselves a place to stay, and the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) reportedly stated its complete inability to take any measures and requested that the aliens visit them the following week, in order to deal with them at that time. This occurred despite standard procedure guidelines, under which the Ministry of Public Order should first alert the Ministry for Health, which should in turn alert GCR, and a hosting area should be found before any transfer of aliens can be performed. Thanks to the hospitality of Medecins Du Monde and the Sisters of Calcutta, the women and some of the children were sheltered at their centres, however, 7 men and 2 young boys aged 7-8 were left homeless in very cold temperatures for several days and nights before they were able to find adequate shelter.
12 more aliens have reportedly been detained illegally in Rhodes by EL.AS. The group comprises citizens of Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan who entered Greece unlawfully on September 22nd, 2002 via the island of Simi. On October 10th, 2002, they were transferred to Rhodes and immediately filed asylum applications. They were detained for over three months by EL.AS., in the same facility, instead of being provided with the necessary pink cards and released, as should be the case with asylum seekers. EL.AS. claims that following the end of the three-month period, they were regarded as being "under supervision" rather than in detention, although those who requested to leave the premises have not been allowed to do so. Furthermore, an alien who left without permission was reportedly arrested by EL.AS.
The 12 asylum-seekers were released from detention on December 31st, 2002, but were forced to board the boat departing at 8 pm. from Rhodes to the Piraeus Port, Athens, and told to then present themselves at the Medecins Du Monde Refugee Reception Center, which was not informed of their arrival and did not have the capacity to host them. EL.AS. in Rhodes agreed for only three of the aliens to remain in the reception centre in Rhodes, but the remaining 9 boarded the ship and only arrived in Piraeus at 1:30 in the morning on January 2nd, 2003, with the prospect of spending at least the first few days of 2003 homeless in Athens. The three persons who had been allowed to stay in Rhodes were reportedly shipped to Pireaus without a place to stay on January 2nd, 2003.
Before their departure, each person was served a two-page document in Greek, which they could not read, granting the 12 asylum-seekers temporary residence permits in Greece for a six month duration, starting on December 22nd, 2002 – the end of their legal three-month detention period. Therefore, EL.AS., by detaining them 10 additional days over the three-month period, was not only breaching the law but was also in contempt of the General Secretariat of the South Aegean Region’s decision which EL.AS itself had requested.
Six more asylum seekers that had been detained by the police authorities in Rhodes since October 14th, 2003, when they entered illegally Greece, were also released, with a day of delay, after the expiry of the three month detention limit, on January 15th, 2003. The names of all the afore-mentioned persons are available upon request.
Moreover, EL.AS in Rhodes reportedly refused to receive the applications of asylum-seekers that arrived in three groups after mid-October 2002, an action that is against the law and has reportedly been criticized by the Greek Ombudsman when it had previously happened in Rhodes in early 2002 (one of the groups comprising 13 persons should be released on January 19th, 2003 when they complete three months of detention).
Furthermore, the police authorities in Rhodes - ignoring relevant recommendations made by the Ombudsman and claiming to be acting on an official order from the Ministry of Public Order - on January 7th, 2003 denied access to the detention area to a representative of the Rehabilitation Centre of Torture Victims of Rhodes (also visiting under her capacity of GHM representative), although four detainees had specifically asked her to visit them, as she spoke their mother-tongues. One of the asylum seekers had kidney pain, which increased considerably after he had allegedly been ill-treated by a drunk policeman during his detention on the island of Simi, while another had reported blood in his urine.
In addition, there are also reports indicating that around 1,000 aliens who also entered Greece illegally and are being hosted in the area of Thrace, are being held in conditions that constitute ill-treatment, with many of them thought to be being held beyond the 3-month period. Similar information was reported in the mainstream newspaper “Eleftherotypia” on December 23rd, 2002 for some 100 asylum seekers in the island of Chios. A great number of them have reportedly been detained for more than three months.
The International Secretariat of OMCT therefore requests that the Greek authorities take all necessary measures to guarantee the rights of all aliens and asylum-seekers, in particular by providing the currently homeless individuals in question with appropriate shelter. OMCT urges the authorities to make sure that such persons are accommodated as soon as possible, as was finally the case with two children between the ages of 7 and 8. Furthermore, OMCT requests that the authorities ensure that unlawful detention exceeding the three-month period in all of Greece’s reception centres, such as that found in Rhodes, be immediately halted, as this represents violations of both Greek law and European and International human rights laws and standards. OMCT recalls that Greece currently holds the EU Presidency and has announced that amongst its priorities is the issue of refugees and immigrants. In light of this, OMCT calls upon the Greek authorities and the Greek Ombudsman to launch an immediate investigation into the afore-mentioned violations and that the authorities immediately release all aliens being detained illegally throughout Greece.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in Greece urging them to:
i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the above-mentioned aliens and asylum-seekers, notably those who are without shelter;
ii. guarantee an immediate investigation into the circumstances of these events, identify those responsible, bring them before a civil competent and impartial tribunal and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions provided by law, and provide those detained illegally with adequate compensation as prescribed by law;
iii. take all necessary measures to ensure that aliens who enter illegally in Greece are treated with full respect of human rights; that their asylum applications are duly accepted and registered; that they are not detained while awaiting answers to those applications and in any way beyond the lawful three months, and that they are provided with adequate shelter;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws international human rights standards, particularly the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Addresses
· Constantine Simitis, Prime Minister, Prime Minister’s Office at the Hellenic Parliament, Greek Parliament Blgd, Constitution Square, Athens / Greece, Fax: +30 210 724 17 76, Email: Mail@primeminister.gr
· Filippos Petsalnikos, Minister of Justice, Ministry of Justice, Mesogeion 96, Athens 115 27 / Greece, Fax: +30 210 775 58 35
· George Papandreou, Foreign Minister Athens, Fax: 30 210 36 81 433, Email: gpap@mfa.gr
· Mihalis Hrysohoidis, Minister of Public Order, Athens, Greece, Fax: + 30 210 6917944
· George Kaminis, Deputy Ombudsman for Human Rights, Fax 30 210 7289643
Please also write to the embassies of Greece in your respective country.
Geneva, January 20th, 2003
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.