Greece’s harsh asylum policies, aiming to deter migrants, violate international law and human rights, causing suffering without curbing arrivals.
🔗 Read the article on courrierdesbalkans.fr
[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]
Greece is implementing increasingly harsh measures to deter asylum seekers, a policy termed the “Plevris doctrine,” which opponents deem inhumane and illegal under EU and international law. Key actions include a law suspending asylum procedures for migrants from North Africa for three months, allowing for their removal without proper examination or identification. Human rights organizations uniformly condemn this as discriminatory, violating the Geneva Convention and European law, and enabling arbitrary detention and illegal pushbacks. Opposition parties label the policy unconstitutional and inhumane. Recent incidents, such as the handling of arrivals in Rethymno, illustrate these harsh conditions. The suspension of asylum claims deprives new arrivals of access to food, healthcare, shelter, and legal status. Critics argue this policy, which relies on xenophobic rhetoric, fails to deter migration and instead exacerbates humanitarian crises, while also contributing to social tension and rising racist violence. While the policy is criticized for its direct harm to refugees, the text also notes that Greece bears a disproportionate burden of refugee reception due to a lack of effective European solidarity, suggesting the issue is rooted in a broader, failing European migration policy.
