ΔΕΛΤΙΟ ΤΥΠΟΥ

Specialized Educational Programs at the Intercultural Center “Diadromes”

Posted on Tuesday May 29th, 2018

Giorgos Moutafis for SolidarityNow

SolidarityNow’s two new innovative training programs meeting today’s needs

for specialization are Open to All

SolidarityNow makes the next step; the one towards refugees’ and migrants’ social inclusion into Greek society and the other by creating opportunities and conditions for strengthening the skills required of all vulnerable population groups -Greeks and all nationalities- by providing them free access to specialized knowledge.

In the framework of the lifelong learning program entitled “Education Matters”, implemented by SolidarityNow since December 2017, the organization adapts actions that respond to the participants’ everyday needs and enhance their skills set as one of its objectives, access to labour market. Already, during 2017, more than 2,200 people in Athens and Thessaloniki participated at the SolidarityNow programs, mainly to learn the Greek and English languages; numbers have been increasing gradually in 2018.

The two new programs are implemented at the Intercultural Center “Diadromes”, which is situated in Athens city center, in collaboration with Almasar and the support of the Development Forum. The Center “Diadromes” is a meeting point for people from different countries but with common goals and needs.

“Our society will not benefit by considering young people as travelers who have missed the train and remain in a noisy waiting room facing a blank announcement board. In fact, the provision of educational services is not connected to where these young people will be in a few years“, says Antigone Lyberaki, SolidarityNow General Director and points out: “What they need, whether they stay or leave Greece, are skills, self-confidence, dreams and goals. Education will support their way towards a smooth social inclusion in their new society and reality, but also will strengthen them in their attempt to claim a decent job and the way of life they have dreamt; either in Greece or elsewhere”.

Two new educational programs

IT Essentials | Computer & Network Technician

SolidarityNow, a certified CISCO Networking Academy, gives to anyone interested the opportunity to study and prepare for Computer Engineering positions with the skills required in the market now!

The Cisco IT Essentials program: PC Hardware and Software, is implemented in partnership with Cisco, the largest networking company and the support of the Hellenic American Union. This program enables the participants to be one step ahead of the market and acquire the essential skills to work as computer and network technicians in environments such as companies, public services, educational institutions, or as freelancers in the field of technical support for computers.

By(e)plastic | Precious Plastic machines’ Operators

SolidarityNow, in collaboration with Electra Energy Cooperative and Precious Plastic Greece will train a group of people about plastic recycling/upcycling, by building and using Precious Plastic machines. The Precious Plastic machines can be built and operated anywhere in the world, allowing its user to melt and reshape recycled plastic into new, marketable products.

The project’s participants will obtain the necessary ideas, skills and tools, create a follow-up project, such as a social cooperative around the innovative concept of plastic recycling or use the skills acquired in order to build new machines and undertake relevant initiatives via the use of the machines. Through this empowering process, creativity and skills development of participants will be reinforced, as well as inclusivity and sustainability.

* All programs that are part of the lifelong learning program “Education Matters” are addressed to everyone and are free of charge.

** The Intercultural Center “Diadromes” is located at 26 Boukouvala str., Ampelokipoi–Gyzi.

Contact us at education@solidaritynow.org and learn more about the organization’s current and future programs.

Let us help them!

Posted on Wednesday May 23rd, 2018

Greece joins a pan-European coalition that aims to reflourish solidarity and respect towards refugees

Athens, 23^rd May 2018 – For the first time, a coalition of 130 civil society organisations have launched a European Citizen’s Initiative (ECI) for a shift in migration policy. The aim of the We are a Welcoming Europe campaign is to collect 1 million signatures in at least 7 Member States; compel Europe to consider our proposals; and adopt a more humane and realistic approach towards the major challenge of migration.

The campaign that is being launched today in Greece with the support of several civil society organisations, is based on two main principles: it seeks to put the European citizen at the heart of migration policy and to reinforce the rights of migrants and refugees. Through this initiative, European citizens are given the chance to have a more active role in shaping migration policy at the local and national level. The campaign has three specific requests:

Support the citizens and volunteers that want to help refugees;
Put an end to the “crime of solidarity” which is in practice by several EU Member States, including Greece;
Ensure respect for the fundamental rights of migrants and asylum seekers, by reinforcing the complaint mechanisms regarding labour exploitation and other abuses by European border guards.

