Category: HOMEPAGE

PRESS RELEASE | Completion of the program “Healing Play – Healing Trauma through Play”

Posted on Monday November 27th, 2023

In November 2022, SolidarityNow united its forces with UTech Lab of the Eugenides Foundation to implement an innovative education and empowerment program for displaced children from Ukraine. The program was implemented with funding from the U.S. Embassy in Athens.

The aim of the program was to provide psychological support and organize appropriate educational activities and games to help heal a traumatic experience and strengthen resilience.

As a result of the program, a total of 69 children and 22 adults participated in STEM workshops (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) and other educational activities, while at the same time they were supported by an experienced psychologist at the Athens Solidarity Center of SolidarityNow.

More specifically, in “Healing Play – Healing Trauma through Play” participated:

  • 57 children in 13 educational programs in 6 different STEM subjects
  • 25 children in group psychological sessions
  • 20 adults in individual or group sessions on parental support, while in total
  • 211 educational and psychological sessions were implemented.

“I was thrilled with all the activities, especially those related to technology and mathematics! 3d printing gave me a lot of ideas! It’s cool to print whatever you want”, said Kirillos, 14, after completing another course, while 16-year-old Oleg said: “Taking part in these lessons was the best experience for me! It was like finding my school again, I made friends, we had fun in and out of class. I love technology and mathematics and I learned a lot in these courses, and I see that I can study in this subject!” 

The next step

With the completion of the “Healing Play” program, SolidarityNow continues its collaboration with Ukrainian communities and civil society organizations, aiming to provide continuous support and empowerment of children and adults who are dealing with trauma that suddenly changed the course of their lives.

Infographic – Results

PRESS RELEASE | SolidarityNow & UNHCR Greece: Career Day at the Blue Refugee Center in Thessaloniki

Posted on Tuesday November 21st, 2023

SolidarityNow in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) organize a Career Day focusing on work in Greece for the Ukrainian-speaking population of Thessaloniki, entitled “From Ukraine to Greece: Looking for work in uncharted territory”.

The event will take place on Thursday, November 23rd , 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., at the Blue Refugee Center, in the center of Thessaloniki.

Thematic axes of the conference organized by the Center’s Employability Service team are:

  • the transition to the Greek labor market,
  • the utilization of skills,
  • the ways of searching for a job,
  • the creation of a resume and
  • the job interviews.

Interpretation to and from the Ukrainian language will be provided during the event.

Blue Refugee Center: I. Koletti 25D, Thessaloniki. Tel. 2310 555266. 

The Career Day is organized in the framework of the “BRC Livelihoods” Program, which is implemented by SolidarityNow and funded by the UNHCR.

Joint Statement on Article 5 of the EU Screening Regulation

Posted on Monday November 20th, 2023

The New Pact for Migration and Asylum is currently under the final negotiation stages in the EU institutions.

SolidarityNow along with 82 civil society organizations co-sign the statement asking for the deletion of article 5 from the EU Screening Regulation.

The adoption of this article carries the risk of increasing the racial profiling over the EU’s territory, the arbitrary detention of undocumented people and potential unlawful deportations in violation of the principle of non-refoulement.

“Justice delayed is justice denied”.

Posted on Wednesday November 15th, 2023

The delay in delivering justice in Greece, is an issue often discussed, since it becomes an obstacle to the lives of thousands of Greek citizens affecting even more the most vulnerable social groups. The story of Ms. E.E. is such a case managed by the legal service of the Athens Solidarity Center.

Ms. E.E. came to Greece a decade ago for a better life, believing that here she could create her own family, by entering a relationship with a Greek Citizen and giving birth to their daughter. But the reality turned out to be very different, as the father of her child was already married and refused to recognise his own child. Frustrated, alone, without a job, occasionally hosted by friends, without legal documents and with a 4-year-old girl to look after, Ms. E.E. turned to the legal service of the Athens Solidarity Center to start her life all over again.

In 2019, the Centre’s legal service filed a lawsuit for the recognition of the paternity of her child, after many failed extrajudicial attempts for the voluntary recognition of the child by its father. After multiple and difficult legal battles, the efforts finally bore fruit. Four years later, the decision of the Court of First Instance was delivered, which ruled in favour of the beneficiary of the Centre, Ms. E.E., and recognised the Greek national as the biological father of her child, thus paving the way to claim all the rights provided for by law for her and her child.

