Archive for the 'Injustice' Category

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US embassy cables: Greece and migration

Published on January 12, 2011 in Athens, Border, Deportation, Detention, Dublin II, eval { }, Featured, Frontex, News and Racism. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

The Guardian released two embassy cables provided by the by now well-known wikileaks cablegate that report on the Greek government’s position and strategy on dealing with irregular migration. This article provides a short summary of the contents. Both reports were written shortly after the change of government in October 2009, in December and February respectively. They don’t offer any surprising insight, but sketch some policy lines.

  1. Greece tackles migration and asylum issues. 4th of December 2009
  2. Greece revamps security service and tackles immigration. 1st of February 2010

The first embassy cable, Greece tackles migration and asylum issues confirms that asylum and migration are high priority to the new government, both on a domestic as well as on a European level. From the summary:

Continue reading ‘US embassy cables: Greece and migration’

Short visit to Hungary: Budapest – Debrecen – Bicske

Published on January 8, 2011 in Dublin II, Featured and Hungary. Closed

17 / 18 December 2010

download report as PDF: Short visit to Hungary_12.2010

Refugeecamp in Debrecen/ Hungary

The following report refers to conversations during a two-day visit to Hungary. Predominantly, we talked to Afghan refugees in Debrecen (reception centre – transfers after the first screening in Békéscsaba or after the end of detention in one of the various detention centres) and in Bicske (camp for unaccompanied minors and recognised refugees), but also to staff of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. The focus of these conversations was the situation of refugees, deported to Hungary under the Dublin II Regulation – but also the social conditions of refugees in Hungary in general. This was not the first visit to Hungary in which members of the Welcome to Europe Network participated: As a result of the Border Monitoring Project Ukraine (http://bordermonitoring-ukraine.eu/), there have been good contacts also to Hungary for more than two years now. And the Infomobile which has been touring Greece since the summer (http://infomobile.w2eu.net/) also stopped in Hungary on its first tour this summer. So on this trip we made some new contacts, refreshed old ones and met some known faces – and we will certainly come back…

Continue reading ‘Short visit to Hungary: Budapest – Debrecen – Bicske’

Protest in Istanbul [1 Update]

Published on January 5, 2011 in Border, Demonstration, Istanbul and Videos. Closed Tags: , , , , .

The Migrant Solidarity Network in Istanbul is calling for a demonstration on Saturday, the 8th of January in Istanbul, concerning the increasing militarisation of the borders around Turkey. Issues are the to be established Turkish border agency as well as the announcement by the Greek government to build a fence at the land border between Turkey and Greece.

Saturday, 8th of January 2010, 14:00, Galatasaray Square.

Update

Here is a video from the action. Our friends write:

The meeting on Saturday was attended by about 30-35 people. Interestingly enough the attendance of the press was quite impressive. The protest appeared on many mainstream media outlets, paper and virtual.

Here is the call in Turkish:
Continue reading ‘Protest in Istanbul [1 Update]’

Fylakio

Published on December 19, 2010 in Demonstration, Deportation, Detention, Evros, Featured, Photos and Videos. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

from afghanistan 6 days here what the broblem?

asks young Hamis Abdalah Ghasmi from Afghanistan on a piece of cardboard that was slipped to our delegation in Fylakio. And indeed, it is the question all migrants in detention in the Evros region have in mind: Why am I being kept here?

Yesterday, i.e. Saturday, the 18th of December 2010, saw a mobilisation from the Greek antiracist movement to the Evros region, where most of the border crossings happened the last months and where many hundreds of migrants are being detained under comparably horrible circumstances as in the infamous prison of Pagani.

Continue reading ‘Fylakio’

Riot at the Fylakion detention centre

Published on December 4, 2010 in Detention, Evros, Frontex, News and Revolt. Closed Tags: , , , .

