국제앰네스티는 27일 새로 발간한 보고서를 통해 그리스 정부가 수많은 고아들을 포함해 비정규 이주민 및 비호신청자들을 구금하는 정책을 즉시 재검토할 것을 요청했다.국제앰네스티의 새 보고서 ‘그리스: 열악한 환경 가운데 구금되고 있는 비정규 이주민 및 비호신청자 (Greece: Irregular migrants and asylum-seekers routinely detained in substandard conditions)’는 법적, 사회적, 의료적 지원을 거의 받지 못한 채 국경수비대 초소 및 이민구금센터 등 열악한 환경 가운데 구금돼있는 비정규 이주민 및 비호신청자들에 대한 내용을 담고 있다. 국제앰네스티 니콜라 덕워스(Nicola Duckworth) 유럽 및 중앙아시아 국장은 “비호신청자와 비정규 이주민들은 범죄자가 아닌데도 불구하고 그리스가 이들에 대한 국제법적 권리를 무시하고 있다”며 “현재 이 같은 조치의 필요성에 대한 고려 없이 이들을 구금하고 있지만, 비호신청자와 이주민의 비정규 지위에 따른 구금은 언제나 가장 마지막 선택이어야 한다”고 말했다. 그리스의 비호신청자와 비정규 이주민들은 강제 송환 시까지 최장 6개월간 구금될 수 있다. 그리스 법은 비정규 입국 및 출국 행위를 형사적 위법 행위로 간주하고 있다. |
Greece must stop treating migrants as criminals
27 July 2010
The Greek authorities should immediately review their policy of locking up irregular migrants and asylum-seekers, including many unaccompanied children , Amnesty International said in a new report today.
Greece: Irregular migrants and asylum-seekers routinely detained in substandard conditions, documents their treatment, many of whom are held in poor conditions in borderguard stations and immigration detention centres with no or limited access to legal, social and medical aid.
“Asylum-seekers and irregular migrants are not criminals. Yet, the Greek authorities treat them as such disregarding their rights under international law. Currently, migrants are detained as a matter of course, without regard whether such measure is necessary. Detention of asylum-seekers and migrants on the grounds of their irregular status should always be a measure of last resort,” said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director. Detention prior to deportation can last for up to six months in Greece for asylum-seekers and irregular migrants . Greek law also makes irregular entry into and exit out of the country a criminal offence.
Tens of thousands of irregular migrants and asylum-seekers arrive in Greece each year. The vast majority of asylum-seekers and individuals fleeing war-torn countries reach the country through the Greek-Turkish land and sea borders. They are mostly Afghan, Somali, Palestinian, Iraqi and Eritrean.
“After an often hazardous journey, migrants end up in detention centres without access to a lawyer, interpreters or social workers. As a result, their circumstances are not assessed correctly and many in need of international protection may be sent back to the places they have fled, while others may be deprived of appropriate care and support,” Nicola Duckworth said. Irregular migrants and asylum-seekers are not informed about the length of their detention or about their future. They can be kept for long periods of time in overcrowded facilities with unaccompanied minors being detained among the adults. Those detained have limited access to medical assistance and hygiene products.
Few asylum-seekers are recognized as refugees by the Greek authorities. From the over 30,000 asylum applications examined in 2009, only 36 were granted refugee protection status while 128 were granted subsidiary protection status.
In the vast majority of detention facilities visited by Amnesty International delegates, conditions ranged from inadequate to very poor. Those detained told Amnesty International of instances of ill-treatment by coastguards and police. Length and poor conditions of detention provoked irregular migrants and asylum-seekers to stage protests in Venna, north-east Greece in February 2010. Likewise, in April 2010, irregular migrants went on hunger strike on the island of Samos to protest their length of detention.
“Detention cannot be used as a tool to control migration. The onus is on the authorities to demonstrate in each individual case that such detention is necessary and proportionate to the objective to be achieved and that alternatives will not be effective,” Nicola Duckworth said.
Amnesty International believes the plans being developed by the Greek authorities to establish screening centres, should include alternative approaches, such as those running open or semi-open centres for those arriving in the country.
The authorities need to ensure that irregular migrants and asylum-seekers arriving at those centres have access to free legal assistance and interpreters in languages they understand, and medical assistance.