* Since August 1st, 2023, the operation of the Athens Solidarity Center is supported by the Swiss-Greek Cooperation Programme | Embassy of Switzerland in Greece to reducing economic and social disparities in the EU and by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum.

**Since August 2022, the Athens Solidarity Center is financed by EEA Grants with ΣΟΛ Crowe and HumanRights360 as the fund operator.

***The Center is also supported by the Municipality of Athens.

ΔΕΛΤΙΟ ΤΥΠΟΥ | Εργαστήριο εκπαίδευσης επαγγελματιών για την εργασιακή ένταξη ασυνόδευτων ανηλίκων στην Θεσσαλονίκη

Posted on Friday November 10th, 2023
Copyright SolidarityNow
Copyright SolidarityNow

Στις 7 Νοεμβρίου πραγματοποιήθηκε στο Κέντρο Υποστήριξης Προσφύγων του SolidarityNow στη Θεσσαλονίκη εκπαιδευτική ημερίδα με τίτλο «Εργαστήριο εκπαίδευσης επαγγελματιών για την εργασιακή ένταξη ασυνόδευτων ανηλίκων». Η εκπαίδευση οργανώθηκε και διεκπεραιώθηκε έπειτα από συνεργασία της Υπηρεσίας Απασχόλησης του SolidarityNow και της Μονάδας Ένταξης & Υποστήριξης Ασυνόδευτων Ανηλίκων της Γενικής Γραμματείας Ευάλωτων Πολιτών και Θεσμικής Προστασίας.

Σκοπός της ημερίδας ήταν η επιμόρφωση των επαγγελματιών που εργάζονται στο πεδίο και πιο συγκεκριμένα στις δομές φιλοξενίας Θεσσαλίας και  Βορείου Ελλάδος.

Σαράντα εργαζόμενοι, είχαν την ευκαιρία να εκφράσουν σκέψεις και προβληματισμούς, καθώς και να ανταλλάξουν απόψεις και καλές πρακτικές. Επίκεντρο της εκπαίδευσης αποτέλεσε η εργασιακή συμβουλευτική, το νομοθετικό πλαίσιο της εργασίας ανηλίκων και η αλληλένδετη σχέση με την εκπαίδευση και την κατάρτιση.

Το ενδιαφέρον εστιάστηκε κυρίως:

– Στις προοπτικές συνέχισης της τυπικής εκπαίδευσης

– Στην εκμάθηση επαγγελματικών όρων της ελληνικής γλώσσας

– Στη μέγιστη υποστήριξη σε ζητήματα γραφειοκρατικών διαδικασιών

– Στη διερεύνηση αναγκών των παιδιών και την αξιοποίησή τους στις ανάλογες δράσεις.

Στο τέλος του εργαστηρίου οι συμμετέχοντες, κατέγραψαν προτεινόμενες δράσεις με στόχο να υλοποιηθούν στο άμεσο μέλλον.

 

PRESS RELEASE | OPENING EVENT OF THE SUPPORT BY THE SWISS-GREECE COOPERATION PROGRAMME TO THE ATHENS SOLIDARITY CENTER

Posted on Friday November 3rd, 2023
Copyright Thodoris Nikolaou

At the Athens Solidarity Center, the event marking the start of a new collaboration between the Special Secretariat for Migration of Switzerland, the Ministry of Migration and Asylum of Greece, and the organization took place yesterday, November 2nd. The event was attended by the Minister of Migration and Asylum, Dimitris Kairidis, the Minister of Justice and Police of Switzerland, Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, and the Mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis.

This event marks the beginning of financial support for the Center from the collaboration program between the two countries for the next three years, ensuring its smooth operation for the benefit of the most vulnerable. The Athens Solidarity Center has been operating since 2014, offering free services to all those in need regardless of criteria. To date, more than 60,000 individuals have benefited from its services.

At the outset of the event, Mr. Dimitris Kairidis, Minister of Migration and Asylum, stated: “It is very important that the work of the Athens Solidarity Center continues at this particular historic point. In our country, efforts have been made to control migration flows, but much more needs to be done for the integration of people into society. No one can achieve this alone; thus, partnerships between stakeholders are of great importance and yield excellent results.”

