4 April 2014
My stay in Athens
represents the second part of my field research. The reasons for my stay here
are twofold: first of all, I have family here. Secondly, during my attempt to
acquire authorisation for visiting the detention centre in Orestiada, I came
across a high-level employee of the newly established Greek first-reception
service, which is of course located in Athens. The person concerned was kind
enough to offer me an interview, which I gladly accepted.
Greece is not just any
European country. With a population of just 10 million, it is far smaller than
the average member state, representation merely 2% of the EU-population.
Nevertheless, the country has dominated international headlines because of its
sovereign debt crisis that was caused by skyrocketing interest rates following
the financial crisis of 2008. Severe austerity measures, arbitrary tax
increases, ineffective governance and a corrupt political elite have brought
the country into a situation, where unemployment has soared to 25%, where a
highly militant, radical neo-Nazi party has enjoyed great popularity (up to 15%
in the polls), and where the economy has been in severe recession for nearly
half a decade. On top of all that, Greece has also been the hotspot of
irregular migration into the EU. No country has been in the press more the
Greece when it comes to the undignified treatment of migrants. My research
agenda here was very open. I wanted to know about the relationship of the Greek
asylum system with the EU, and about the experience of asylum seekers of
European integration.
I have been here for two
days now, and some of the insights I have gained have indeed been very
interesting. When I arrived on Wednesday, I had an interview at night with the
employee of the first-reception service I spoke about earlier. I found out that
since last year, the structure of the Greek migration management system has
undergone a radical transformation. Until last year, the police was responsible
for the first reception of all ‘illegal immigrants’ as well as for asylum
applications. Now, two new services have been set up.
Firstly, there is the
first-reception service, which screens irregular migrants. Screening means
determining whether an irregular migrants is an asylum seekers, a vulnerable
person, or a non-asylum seeker. About 80% of irregular migrants are part of the
third group. All members of this group should in theory be brought to so-called
‘pre-removal centres’ where they wait to be deported. These centres are the
most notorious aspects of Greek migration management, and there are numerous
reports about human rights abuses in these facilities. Most non-asylum seekers
arrive without papers, which is why nationality determination is an essential
aspect of screening. Nationality is determined by asking questions about a
migrants’ supposed hometown, and by listening to her accent. Recently a large
number of Syrians has arrived in Greece, most of whom similarly do not apply
for asylum. Nevertheless, as a war wages in Syria, they cannot be sent back
home, which is why they are released, often leaving Greece for applying for
asylum in another EU member state. I was somewhat confused by this, as the
Dublin-procedure would foresee for these migrants would have to be sent back to
Greece. However, when I asked my interviewees about that, they simply said that
this does not fall within their responsibility. Another aspect of screening is
a medical check-up. The vast majority of migrants is vaccinated to prevent a
public health threat to the EU. Refusal to be vaccinated would result in
quarantine, although this apparently has not occurred. Furthermore, Greece is
overwhelmingly regarded as a transit country. This is not an official
statistic, but up to 90% of Greek irregular migrants have no intention
whatsoever of staying in Greece. This sheds some light on why the number of
asylum applications in Greece is very low. The first-reception service is
80%-funded from the EU, which may imply that it was the EU that pushed for
Greece to change its migration management.
The high-level employee of
the first-reception service told me that another service had been set up to
deal with asylum applications: the asylum service. This was my next clue. I
have tried without success to arrange an interview with that service, but I and
Alex did a little excursion to the service’s headquarters which is located
right next to Greece’s national police headquarters in Athens. I was told that
in the morning there is a long queue of asylum seekers outside the asylum
service’s offices. When we arrived we saw an Iranian couple who were rejected
at the entrance to the building, even though they arrived well within the
opening hours. We immediately called the attention of the service’s security
employees, because I took a photo through the fence. However, I calmed them
down, and told them that I had already spoken with someone inside over the
phone to arrange an interview (which was indeed the case). An employee who I
had unsuccessfully tried to call earlier that day came out of the building, and
we were lucky enough to be able to chat with her for a good fifteen minutes. It
is much easier to remember a conversation when two people try to do so, and
with Alex’s help I was able to reconstruct most of what was said. It turns out
that since the asylum service had been set up in early 2013, it became the only
route in Greece to apply for asylum. The police was no longer responsible, and
the asylum service has only a few officers. The person we spoke to acknowledged
that this makes it more difficult for people to apply for asylum, although the
service is currently in the process of setting up more offices. When you beat
the queue to get into the office in Athens, it does not mean that you will have
the chance to apply for asylum. All it means is that you will be able to
receive information about how the process works. An asylum application requires
the presence of an interpreter, which is difficult to arrange, especially in
more remote locations. An NGO called Metadrassi is used to provide interpretation,
and teleconferencing can sometimes help to overcome logistical problems. All in
all, I had the impression that the employee from the Greek asylum service was
sincerely interesting in protection – this is a good thing. However, I also
began to understand where the complaints that not every irregular immigrant in
Greece has the chance to apply for asylum may come from. I now had a further
clue – Metadrassi. What kind of organisation is this? Why pays them, who set
them up, and did they also support the police?
I was to get the answers
to all these questions the following morning on the phone. Metadrassi is an NGO
that was set up to give asylum seekers the possibility of applying for asylum
through providing interpretation services. The person on the phone acknowledged
that Greece had been condemned for human rights abuses for not allowing people
to apply for asylum. Metadrassi intended to change this situation. The NGO also
worked with the police, but apparently there were some problems and this
cooperation seized. Cooperation with the new asylum service is apparently much
smoother, as the asylum service apparently does ‘real work’. Metadrassi
receives its funds mostly from the EU, employing 200 active interpreters who
can translate from thirty different languages.
I have to say that I am
left with more questions than I had when I arrived:
·
The Greek asylum system is taken out of the hands of
the police – why? This question I
could answer by speaking to the police. I have made arrangements for an
interview to take place.
·
Is it really true that the police is no longer
responsible? The person I spoke to at the first-reception service used to work
in the prison system, and had a police email address. Perhaps the police
mentality persists. Again, the police
may be able to help here. I could also speak to the first-reception service
once more.
·
In the last couple of years the migratory routes have
changed, and Greece receives far less irregular migration. This has to do
mostly with the smugglers. But why have the smugglers changed their routes? If the Greek police or even Frontex had attempted to
cause the smugglers to change their routes, this would be a major international
scandal. Speaking to the police/Frontex would probably not tell me anything,
and I would have to speak with the smugglers themselves. I don’t have the first
clue for how to do that though.
·
Why does the Greek government attempt to screen every
irregular migrant? Is Frontex here to make sure of that? Who requested
Frontex’s presence? It is not in the
Greek interest to screen migrants, as this means that Greece is responsible for
their potential asylum applications. Clearly, the EU has put pressure on Greece
to screen migrants, and perhaps Frontex is here to supervise this process.
Interviewing Frontex officers might answer these questions.
Tomorrow I have an
interview with someone from a Greek immigrants’ organisation, with the former
head of the Greek coast guard in the Aegean, and I am also planning on visiting
an accommodation centre for asylum seekers.
