Athens 5 December 2014

It continues to the bitter end, in front of Greek Parliament the garrison and the hunger strike of three hundred Syrians, mostly families with small children , who claim the right to be welcomed in dignity and demand the possibility to leave Greece and reach another European country .

This is a protest that highlights all the negative effects of the Dublin Regulation III, nailing in the first country of entry all the potential asylum seekers ,at the point that many of them prefer to be rejected at the border, or to continue the journey placing themselves in the hands of “land-smugglers „, fueling the business of illegal immigration , rather than be forced to release the fingerprints in a country like Greece , which cannot be defined „safe “ for asylum seekers for the systematic shortcomings of its reception centers and for non-performance of the full-blown European Directives and Regulations relating to international protection .

• Osservatorio balcani e caucaso (Italian)
• Le Courrier des Balkans (French)

International reports confirm for years the abuses of the Greek authorities against refugees , but are unable to find a solution for those who are trapped into a country that has a systematic lack of the reception system , so that the international courts have suspended Dublin referrals to Greece .

Until now Syrian refugees have turned exclusively to the Greek authorities without any kind of outcomes.

There is no hope to leave Greece and reach other European countries also because the European Union continues to lock down the borders, even the inland borders, to prevent the so called secondary movements from one state to another , with a more rigid application of the Dublin Regulation III, decided at a police level, with multilateral agreements such as the latest ones between Italy, Austria and Germany .

We reiterate once again the request for the immediate opening of humanitarian channels for refugees of third countries, today mainly Syrians ,
present in Greece .

The European Union cannot simply suspend Dublin referrals to Greece and then close the legal channels to entry into other European Union countries for refugees who remain trapped there. Chi riesce a sfuggire raggiungendo altri paesi EU subisce abusi altrettanto gravi e finisce anche per essere arrestato, come si sta verificando in Bulgaria ed in Polonia. Those who manage to escape and reach other EU countries are seriously abused and they often end up being arrested, as in Bulgaria and Poland .

The arrival of a growing number of Syrian refugees in Europe has all the characteristics of a “ mass influx of displaced persons .“ This is why the EU should introduce instruments and channels of temporary protection provided for by Directive 2001/55 / EC , to decongest the asylum system and enable a secondary mobility in different EU countries without being subjected to “land-smugglers . Once equipped with a temporary document of legal residence , and therefore the freedom of movement , refugees should have recognized the right to seek asylum where they have family or social bonds and in countries that have a reception systems respecting human dignity and the right of family reunification.

The new European Commissioners , the Parliament , as well as the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Interior of the EU countries must answer for the continuous carnage taking place in the seas in front of Europe , for the inhumane conditions of service , first reception and detention of refugees , migrants asylum seekers and economic migrants . Should take note of the failure of devices such as Dublin , and work for integration policies really effective as well as guaranteeing the right to freedom of movement .

The Civil society in Italy and in Europe asks to take urgent actions to monitor the safety and security of Syrian citizens now present in Greece , that is guaranteed the possibility for them to move to other EU countries for family rejoining or to request international protection.

Erri De Luca, Fulvio Vassallo Paleologo, Gabriella Guido, Yasmine Accardo, Tenda per la Pace e i Diritti, Galadriel Ravelli, Genni Fabrizio, Giacomo Dessì, Alessandra Ballerini, Francesca Koch, Coordinamento contro il razzismo, Casa Internazionale delle Donne di Roma, Stefano Galieni Resp Immigrazione PRC, …

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