Sign the petition now

At the turn of the 21^st century, migration has become a major issue for our societies. It is becoming increasingly clear that an appropriate response can only come from a common European policy. However, Member States have not had a coordinated response on the issue of the reception of men, women and children who are fleeing all kinds of violence and look for safety in Europe.

On 15 December 2017, seven European citizens submitted to the European Commission the first European Citizen’s Initiative on migration. They represent the voices of all those who disagree with Europe’s migration policies and aim to initiate together a policy shift. Today, we, the citizens of Greece and Europe, are raising our voices so that we can welcome and advocate for those who are in need, regardless of their legal status or nationality and without fear of being prosecuted.

The first partner organisations in Greece:

Actionaid

Caritas Hellas

Greek Forum of Refugees

HIAS

Jesuit Refugee Service

Klimaka

SolidarityNow

Terre des hommes

Partners in Fun

Posted on Monday May 21st, 2018

Η ομάδα «ARKANOINT» σε συνεργασία με το πρόγραμμα «Ανοιχτά Σχολεία» του Δήμου Αθηναίων , τις ΜΚΟ ΜΕΤΑδραση και SolidarityNow και το Victoria Square Project σας προσκαλούν σε μια σειρά εκδηλώσεων για τους μικρούς μας φίλους.

Παιδιά από διαφορετικές γειτονιές της Αθήνας -ανάμεσά τους και παιδιά που υποστηρίζονται από δράσεις της ΜΕΤΑδρασης και του SolidarityNow- θα έχουν την ευκαιρία να συμμετάσχουν σε ένα ιδιαίτερο κυνήγι θησαυρού και με τη βοήθεια της τεχνολογίας να ανακαλύψουν έναν φανταστικό και αόρατο κόσμο. Θα γίνουν πρωταγωνιστές μιας ιστορίας καθώς θα προσπαθήσουν να ολοκληρώσουν την αποστολή τους και να βρουν το χαμένο θησαυρό, μέσα σε μια θεματική κατασκευή που θα θυμίζει πραγματικό δάσος.

Δίνουμε ραντεβού σε τρία σημεία της Αθήνας:

Τρίτη 22 Μαΐου 2018 στις 17:00 | Victoria Square Project
Πέμπτη 24 Μαΐου 2018 στις 19:00 | 51^ο Δημοτικό Σχολείο Αθηνών *
Παρασκευή 25 Μαΐου 2018 στις 19:00 | 51^ο Δημοτικό Σχολείο Αθηνών *
Σάββατο 26 Μαΐου 2018 στις 17:00 | Ακαδημία Πλάτωνος

Συμμετέχοντες: Παιδιά ηλικίας 7-12 ετών

Η συμμετοχή είναι δωρεάν και θα τηρηθεί σειρά προτεραιότητας.

*Για τις δράσεις στο 51^ο Δημοτικό Σχολείο Αθηνών μπορείτε να δηλώσετε συμμετοχή στο athensopenschools@gmail.com

Περισσότερες πληροφορίες στο info@arkanoint.com

Σας περιμένουμε σε μια “πολύχρωμη” γιορτή με πολλές εκπλήξεις!

Join #MyBook project powered by SolidarityNow!

Posted on Thursday May 3rd, 2018

Are you a migrant, or an asylum seeker, or a refugee artist?

Do you write poems, novels, or love to paint?

Share with us your art – a short story, a poem, some song lyrics, a painting or any other kind of art and see them be a part of a book!

Share your art with us and contact us at:

mybook@solidaritynow.org

How do we respond to the phenomenon of absconding of unaccompanied minors from shelters in Greece?

