REPORT FROM GREECE: CONDITION OF MIGRANT FILIPINOS IN JAIL
News report: Filipino migrants in Greece
facing 'shocking conditions' in Police detention centers http://www.tsismosaonline.com/2013/06/filipino-migrants-in-greece-facing.html
A seldom (if at all) heard from group of Filipino migrant
workers are suffering. The Filipinos in Greece needs help from the Philippine
Mission in Athens, and nothing is known what actions they are doing to assist
the Filipino nationals in that country.
This is a report by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Human
Rights of Migrants Francois Crepeau, posted in June 28,2013 by Tsismosa Online,
a 24Hours News , Information and Entertainment for the Greek and Filipino
Community.
There are an estimated 51,656 Filipinos in Greece as of the
2009 stock estimates of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (to include 45,560
temporary migrant workers, mostly domestic workers). These Filipinos, in 2010,
sent a seven-year-high US$.222.771 million to the Philippines.
Filipinos migrants in Greece face shocking conditions in detention centers
and deepening hostility on the streets as the country goes through its worst
economic crisis since World War Two, a top U.N. official said on Monday.
Many of the 130,000 mostly African and Asian migrants trying to enter Europe via Greece each year go short of food, heating and hot water, including children, said the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Francois Crepeau.
Conditions were poor in most of the 11 detention centres he visited. In one, the Venna centre in Rodopi near the Turkish border, beds were concrete slabs, the toilets were filthy and there was no light, he said.
Police launched a sweep operation in August called "Xenios Zeus" after the ancient Greek god of guests and travellers. They have so far arrested thousands of undocumented immigrants Filipinos included.
Crepeau said it meant systematically detaining everyone they detected entering Greek territory in an irregular manner.
"It's difficult to see children - three years old, five years old - behind bars," he said.
Presenting the findings of a nine-day mission to Greece, Crepeau said there was a rise in racially-motivated violence and the authorities were not doing much to curb it.
Much of the violence went unreported because victims were afraid of deportation if they contacted the police, who were sometimes involved in the attacks, he said.
Prominent attacks against immigrants reported this year include a young Iraqi stabbed to death in Athens in August and an Albanian stabbed with a sword by a masked motor cyclist in May.
The U.N.'s refugee body, UNHCR, says that in some cases victims said their attackers were wearing the insignia of the far-right Golden Dawn party, which entered parliament for the first time this year on a fiercely anti-immigrant agenda.
Many migrants had no access to an interpreter or a lawyer and many complained that their lawyers would take their money and not follow up on their cases, Crepeau said.
Many of the 130,000 mostly African and Asian migrants trying to enter Europe via Greece each year go short of food, heating and hot water, including children, said the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Francois Crepeau.
Conditions were poor in most of the 11 detention centres he visited. In one, the Venna centre in Rodopi near the Turkish border, beds were concrete slabs, the toilets were filthy and there was no light, he said.
Police launched a sweep operation in August called "Xenios Zeus" after the ancient Greek god of guests and travellers. They have so far arrested thousands of undocumented immigrants Filipinos included.
Crepeau said it meant systematically detaining everyone they detected entering Greek territory in an irregular manner.
"It's difficult to see children - three years old, five years old - behind bars," he said.
Presenting the findings of a nine-day mission to Greece, Crepeau said there was a rise in racially-motivated violence and the authorities were not doing much to curb it.
Much of the violence went unreported because victims were afraid of deportation if they contacted the police, who were sometimes involved in the attacks, he said.
Prominent attacks against immigrants reported this year include a young Iraqi stabbed to death in Athens in August and an Albanian stabbed with a sword by a masked motor cyclist in May.
The U.N.'s refugee body, UNHCR, says that in some cases victims said their attackers were wearing the insignia of the far-right Golden Dawn party, which entered parliament for the first time this year on a fiercely anti-immigrant agenda.
Many migrants had no access to an interpreter or a lawyer and many complained that their lawyers would take their money and not follow up on their cases, Crepeau said.
No comments:
Post a Comment