Following this, Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, Minister of Justice and Police of Switzerland, greeted the event and stated: “Today, I am here to inaugurate an exceptional project, and I am pleased that this Center is part of the Swiss-Greek cooperation program. This project addresses some of Greece’s challenges in migration, ensuring the protection and social inclusion of refugees, asylum seekers, and vulnerable groups, demonstrating the vital role of civil society in supporting these groups.”

In his remarks, Mayor of the City of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis, emphasized that “What is happening is excellent because what SolidarityNow has achieved in Athens serves as an example and a model of what central administration, local government, and Civil Society can offer when they collaborate.”

Finally, the founder and Chairman of the Board of SolidarityNow, Stelios Zavvos, addressed the need for partnerships, emphasizing that “Through support from the Swiss-Greek cooperation program, we are creating a solidarity partnership for the most vulnerable, continuing our work that began 10 years ago with the founding of SolidarityNow and the Athens Solidarity Center. Especially in today’s era plagued by armed conflicts, population displacement, and inequalities, the importance of Civil Society organizations is extremely significant, while the need for a people-centered pan-European asylum system, supporting countries at the borders, and based on solidarity among European states is urgent.”

The event concluded with a brief discussion between Wivine, a beneficiary of the Center from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Theodore Zeis, a lawyer from the legal service, regarding her refugee journey that began in 2019 and the joint efforts of the Center’s staff and herself for integration into Greek society. “I had a difficult life in my homeland. Now, I am here trying to feel safe, to keep my family members who have stayed close to me, and for all of us to live better in Greece together.” Wivine, a mother of five, has lost two of her children, her mother, and her husband on her journey to Europe.

PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT | SolidarityNow: Children sing at the Athens Conservatoire

Posted on Tuesday October 31st, 2023

On Friday, November 3rd, at 6pm, children residing in the accommodation site of Ritsona sing at the Athens Conservatoire, under the direction of Dee Isaacs, Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh and accompanied by the music group Cellos for Change.

The “Windows on the World” concert is supported by SolidarityNow, which operates in the Ritsona accommodation site with educational activities for children and is open to the public.

For the last three years, the organization has been working with Dee Isaacs, who, with the support of the University of Edinburgh, has been implementing the “Windows on the World” project to support children living on sites through performing arts. Over the course of the project, many children have taken part in musical and artistic activities and have found refuge, safety, and knowledge in the arts.

At SolidarityNow we support any effort that returns to children the childhood they have been deprived of, nurtures their spirit, and creates happy and creative memories.

Tickets are available at the following link: https://www.eventora.com/…/windows-world-and-cellos-change

Venue: Athens Conservatoire – New Stage

17-19 Rigillis & King George B΄ 17-19, Athens, Athens

The professional identity’s reinvention and its importance

Posted on Thursday October 26th, 2023

“I dedicated 10 years of my life to studying medicine. I want to be a doctor again. This is what I love, this is what I’ve been doing all my life.”

Becoming a refugee includes a process that, among other things, involves many losses. One of them is the loss of professional identity. What is it like for a man who has devoted so many years of his life to studying a science hearing that he can no longer practice it? What is it like for a professional whose everyday life was saving lives, and in war zones, to hear that not only can he no longer practice medicine in the present, but not even in the future, as recognition of his degree is not foreseen, at least by today’s standards, in Greece? What is it like in your 40s, after being a doctor all your life, to have to become a worker?

The requests of refugees and asylum seekers that seek support from the Employability Service of the Blue Refugee Center in Thessaloniki are often difficult to achieve. The counselor needs to support the person to realize, accept, explore alternative options, and make decisions. And often he/she needs to convey unpleasant information to him/her.

One year of employability counseling

The counseling process for this beneficiary has been going on for almost a year now. A year in which he found it difficult to say goodbye to his enhanced, professional identity and create a new one. A year of job insecurity in difficult manual occupations while wondering if THIS would be his life from now on. A year full of fear that he had to throw away the many years of study. Thankfully, he didn’t have to.