Posted on Tuesday April 24th, 2018

FAROS

The Results of the research conducted by five organizations were presented today in a Joint Press Conference

In recent years in Greece, there has been a high rate of unaccompanied minors absconding from shelters. Data from the Greek authorities show that in the years 2012 to 2016 between 13% and 33% of unaccompanied minors absconded within the first 24 hours or arriving to a shelter. Despite high rates of absconding, little is known about this phenomenon and the unaccompanied minors’ own experiences of leaving shelters in Greece.

Today, the five partner organizations that implemented the program “Following their Footsteps“, presented the results of a major research that was carried out within the framework of the program at a joint Press Conference, organized in Athens city centre. The program “Following their Footsteps” was initiated in 2016 and was completed today; this program was a joint effort of five Civil Society organizations: FAROS, SolidarityNow, Merimna, CivisPlus and Vavel and funded by the European Programme for Integration and Migration (EPIM).

The main objective of this research was to examine the reasons that lead unaccompanied minors leaving their hospitality shelters in Greece.

The objectives of the program were:

– to strengthen the systematic identification and registration of unaccompanied and separated minors living under difficult conditions,

– to provide a holistic care and hospitality through an alternative to detention or life on the streets

– to reduce the phenomenon of absconding from accommodation structures.

What are unaccompanied minors’ motives for absconding?

What is the situation in Greece today?

To study the phenomenon, a research, entitled “Children on the Run-Experiences of unaccompanied minors leaving shelters in Greece“, was conducted by FAROS. The survey’s results, which is the first one regarding absconding, respond to a series of frequently asked questions and at the same time make recommendations to the caregivers of shelters as well as to other stakeholders in order to advocate for a common policy that will reduce the phenomenon. The main reasons for minors leaving shelters in Greece are:

– looking for a better future,

– expectations from relatives to continue the journey,

– delays in procedures and referrals, but also:

– lack of safety and disagreements on rules in the shelter and

– lack of inclusive services and poor condition in the shelter.

“This program was only the beginning of a series of actions aiming to reduce the phenomenon of absconding and provide decent living conditions for unaccompanied minors in the country. Knowing why and making recommendations are one step closer to the cope with the phenomenon”, said Kenneth Brant Hansen, Program Manager at FAROS.

Find here https://issuu.com/solidaritynow/docs/report_eng, the research and its results.

Along with the presentation of the research results during the joint Press Conference in the Stoa Vivliou venue, the participants had the opportunity to attend the exhibition held at the same venue with pictures from children’s everyday life who are hosted at Faros’ Shelter for Unaccompanied Minors.

GEOGRAPHICAL RESTRICTION OF ASYLUM SEEKERS ON THE GREEK ISLANDS: WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF THE RECENT GREEK COUNCIL OF STATE’S DECISION?

Posted on Thursday April 19th, 2018

Giorgos Moutafis for SolidarityNow

Athens, April 19, 2018

SolidarityNow welcomes Ruling No 805/2018 of the Greek Council of State (the country’s Supreme Administrative Court) (“the Ruling”), which annuls the Asylum Service’s Decision (No 10464/31.5.2016) imposing geographical restrictions on six islands of the Eastern Aegean Sea (Lesvos, Samos, Chios, Leros, Rhodes and Kos). The case was brought forward by the Greek Council for Refugees.

The Ruling lifted the geographical restrictions on asylum seekers arriving to the islands from now onwards, given that the contested Asylum Service Decision did not set out the legal grounds for imposing such restrictions on asylum seekers’ freedom of movement and their confinement in Reception and Identification Centers (hotspots) on the islands (the so-called “containment policy”). In addition, the Ruling highlighted that the regime of geographical restriction within the aforementioned islands has resulted in unequal distribution of asylum seekers across the national territory, over-burdening and exercising significant pressure on specific regions.

Insofar there are no imperative reasons of public interest and migration policy that would justify restricting applicants of international protection to the Greek islands, the Court decided to annul the administrative decision imposing such restrictions and ordered the free movement of asylum seekers arriving to the islands following the Ruling’s publication. The Ruling, however, does not have retroactive effect, i.e., the geographical restriction will continue to apply to over 13.000 asylum seekers currently residing on the islands.

SolidarityNow greets the Ruling as a victory for human rights and asylum law in Greece, in line with our organization’s continuous pressure against the containment policy – through joined letters to the authorities (see here and here) and the #OpenTheIslands campaign, supported by many organizations during 2017.