Our friends from Clandestina alert us to the fact that…

…last Tuesday (4th of December), a riot broke out, one of the most serious to date, at the detention centre at Fylakion in the Evros region, near the town of Orestiada and the FRONTEX headquarters at the Greco-Turkish border. According to the policemen guarding the centre, the sans papiers immigrants short-circuited the electricity network causing a blackout, blocked the sewer system causing the overflow of waste and caused minor damages to the centre’s building.

Special police forces were called in from Orestiada and the sans papiers welcomed them by throwing chlorine detergent at them. They had been supplied bottles of chlorine so that they keep the prison clean by themselves, since no cleaning service is provided for the 3-year old detention centre, where up to 1000 refugees, including families with small children, are being held in a building designed to temporarily host 350 people at a time – with bad water, few toilets, no showers, and no medical or legal help.

During the riot, four sans papiers are said to have escaped.

picture credit: image of Fylakio detention centre taken from wikipedia

How the Rabit saved the refugee

Published on December 1, 2010 in Detention, Hunger Strike and News. Closed Tags: , , .

Iranian refugees detained in Evros continue wave of hunger strikes
27th November, Athens, by Infomobile

Four Iranians detained at the border station of Feres in northeastern Greece have sewed their mouths in protest of their prolonged detention. Only one of them, a journalist, managed to apply for asylum. The situation in Feres is critical due to overcrowded cells but also because victims of torture, asylum seekers and other vulnerable groups are held for long periods in detention.

In the beginning of October two Iranian refugees started a hunger strike while being in detention in Evros. They stitched their mouths using fibbers from their shoelaces as an act of protest against their deportation and for their right to political asylum. If they wouldn’t had been in a critical medical condition, which led to their transfer to Alexandroupolis hospital, their cases would not have reached the public. They would have been possibly deported back to Iran where they would face imprisonment and execution for political reasons.
Since the early summer of 2010 more and more refugees – mainly coming from Iran – are caught up in the midst of a protection gap. They resorted to hunger strikes as act of political resistance, their last means of struggle, the only way to be heard and helped. Repeatedly they have fought for their right to asylum, some of them succeeded. They also fight for their freedom and basic human rights.
Continue reading ‘How the Rabit saved the refugee’

Short history of hunger strikes by refugees

Published on December 1, 2010 in Detention, Evros, Hunger Strike, Lesvos, News, Patras and Samos. Closed Tags: , , .

…in Greece within the last year:
by Infomobile

  • 19th September – 22nd October 2009:
    After a number of revolts inside the detention centre Pagani on Lesvos island, the prison was finally officially closed and the last refugees left to Athens. Huge numbers of refugees had been imprisoned in the overcrowded prison all over the summer, leading to repeated uprisings. The refugees demanded freedom through hunger strikes, broke the doors of the cells and put the cells on fire. The revolts gained a lot of public attention and media coverage through the noborder action Lesvos 2009.
  • 3rd February 2010:
    Refugees detained in Venna put fire on their clothes and mattresses to protest against their prolonged imprisonment and the inhuman detention conditions. Only three days later 42 of them were judged penalties of 4-6 months detention and following deportation without having any access to lawyers and interpreters. Then they were transferred to other prisons in order to isolate them.
  • 13th March:
    In the night of 13th March 2010, 35 detainees set the detention centre of the police station of Patras on fire to protest against their detention and the detention conditions.
  • 13th–17th April:
    124 detained refugees started a hunger strike in the detention centre of Samos protesting against the transfer of 60 refugees from Samos detention centre to a prison close to the Bulgarian border and to protest against their deportation

    • Continue reading ‘Short history of hunger strikes by refugees’

