On 28 November 2016 due to the accident in Moria’s camp that took the  lives of two refugees, SolidarityNow and 22 other organizations made a joint statement about the living conditions and safety rules in the refugee camps around the country.

We express our deepest concern in relation to the information, complaints and testimonies about violence and abuse by the Hellenic Police in the detention centre in Moria, Lesvos. Visual material depicting scenes of violent, inhuman and degrading treatment towards refugees causes disgust, while information about arbitrary arrests is of great concern.  In addition, the action of citizens who appear, in the same video, to be attacking and severely beating migrants and refugees, under the tolerance of police officers, raises many questions and requires instant investigation by the competent authorities.

The State policies have led to a double dead end: they have left refugees and migrants for months in a miserable situation, while at the same time they are testing the resilience of the inhabitants of the islands.  Repression, police violence, collective temporary custody and threatened heavy convictions on both right- and wrong-doers, plunge even further into this impasse.The harsh criminal treatment of migrants and refugees on the one hand, and the police violence, which no one seems to be disapproving or investigating, on the other hand, cast serious doubts on the level of protection of the rights in our country.We ask the Greek justice to stand up as a guarantor of the rule of law and resist to a climate of attaching collective responsibility as well as seeking of scapegoats.

Υοu can also read the statement in ARABIC

Co-signatories 

Babel DC

Bridges – Humanitarian Initiative

Hellenic League for Human Rights

Caritas Hellas

City of Athens Migrant Integration Council

Generation 2.0 for Rights, Equality & Diversity

Greek Forum of Migrants

Greek Forum of Refugees

HIAS Greece

Melissa: Network of Migrant Women in Greece

Motion for the defence of refugees’ and immigrants’ rights

PR.A.K.S.I.S. – Programmes of Development of Social Support and Medical Co-operation

SolidarityNow

United Afghan’s Community in Greece