However, we express our concerns regarding the implementation of the Ruling by the Greek Government and competent authorities:

Firstly, the Ruling has no retroactive effect, which results in unequal treatment between asylum seekers already restricted on the islands, on one hand, and those who come after the Ruling and can freely move. Such discrimination could be explained by the difficulty around the immediate decongestion of the islands and the need to organize proper accommodation in the mainland. This could be resolved only by a Government decision providing for a timely and gradual decongestion of the islands, as part of a well-organized, nation-wide plan.
Secondly, the Ministry of Migration Policy (“MoMP”) seems to be planning the imposition of geographical restrictions anew, on the basis of a law transposing EU Directive 2013/33. The draft law is already submitted to the Greek Parliament for voting (see the MoMP’s announcement in response to the Ruling).

Thus, we are keen to see how the Ruling will be implemented, anticipating the free movement of newly admitted asylum seekers on the Greek islands until the draft law is adopted, and geographical restrictions are potentially re-imposed by an executive decision of the Greek administration.

SolidarityNow strongly opposes the creation of a “multi-speed” asylum system, which randomly favors certain asylum seekers while violating the rights of others and transforming the Greek islands to “buffer zones”. We insist on the need to lift geographic restrictions altogether, along with the adoption of a strategic, long-term plan – at both national and European level – for an equal and fair distribution of refugees and asylum seekers throughout the Greek and EU territories, in accordance with the principles of refugee law and with respect for human rights.

The Yazidi’s Bread and Noufa’s Story: SolidarityNow presents the new video-documentary for Yazidis women who live at the Volvi Accommodation Scheme

Posted on Wednesday April 18th, 2018

Giorgos Moutafis for SolidarityNow

Thessaloniki, April 18^th, 2018

Noufa, 35-years-old, is one of the Yadizis women who live at the *Volvi Accommodation Scheme. As many Yazidis women, she waits to be reunited with her son in Germany. Noufa wears a bracelet -a good lucky charm, made of red and white threads, which are similar to our “Martis” bracelets. Noufa has been living in Volvi along with her family since last February.

SolidarityNow collaborates with the photojournalist Giorgos Moutafis and documents the culture, the customs and the traditions of this unique ethnic team. Along with them we learn the process of making and baking their traditional bread, known as nan (bread in Kurmanji).

Yazidis are a Kurdish ethnic-religious minority, approximately 700,000 worldwide, with the largest number living in northern Iraq. Yazidis have managed to maintain national cohesion and solidarity despite persistent persecutions, the more than 70 genocides and the long-term oppression suffered by different regimes. Since 2014, they have been systematically persecuted by ISIS and various extremist groups. Still, they have managed to maintain their faith and culture, suffering, of course, the consequences.

In this short video presented by SolidarityNow, Noufa invites us to a travel back in time. Noufa remembers her life in Iraq, when her mother taught her for the first time how to make bread. She remembers Iraq’s soil, which is the best for making their traditional ovens, known as ‘tandour’. And then we return to the present, to Volvi, where the Yazidis men constructed the ovens and the Yazidis women meet there to chat and bake the family’s bread.

Noufa laughs, cries, looks back to time, thinks about the future and her son, whom she is going to meet in Germany. Through her story is unfolding the story of her people, their fears, their distresses, but also their hopes.

Since May 2017, SolidarityNow is supporting Noufa and the whole Yazidis community at Volvi Accommodation Scheme through the Child and Family Support Hubs program**. Through this program, more than 4.400 children, women and other vulnerable groups have found a safe space in various sites all over Greece.

* The organization of Iliaktida is managing the Volvi Accommodation Scheme along with UNHCR’s support, through IATAP.

** The Child and Family Support Hubs program is implemented by SolidarityNow, supported by UNICEF and funded by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations /ECHO.

The exhibition “The Journey: People on the Move” now in Glasgow

Posted on Wednesday April 4th, 2018

SolidarityNow

The Journey: People on the Move is an exhibition originally held in 2016 at Benaki Museum in Athens, organized by SolidarityNow, a Greek NGO aiming to support those most affected by the economic and humanitarian crisis in Greece.