Afghan Refugee crushed between two trucks in Patras, Greece

Published on November 29, 2010 in Border, News and Racism. Closed

On Saturday afternoon, 27th of November, a 24 years old afghan refugee, father of three children, was crushed between two trucks during his effort to climb in one of them and leave for Italy. This happened in the national road Patras-Korinthos (in Greece).
According to the Group for solidarity to refugees and immigrants the 24 year old man together with other afghan refugees was trying to enter a truck while it was stopped in front of a traffic light. Behind it there was another truck and its driver tried to push away the refugees by honking and approached the truck in front of him. The afghan man did not manage to escape and was severely injured. He was transferred to the hospital of Patras where he passed away 5 hours later. The police characterized the incident as a slight accident and the driver was released instead of standing trial.
Today (29th of November) in the afternoon there will be a demonstration at the central square of Patras against this decision.
A lot of refugees try to climb and hide in trucks at the port of Patras that are leaving for ports in Italy. Some of the refugees die of suffocation inside the boat, others suffer accidents like the one stated before.
As long as the borders are closed, there will be people dying during their effort to cross them. Dublin regulation must be abolished and European borders must open.

On the details of the upcoming RABIT mission [2 Updates]

Published on October 27, 2010 in Evros, Frontex and Insight. Closed Tags: , , , , .

We are monitoring the situation around the upcoming RABIT deployment to Greece. As it seems, Greece has requested 160 175 officers to be sent to Greece.

  • Denmark will contribute five to six officers, which will be able to travel within the next four days.
  • Sweden will contribute a handful of officers.
  • France has announced to mobilise the entire French RABIT pool.
  • Update 2, 4.11.2010:
  • Germany has announced to provide up to 40 officers, plus 7 patrol cars and 4 thermo vision vans (source: Sueddeutsche Zeitung, 4.11.2010)
  • The Netherlands will send 14 officers of the Royal Military Police (RMP) and 2 officers of the Rotterdam Seaport Police. These 16 will be in action until December 1 and will then be replaced by other Dutch units.

Update 30.10.2010: Frontex released a third press statement. They will deploy 175 border guards and a additional technical equipment:

In total, 175 border-control specialists have been made available by the 26 Member States and Schengen-Associated Countries participating in the first ever RABIT deployment. Joint Operation (JO) RABIT 2010 will also see an unprecedented quantity of technical equipment and other logistical and administrative support. All the costs incurred by Member States in relation to the deployment will be reimbursed by Frontex.

The specialisations of guest officers deployed will include experts in false documents, clandestine entry, first and second-line border checks and stolen vehicles as well as dog handlers and specialist interviewers, debriefers and interpreters. All RABIT officers receive mandatory human rights awareness training as part of their RABIT training by Frontex and in addition, special briefings will be held on the spot as a provision of JO RABIT 2010.

The deployment is scheduled to commence on 2 November 2010, with an anticipated duration of up to two months.

  • 1 Helicopter (Romania)
  • 1 Bus (Romania)
  • 5 Minibuses (1 Romania, 2 Austria, 1 Bulgaria, 1 Hungary)
  • 19 Patrol cars (4WD) (7 Romania, 3 Austria, 2 Slovakia, 7 Germany)
  • 9 Thermo Vision Vans (2 Austria, 2 Bulgaria, 4 Germany, 1 Hungary)
  • 3 Schengen buses (1 Austria, 2 Hungary)
  • 3 office units from Denmark

Developing story, we will update this post.

Frontex acknowledges Greek RABIT request

Published on October 26, 2010 in Evros, Frontex and News. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Frontex has granted the request of the Greek government for the deployment of the Rapid Border Intervention Teams in the Evros border.

From their press release (25th of October 2010):

Continue reading ‘Frontex acknowledges Greek RABIT request’

About w2eu

This is the blog of the antiracist network Welcome to Europe. It was formerly known as lesvos09.antira.info.

 

The name Welcome to Europe expresses the discontent and anger we feel when looking at the fatal realities of the European external border: the long documented deaths and suffering have continued for years, and no end is in sight. We stand for a grassroots movement that embraces migration and wants to create a Europe of hospitality.

 

We maintain our focus on the European external border in Greece, but will not limit ourselves to that geographical area. The right of freely roaming the globe has to be fought for everywhere. Join us!

 

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Voices from the Inside of Pagani (2009)

Watch the video