• Human Rights in Greece

    Xenophobic violence has reached alarming proportions with gangs regularly attacking migrants and asylum seekers.  The attackers are rarely arrested, and police inaction is the rule. Access to asylum procedures remains difficult, and the recognition rate for refugee status remains one of the lowest in Europe despite some reforms. Additionally, legislative changes allow migrants and asylum seekers to be detained on excessively broad public health grounds. The far-right party Golden Dawn, known for its anti-immigrant stance, entered parliament in June. The government published personal information, including HIV status, of alleged sex workers following their arrests.

  • A Malta patrol boat carrying 76 African immigrants, fleeing Libya, arrive in Malta on June 1, 2011.
    © 2011 Reuters
    EU: Step Up Sea Rescues to Save Lives
    The deaths of scores of migrants and asylum seekers in the Mediterranean over the past 48 hours should prompt concerted European Union action to limit further deaths in the Mediterranean.
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Greece

  • EU: Provide Protection for Syrian Refugees
    Dec 23, 2012
    The European Union and its member states should do more to help the thousands of Syrian asylum seekers trying to reach Europe as the Syrian crisis worsens and winter sets in.
  • Greece: Drop Blasphemy Investigation Over Play
    Nov 19, 2012
    The Athens public prosecutor’s office should drop its criminal blasphemy investigation relating to a play depicting Jesus Christ and his apostles as gay.
  • Greece: Strengthen Proposal for Hate Crime Units
    Nov 13, 2012
    New police units to address racist violence need a strong mandate, proper staff, and clear guidelines, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the Greek minister for public order and citizen protection, Nikos Dendias.
  • Greece: Letter to Greek Minister of Public Order on Specialized Hate Crime Units
    Nov 13, 2012
    We write to provide our support for your initiative to create special police units to address racist violence. We take this opportunity to share our observations on the draft decree and to recommend the crucial steps we believe are necessary to ensure these units are effective in curbing the alarming phenomenon of xenophobic violence in Greece.
  • Greece Needs 'Zero Tolerance' Approach to Police Violence
    Oct 17, 2012
    Recent allegations about police abuse of protesters in Greece were saddening but not surprising – and it is vital that the government sends a strong message that it is taking the issue seriously.
  • Greece: Investigate Allegations of Torture in Custody
    Oct 11, 2012
    The public prosecutor in Greece should act swiftly to investigate allegations that police tortured protesters detained at the Attica General Police Directorate (GADA).
  • EU: Step Up Sea Rescues to Save Lives
    Sep 7, 2012
    The deaths of scores of migrants and asylum seekers in the Mediterranean over the past 48 hours should prompt concerted European Union action to limit further deaths in the Mediterranean.
  • Greece: Halt Mass Migrant Round-Ups
    Aug 8, 2012

    The Greek authorities’ ongoing sweeps targeting suspected migrants based on little more than their physical appearance violate international standards.

  • Greece’s Other Crisis: Xenophobic Violence
    Jul 13, 2012
    “I realized it is so easy to die here. We came from so far away and it is so easy to get killed here,” Ali Rahimi, an Afghan asylum seeker, told us after he was stabbed five times in the torso in September 2011.
  • Greece: Migrants Describe Fear on the Streets
    Jul 10, 2012
    The Greek authorities are failing to tackle a rising wave of xenophobic violence that has left migrants afraid to walk the streets.
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