Population movements constitute a timeless, inevitable reality that surpasses the rigid framework established by national borders.

Currently, threatening conditions in the wider Middle East have led to an exodus towards the European continent. Immigrants, refugees- regular and irregular, are the protagonists of this risky journey, claiming their fundamental right to survival, and ideally, to happiness.

Eight renowned photographers/photojournalists from Greece captured the Journey, the route all these people took in the past year as they had to flee their countries. The images trace their journey from Turkey to Greece, with the borders as their final destination, hoping to reach a safe haven in Europe. The photographers participating in the exhibition are: Yannis Behrakis, Alkis Konstantinidis, Giorgos Moutafis, Angelos Georginis, Enri Canaj, Myrto Papadopoulos, Orestis Seferoglou, Chloe Kritharas- Devienne.

These visual testimonies of international photographers aim to familiarize a larger public with this harsh reality confronted every day by thousands of people seeking to reclaim their right to a life with security for themselves and their families.

The Arrival: Young Syrian Refugees in Britain presents original research findings and the most comprehensive analysis of the realities, opportunities, and challenges forcibly displaced people face as they attempt to rebuild their lives. The project is run by an interdisciplinary team from the University of Glasgow, in cooperation with SolidarityNow(GR), Educart (LB) and the Scottish Refugee Council (UK).

Its aim is to improve knowledge and understanding of the lived experiences, skills, training needs and labour aspirations of forcibly displaced young Syrians and the corresponding attitudes and belief structures of the host population in three receiving states: a neighbouring host state (Lebanon), the main entry point to Europe (Greece), and a north European destination state (the United Kingdom).

This exhibition reveals, for the first time, the results of a face-to-face survey conducted with 500 young Syrians (18-32 years old) in each of these countries. Visitors will have the chance to engage in an interactive way with the findings, enriching their understanding of refugee politics in Britain, in a comparative context.

The Exhibition is funded by the UK’s Global Challenges Research Fund (Award Reference: ES/P005189/1). For further details, please see www.RefugeePolitics.net

Watch the making-of video

The Yazidis of Volvi Or Barfi’s Lament

Posted on Tuesday April 3rd, 2018

Giorgos Moutafis for SolidarityNow

SolidarityNow presents the new short film video for Yazidis women

who live in the Volvi Accommodation Scheme

Barfi is a 65-year-old woman and is the eldest woman in the small community of Volvi; currently, Volvi is the area where 200 Yazidis live. Everyone respects her. She always wears white clothes, the traditional costume of her people. Barfi is a Yazidis, from the village of Sinjar in Iraq. For the last 1.5 years, she has been living in the Volvi Accommodation Scheme along with her family.

SolidarityNow collaborates with the photojournalist Giorgos Moutafis and documents the story of Yazidis; the persecutions and tortures that have historically been through over the years, the longing for their lost home, and their relentless hope of returning someday back to their lost paradise – when all these have come to an end.

Yazidis are a Kurdish ethnic-religious minority, approximately 700,000 worldwide, with the largest number living in northern Iraq. Yazidis have managed to maintain national cohesion and solidarity despite persistent persecutions, the more than 70 genocides and the long-term oppression suffered by different regimes. Since 2014 they have been systematically persecuted by ISIS and various extremist groups. Still, they have managed to maintain their faith and culture, suffering, of course, the consequences.

In this short video presented by SolidarityNow, Barfi becomes the voice of Yazidis; her voice is the means that narrates the sorrows; not only her personal sorrow but the ones of her people. And she does that in a heart-breaking way. It is the voice of a mother who carries the memories of a place where her children grew up and no longer exists.

Barfi sings a song in her mother tongue. Her song is not an ordinary one. It’s an improvised lament. Her words evoke her memories and her pain. This song is dedicated to her people and her lost homeland.

“Our Sinjar was a star in the seventh sky

and a storm destroyed it.

ISIS kidnapped our women, burned our children and hung their heads on the doors.

Young children were left alone without protection.