The joy of the Employability team is multiplied when a beneficiary who tries hard finally makes it! The greater the obstacles and effort, the greater the joy! Because the “former” doctor has now managed to become an interpreter, entering a profession that, on the one hand, is not what he left behind in his country, but on the other hand, is directly related to giving and supporting people. And sometimes, this is the best thing one can do to continue finding meaning to their career.

The reinvention of someone’s professional identity is fundamental for the an their well-being, while at the same time, it offers the most to the labor market of the host country.

It can only be beneficial if national and European strategies broaden integration processes, making use of the knowledge, degrees, and skills of refugees and asylum seekers, especially at a time when finding staff is a huge challenge.

*SolidarityNow implements the “BRC Livelihoods” Program, funded by UNHCR Greece, since April 2023. The aim of the program is the social and economic integration of asylum seekers and recognized refugees by supporting them in finding work. All the services are provided daily at SolidarityNow’s Blue Refugee Center in Thessaloniki.

JOINT STATEMENT – APPEAL | Even war has rules

Posted on Wednesday October 25th, 2023

Almost half of the dead are children: over 2,000 have already been killed and thousands more children will live with disabilities and mental health issues due to war-inflicted trauma. The blatant disregard for civilians’ right to life and protection cannot be accepted.

Child Rights Advocacy Network (CRAN) and the co-signatory Civil Society Organisations express their dismay at the killing, maiming and abduction of children, as well as attacks on schools and on essential civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, water and electricity and the denial – until recently – of humanitarian support to children and civilians in the war that is still raging in Gaza and Israel.

Thirty-four years since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and seventy-four years since the Fourth Geneva Convention for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, recent images from Israel and Gaza demonstrate in the most brutal way that children remain the truly innocent victims on every side and in any case.

The bombing of the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza on 17/10/2023, where hundreds of people, mainly children, were being treated or had taken refuge, the military-armed attacks on schools and places of worship, capturing of children, their forced participation in armed groups and forced displacement together with other illegal practices of regular and irregular military groups are undoubtedly violating children’s rights and the international law of war. Such a flagrant violation of the established rights of children stands against everything the international community and the representatives of states have agreed in international treaties, depriving children of their future.

We hereby appeal to the international community for immediate intervention to bring about an immediate ceasefire and to ensure peace in the region.

We also call on all parties involved in the conflict to act to fulfill their obligations to protect children and other civilians, regardless of their race, gender, nationality, religion, or political opinion (Article 3 of the 4th Geneva Convention), and in particular to ensure that:

  • The wounded and sick are cared for
  • The civilian population, in particular children and pregnant and nursing women, are protected, provided with medical care, adequate food, water and shelter

In addition, it is noted that:

  • Blocking access to water, food, electricity, fuel, medicine, and other items necessary for the survival of civilians is prohibited by international humanitarian law
  • Attacking essential civilian infrastructure constitutes a war crime
  • The immediate dispatch of humanitarian aid based on the recommendations and needs identified by the UN bodies is urgent
  • The maintenance and expansion of humanitarian channels for the protection of children and civilians, with the active involvement and assistance of the EU, is imperative. 

Civil Society Organisations – CRAN members and other cosignatories CSOs: 

  1. ARSIS Association for the Social Support of Youth
  2. Better Days Greece
  3. Changemakers Lab
  4. ELIX – Conservation Volunteers Greece
  5. Greek Council for Refugees
  6. Network for Children’s Rights
  7. Schedia (Raft) -Center for Artistic and Pedagogical Training
  8. SolidarityNow
  9. Safe Passage International AMKE
  10. Samos Volunteers
  11. Defence for Children International Greece (DCI Greece)
  12. World Without Wars and Violence
  13. HumanRights360
  14. Yoga and Sport with Refugees
  15. Greek Forum of Migrants
  16. Equal Rights Beyond Borders 
  17. Action for Women
  18. Symbiosis-Council of Europe School of Political Studies in Greece
  19. Hellenic League for Human Rights
  20. Dråpen I havet / Σταγόνα
  21. Irida Women’s Center
  22. Diotima – Center for Gender Rights and Equality
  23. Jesuit Refugee Service Greece (JRS)
  24. Association of Greek Conscientious Objectors