The
Mitsotakis government has promised to deport 10,000 people until the end of
2020 to decongest the islands.
The
Greek Parliament has approved the new asylum law, which aims to accelerate the
returns of migrants to their countries of origin, and has generated a wave of
criticism among social organizations for the obstacles it puts in obtaining
international protection.
"The
asylum law sends a clear message to those who know they have no right to asylum
but try to enter our country: They will return to their land", said Greek
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who stressed that "open the doors It
is not an option".
Both the
analysis of asylum requests and the returns framed in the joint European Union
(EU) -Turkey March 2016 agreement are done very slowly and, on occasion, have
been blocked, which has complicated the process and left to thousands of people
waiting for a decision.
Since
March 2016, up to 2,000 returns have been made to Turkey. The Mitsotakis
government has promised to deport 10,000 people until the end of 2020 to
decongest the islands. In September they returned 7 people.
A
provision of the Law closely related to expulsions is the creation, for the
first time in Greece, of a list of "safe third countries".
It is
not yet known which ones will be included although it does provide that they
grant "adequate protection" to people sent from Greece instead of
"effective protection", as defined in international law. Several NGOs
have expressed concern that this difference does not guarantee the safety of
the transferred.
In
addition, asylum claims filed before March 2016 are still pending resolution.
They will only be examined if the applicants confirm that they are still
interested in receiving international protection in Greece within 6 months.
According
to the Greek Asylum Service, in the first 8 months of the year more than 11,100
people received refugee status or subsidiary protection in Greece. Since 2015,
some 45,300 people have seen their asylum claims accepted.
SOURCE: EITB
