Galery

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More and more immigrants who had residence papers fall out of the system and go underground, alerted the lawyer Vassilis Papasteriu at a press conference by a team of lawyers to support the rights of refugees and immigrants. He presented the cases of three girls, which he explained as typical for illegal immigrants in Greece. The cases are identical – they are of three girls that have been in the country many years to work, study or with their families and suddenly it appears that they no longer have the right to stay.   

Adela from Pakistan is 28 years old and was born in Greece but no longer can stay here. Her parents live and work in the country legally for 30 years. Adela speaks fluent Greek, yet in 2007 she remained without papers, having no right to work, to travel. The lawyers managed to interpret the law in a way that allows her to apply to obtain documents for a long stay only a few days ago.

Evangelia is 31 and was born in the Albanian capital Tirana. Her family arrived in Greece twenty years ago and shortly thereafter two other family members appeared – the Evangelia brothers. She and her family had documents, but have failed to keep them for various reasons in recent years and because they do not qualify to renew them. However, the Evangelia studies at a university, but to continue her education she has to return to Albania and get a student visa issued. This will be a temporary solution for her because after five years, when she will graduate, she will not have the right to live in the country. Her only chance would be to marry if she wants to stay. The Evangelia brothers are finishing high school after a year. And if they want to study at a university they will need these documents. “The paradox is that they were born here and can not do anything” she says. “The paradox is that if parents have lost their documents somehow, this involves the children” said one lawyer.

The story of Tatiana from Belarus, who has no documents either, is slightly different. She came to Greece to study, but subsequently began to work in parallel with her studies. She came in Athens at the age of 19 and has been here already 13 years. The Greek laws require her to have worked 350 days in two years in order to obtain documents to stay and work in the country. The working period should be evident from the social securities paid. This applies to all citizens of countries which are not part of the European Union and live in Greece. Many women who work as maids fail to obtain the necessary days for which the employers to pay social securities. Besides, illegal work is widespread in this sector. Most of the men who work in the construction sector on a daily wage also find it difficult to obtain the necessary social securities.

“Serious remains the problem of the children of immigrants who were born in Greece ... Many of them continue to live with no documents fo rstay, which means that they are on the black labour market and live in constant fear and uncertainty,” noted the lawyers.

The issue of immigrants without documents, who enter illegally in Greece, was discussed at an informal meeting of Ministers of Interior and Immigration, which was held in Brussels. There the European Union demonstrated its inability to agree on a “common immigration and asylum policy,” after the European south rejected the proposal of Commissioner Malstron Cecilia and the Belgian Presidency to repeal Dublin Regulation, which mostly aggravates the situation in Greece.

Supporters of Greece put the question for ceasing the application of mechanisms for returning refugees in countries, which are external borders of the Union, and accept most foreigners who enter illegally. Furthermore, the Greek Deputy Minister of Citizen Protection Spiros Vuyas put the issue to trigger a mechanism to move the refugees with documents and especially children without parents in countries with less immigrant population.  

Mr. Vuyas, as representative of Greece, which is being entered by 88% of the foreigners coming to Europe, explained that “irregardless of how perfectly we organize their welcome, stay and asylum, we will never be consistent and able to adhere to the international obligations and those of the European Community when we have to cope alone with this huge number of illegal foreigners entering.”

Most likely, Greece have to apply the right under Article 3 of the Regulation, and not to accept immigrants sent back from other countries, because it can not cope with the huge number of people who already live in the country, commented Maria Delitanasi for Kathimerini newspaper. In any case, mechanisms must be activated to allow Greece to send in other countries some groups of immigrants such as unaccompanied children, as more and more people come in the country and now, during the economic crisis, this leads to significant problems.