AYS Daily Digest 02/04/2020 — Greek Ban on Asylum Applications Overturned
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Greece, Coronavirus, Digest, Migrants, Refugees

AYS Daily Digest 02/04/2020 — Greek Ban on Asylum Applications Overturned

Night falls in Moria. Photographer: Mortaza Behboudi

FEATURE — People Who Arrived in Greece in March Will Be Able to Apply for Asylum, EU Commissioner Says

In a video conference from the European Parliament’s LIBE Committee, Ylva Johansson discussed the situation at the EU’s external borders in Greece and how the EU plans to handle the situation going forward.

Something she said that will hopefully bring relief to many people is that those who came to Greece in March will be able to apply for asylum after all, which is a reversal of Greece’s previous law.

The commissioner also outlined an ambitious plan to help Greece curtail the spread of COVID-19 in camps, which appeared in Ritsona camp yesterday. She announced that the EU will send money and medical equipment to Greece. Vulnerable people such as the elderly and the sick will be relocated to hotel rooms in order to separate them from unsanitary conditions in the camps. Relocations of unaccompanied minors that were promised weeks ago should start this week — “before Easter, at the least”. Given how long just the resettlement of unaccompanied minors has dragged on, it could be some time before these measures are implemented.

She said that although the primary responsibility to fix the situation in Greece lies with the Greek government, the EU and international organizations must help as well. The commissioner stressed the importance of solidarity and tolerance even in times of crisis and condemned xenophobia against people on the move.

However, before her message calling for tolerance and solidarity, Johansson announced that part of the money will be used to build new detention centers, increase border guards, and strengthen Frontex missions. Even in a time of crisis, the EU’s border security apparatus, known for its violent actions against vulnerable people, must be funded.

Despite the overturning of one unjust law, violent and discriminatory practices at the Greek border and in Greek courts of law continue. Greek newspapers reported that the government is preparing a second asylum law that is also strict and against international law. People who lived in a third country for over two months without prosecution will automatically have their applications rejected. If an asylum seeker requests an interview in their native language but it is not an official language of their country of origin, the interview will not be given — a practice that will discriminate against ethnic minorities. There will also be less legal aid available and more conditions under which people can be detained.

Illegal and potentially deadly pushbacks are continuing in Greece .Aegean Boat Report reported that a boat carrying about 25 people landed on Samos yesterday morning, yet no arrivals were officially reported. Later, the Turkish Coast Guard picked up 25 people on a life raft who claimed they had been turned away from Samos. Seven similar cases have been reported by the Turkish Coast Guard in the past week — people clinging to life rafts who claimed they had landed somewhere in Greece where no official arrivals were registered. Not only does this violate international law by not allowing people to so much as apply for asylum, the flimsy life rafts could easily capsize and drown those on board.

Commissioner Johansson did not address these instances of border violence or the new proposed law in her speech. Perhaps she was not aware of them yet.