Given the difficulties asylum seekers face to open bank accounts, Solidarity Now’s General Manager, Epaminondas Farmakis, in a letter to the Ministries of Finance, Economy and Migration Policy on 8/12/2016, asked for their intervention in order for Greek banks to comply with the principle of legality and ensure the unhindered allocation of bank accounts to all people who meet the legal requirements in the country.

SolidarityNow  has welcomed the legislation on asylum seekers’ access to the labor market, a development for which we fought together with other organizations. In this context, we actively support the access of our beneficiaries in employment either in our own programs or in the wider labor market.

However, our financial services have recently faced the denial of certain banks to open a bank account for asylum seekers although they have all the necessary documents, under the pretext that the asylum seeker card has an expiry date. We note that banks do not have the right to deprive asylum seekers of the rights they have under the national and European legislation.

SolidarityNow sent out a letter to the competent authorities and requests to provide guidance in order the problem to be solved.

Επιστολή

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.

The recent accident at the Moria refugee camp on Lesvos that took the lives of two refugees was not just an unfortunate coincidence. It is linked to the living conditions that people are exposed to in a government-run facility which ought to adhere to specific safety standards. How can these standards be met though when the Ministry of Migration Policy has not shown any interest in drafting operational rules, which include security and fire safety policies, for any of the camps on the islands or mainland Greece? Moreover, these facilities, both open and closed, are managed by people appointed by the ministry through ad hoc procedures, without an open call, without any required qualifications or specific responsibilities, and of course without any regulations that managers can adhere to.

The situation in Greece’s camps, where safety is a crucial living condition, is beyond the limits of human endurance. Refugee safety should be a separate aspect of migration policy, as it is also important for wider Greek society. In this specific terrible incident, as well as in similar incidents that preceded it including the firebombing of refugee tents in Chios, the managers and the government bear responsibility. Those politically and administratively liable should assume their responsibility and address, even if retrospectively, these inadequacies. The investigation of criminal liability, which we expect to take place, will certainly bring a new dimension to this issue.

Whilst applicants for international protection have the right of access to the Greek labour market and to health care, and the necessary condition for the realization of these rights is the possession of a Social Security Number (AMKA), very often the relevant authorities do not grant Social Security Numbers for these people. For this reason, Solidarity Now, in a letter asked the responsible authorities to intervene in order to ensure the Administration’s compliance and the unhindered granting of AMKA to all people who meet the legal requirements throughout the country.

Social Security Number

Yesterday, the Turkish police raided houses and arrested leaders and MPs of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), the second biggest opposition party of the country. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the arrests were made in respect to the rule of law, although HDP claims that the detainees were refused access to lawyer, while social media are reportedly blocked since yesterday.

The situation in Turkey is extremely worrisome: from the suffocating restriction of the liberty of expression and of press, to the violent repression of demonstrations, the suspension of implementation of the European Convention for Human Rights, the massive dismissals of public servants, and the reported tortures against the detainees after the coup; Turkey is gradually violating all procedural guarantees of a democratic country.

Given that soon the question of the extradition of the eight Turkish military officers will be discussed before the Greek judiciary, SolidarityNow stresses that no European country until today has extradited people who are at risk of torture or inhumane and degrading treatment. Also, no European country until today has extradited people to a state that doesn’t adhere to the basic rules of a fair trial, i.e. the uninhibited access to legal counsel and judgment by an impartial court made up of judges with guaranteed personal and operational independence. It is clear that Greece cannot bypass basic human rights which comprise the core of human dignity in order to pursue political objectives.

Regarding the asylum process, the Greek Minister of Migration Policy stated today that “the question whether Turkey remains a safe country after the arrest of HDP official is not valid. Greece applies all the principles of the asylum system, which means that the examination of asylum claims is personal, ad hoc”. SolidarityNow reminds that the principle of the individualized asylum process means that the Greek authorities are obliged to examine the individual circumstances of each case, not that they can only examine cases that they believe are politically useful.

As a civil society organization implementing a variety of projects that provide accommodation, legal and psychosocial support to migrants and refugees during the reception crisis faced in Greece, SolidarityNow submits its comments on the draft legislation of the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction, that transposes the Directive of the European Parliament and the Council of 26 June 2013 laying down standards for the reception of applicants for international protection (recast).

Read the full text in Greek.

Statement on the pre-registration process for refugees

SolidarityNow supports governmental efforts to confront the existing refugee crisis while respecting ‪‎humanrights.

“We welcome the procedure of pre-registration which began a few days ago and which will grant access to ‪‎asylum procedures to all those that wish to partake in the process. The participants in the pre-registration procedure will receive a certificate of legal temporary residency in ‪Greece and of access to basic services,” says Epaminondas Farmakis, Managing Director of SolidarityNow. However, he also stresses that: “We cannot overlook a crucial loophole that exists in this procedure and that unfortunately challenges efforts to integrate the people on the move: the certificate given to those who have been registered does not permit access to the labor market”.

At SolidarityNow, we have already hired ‪#‎refugees for our projects, mostly for interpretation positions, where there is already significant difficulty in finding adequate workforce. Therefore, we have seen firsthand how beneficial the aforementioned procedure is for the integration of refugees in our country, given the fact that it offers them the opportunity to become independent and to lead a dignified life.

This legal gap must be addressed immediately!