Our men went to fight, leaving us alone.

Why they don’t leave us to live in peace to regain happiness.

I stand in front of this place.

I look at the people who take care of their children, sitting in front of the fire and weep nostalgically for Sinjar.

I cannot rest and sleep until dawn.

I am seating on a rock, waiting to see Sinjar again.”

Since May 2017, SolidarityNow is supporting Barfi and the whole Yazidis community at Volvi Accommodation Scheme through the Blue Dots program**. Through this program, more than 4.400 children, women and other vulnerable groups have found a safe space on various sites all over Greece.

Watch the video here and listen to Barfi, the 65-year-old Yazidi from Sinjar, Iraq, singing a lament for the lost homeland.

*The organization Iliaktida is managing the Volvi Accommodation Scheme along with UNHCR’s support, through IATAP.

**The Blue Dots Program is implemented by SolidarityNow, supported by UNICEF and funded by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations /ECHO.

Mrs Antigone Lyberaki, the new General Manager of SolidarityNow

Posted on Wednesday March 28th, 2018

“I feel responsible to continue and expand the significant humanitarian work achieved by SolidarityNow“

Mrs Antigone Lyberaki assumes responsibility as the new General Manager of SolidarityNow, following a unanimous decision of the organization’s Board of Directors which was held on March 23^rd, 2018. Her main objective in this new role is to press ahead and expand the organization’s multifaceted work and activities in the humanitarian field.

“On behalf of our Board of Directors, I warmly welcome Antigone Lyberaki as the new General Manager of SolidarityNow. Mrs Lyberaki, who has been a member of the organization’s BoD since its establishment, has provided a significant input in the design and implementation of the strategic plan, which has led to the substantial work that has been achieved so far to support our most vulnerable fellow citizens”, notes Stelios Zavvos, President of SolidarityNow. “Antigone Lyberaki is a distinguished Professor of Economics and an active member of Civil Society, with experience working with international humanitarian organizations. Her experience and knowledge assure us that she will make a strong contribution to SolidarityNow to continue serving the vision of an open and democratic society based on solidarity in action. We wish her every success in her new duties”.

“I undertake this new position with great pleasure and at the same time with a great sense of responsibility”, says Antigone Lyberaki and continues: “Pleasure, because I work daily with remarkable teams in the field and at the headquarters to jointly design programs so as to offer even more valuable support to all those in need. At the same time, I feel the responsibility to continue and expand the very important work that SolidarityNow has achieved in its five years of activity in Greece”.

And underlines: “Our goal is to meet the current challenges with the smooth inclusion of refugees and vulnerable individuals into our society through enabling their access to education and the labour market. Our current and long-term objective is to offer support to even more vulnerable population groups because our mission is: to empower them to take their lives in their hands, as they have dreamt of”.

Antigone Lyberaki has been Acting General Manager of SolidarityNow since October 2017. She is also a Professor of Economics at Panteion University with a PhD in Small and Medium Enterprises and an M.Phil in Development Studies from Sussex University. She was a Member of the Greek Parliament in 2015.

Her current research interests are small and medium enterprises, migration, ageing societies and gender/feminist economics. She is the Greek country team leader for the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), while for years she was an activist and member of the ActionAid Hellas Board of Directors, with a special interest in Africa.

The Board of Directors of SolidarityNow consists of:

Stelios Zavvos – Chairman

Alivizatos Nikos – Honorary Professor of Constitutional Law/University of Athens, Vidalis Euthimios -Businessman, Diamandouros Nikiforos – Honorary Professor of Political Science/University of Athens, Doxiadis Aristos – Partner/Venture Capital Investor, Kavounidi Jenny – Senior Research Fellow, Center of Planning and Economic Research, Visiting Associate Professor/Athens University of Economics and Business, Matsagganis Manos – Associate Professor in the Department of International and European Economic Studies/Athens University of Economics and Business, Nomikou Kalipso – Businesswoman, Christos Rozakis – Professor of International Public Law/University of Athens, Vice President of the European Court of Human Rights, Triantafyllidou Anna – Professor/European University Institute, Florence, Italy.