AYS Daily Digest 11/12/2020—Mitarakis’ Attacks on NGOs, Debunked
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Refugees, Digest, Greece, Ngos, Migrants

AYS Daily Digest 11/12/2020—Mitarakis’ Attacks on NGOs, Debunked

A photo of Lipa camp in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Photo credit: Damir Sagolj/Council of Europe Commissioner of Human Rights

FEATURE

Mitarakis’ attacks on NGOs, debunked

A few days ago, Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis published claims that NGOs are helping coordinate the arrival of Somali people to Greece by colluding with Turkish authorities. This latest attempt by the Greek government to discredit NGOs, like all the previous ones, is false. In fact, the only corroborating “evidence” the ministry offered were video interviews with four Somali people who had recently arrived in Greece.

Today, Disinfaux Collective published the first part in their detailed investigation into this false story in collaboration with Ef.Syn. Disinfaux Collective found that one of the clips was recorded in the Mytilene Port Authority, while others were recorded in an isobox.

It is important to note that while Disinfaux Collective and Ef.Syn blurred the images of the people interviewed in the screenshots they published, the government did not. This raises larger, pressing questions about the ethics of the government releasing this interview on official channels. Confidentiality is a crucial part of the asylum process in order to protect the safety of people on the move and exposing their identity through official government channels could put them seriously at risk.

The circumstances under which the videos were recorded are unclear. A video interview is not part of the official asylum process, especially not during an initial investigation. There are also questions about the legality of distributing the video. An anonymous lawyer told Ef.Syn that:

In order to express the free and unaffected will to give consent in accordance with the provisions, the subject should not be threatened, deceived or be in an unequal position, while at the same time he should have been informed in simple and understandable language regarding the specific purpose of processing his data and not generally and vaguely.

Even if the people in the video freely agreed to the interview (which, given the Greek authorities’ history of intimidation, is under suspicion), to what extent would they have felt comfortable refusing a request from authorities in a country they just arrived in? Were they afraid of possible retaliation if they refused or sabotage of their asylum applications? Did they know how widely the clips would be distributed? Were they even provided with proper interpreters?

Journalists from Ef.Syn asked the Ministry of Migration and Asylum about the circumstances surrounding the production of the videos, including questions about who recorded the video, the presence of certified interpreters, and the care taken to protect the confidentiality and personal data of the people pictured. They received no response besides a statement that the questions were already addressed at the initial press conference (they were not).

Even without the troubling video, Mitarakis’ argument falls apart on basic facts. He claims that most people on the move are “economic migrants,” but used the example of Somali people to pursue his agenda against NGOs even though 95% of Somali people have had their asylum cases recognized in Greece. He also claimed that they were coming from a safe third country, Turkey, even though Turkey only formally recognizes the rights of people on the move from Syria, thus it is not a safe country for Somali people (it is also not a safe country for many Syrians, as the recognition of their rights according to the Geneva Convention is only widespread on paper, not in real life).

Of course, Mitarakis responded to this report on Twitter by complaining about human rights violations by Turkish authorities and called the investigation “lonely commenting.” It is incredibly irresponsible for a government minister to concoct blatant lies targeting people on the move and NGOs, lies that will reach far more people than the detailed rebuttal. It is also irresponsible to endanger several people on the move in the process due to the ministry’s complete disregard for their privacy.