Parliamentary Assembly

Draft resolution

1The Parliamentary Assembly notes that the formerly tense situation in the reception and identification centres on the Greek islands of Leros and Kos improved in 2017. However, it expresses great concern that the humanitarian situation of asylum seekers in the centres on the Greek islands of Lesbos, Samos and Chios has remained catastrophic for many years. Originally foreseen to house approximately 7 500 people, the capacity of these five centres was reduced to approximately 5 000 places by the end of 2017, when in fact they were occupied by 10 907 people. This number even increased, with the centre at Moria on Lesbos alone housing more than 8 000 people in autumn 2018 due to an increase in arrivals from the nearby Turkish coast.

2The Assembly welcomes the action of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in providing rented housing facilities for asylum seekers on mainland Greece and the Greek islands as well as the work of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on renovating and operating open accommodation centres on mainland Greece and its Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration programme; all these initiatives are funded by the European Union. Together with rapid large-scale transferrals of asylum seekers to mainland Greece before the winter of 2018, these initiatives reduced the number of occupants of the centre at Moria to approximately 5 000 by the end of 2018. Nevertheless, the situation of the centres at Moria on Lesbos and at Vathy on Samos remain a matter of concern as large numbers of people are housed in tents, with inadequate sanitary installations, insufficient food distribution, a lack of health services, poor security, especially at night, and where levels of violence and crime inside the centres are high.

3The Assembly is particularly alarmed by reports about sexual violence, sexual exploitation and human trafficking by camp gangs, smugglers and other forms of organised crime, which cause psychological distress beyond, and adding to, the traumatic situations many experienced on route while fleeing to Turkey and continuing to Greece;

3.1recalling that Greece and Turkey are both Parties to the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, the Assembly invites both countries to sign and ratify also the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. Greek law- enforcement authorities should co-operate internationally with Interpol and Europol as well as with the Turkish law-enforcement authorities in order to break the wall of impunity;

3.2the Assembly invites the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), when evaluating Greece and Turkey against the applicable international anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist financing standards, and the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL), when evaluating Greece’s neighbouring countries which are members of MONEYVAL against these standards, to pay particular attention to the threats of money transfers generated by migrant smuggling and trafficking.

4Aware that Greece received 16 670 first-time asylum applications in the third quarter of 2018, which represents the highest number of asylum applications per capita within the European Union after Cyprus, the Assembly welcomes the European Union’s financial aid of approximately 2 billion euros for Greece, which includes the recently granted 305 million euros for migration and border management. Confronted for more than a decade with a permanent influx of migrants through the Turkish–Greek sea and land borders, Greece and Turkey deserve the solidarity of all Council of Europe member States. Referring to reports about misappropriation of European Union funds by the Greek authorities, which has allegedly prevented improvement of the deplorable housing situation of asylum applicants for many years, the Assembly invites the European Union to duly monitor the appropriate use of European Union funds.

5Recalling that Greece is bound by Asylum Procedures Directive 2013/32/EU, Reception Conditions Directive 2013/33/EU, Qualification Directive 2011/95/EU, Dublin III Regulation No. 604/2013 and EURODAC Regulation No. 603/2013, the Assembly calls on the European Union to assist Greece in complying with this European Union law, especially regarding the apparent shortcomings in housing asylum applicants in the reception and identification centres as well as in the proper and timely processing of asylum applications.

6Alarmed by the high numbers of undocumented migrants in Greece, who often leave Greece on the so-called Balkan route to the European Union border of Croatia and Hungary or try to survive in the streets of Greece facing violence, abuse and exploitation, the Assembly invites the European Union and the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (Frontex) to assist the Greek authorities in properly registering and identifying all persons arriving through the Turkish–Greek land and sea borders. Undocumented migrants are particularly vulnerable and at risk of being exploited by organised crime, including by drug criminals along the major drug route from Afghanistan to western Europe.

7The Assembly regrets that Greece does not allow family reunification of persons under subsidiary protection. The situation of unaccompanied minors is of great concern because they are under the ex officio guardianship of a small number of regional prosecutors, with new legislation not yet adequately implemented. Unaccompanied minors under subsidiary protection should not be prevented from reuniting in Greece with family members, in accordance with Assembly Resolution 2243 (2018) on family reunification of refugees and migrants in the Council of Europe member States.

8The Assembly regrets that in December 2018 the European Union institutions and the Greek Government agreed to maintain lower rates of value added tax in the islands hosting reception and identification centres for as long as these centres are overpopulated. This agreement leads the Greek authorities to refrain from taking necessary measures to offer better living conditions in the centres. The European Union and the Greek Government should review their agreement.

9Finally, the Assembly recommends the following action to improve the situation of asylum seekers, refugees, rejected asylum applicants and irregular migrants:

9.1the Greek authorities should:

9.1.1rapidly improve the housing, sanitary and security situation inside the overcrowded reception and identification centres of Lesbos, Samos and Chios, and/or transfer registered and identified asylum applicants to open accommodation centres operated by the IOM, alternative camps operated by humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and apartments rented by the UNHCR on Greek islands and mainland Greece; uncontrolled transfers into the streets of Greek cities or third countries must be stopped;

9.1.2revise the practice under which transfers to mainland Greece require vulnerability or a serious medical condition of the asylum applicant, in order to avoid cases of self-harm; medical services should be improved rapidly inside all camps on islands and the mainland alike;

9.1.3ensure that the transfer of asylum applicants to mainland Greece or other housing facilities on the islands does not negatively affect the processing of their asylum applications;

9.1.4duly identify and register all migrants arriving by boat on the Greek islands or crossing the Turkish–Greek land border, in order to prevent them from remaining undocumented and hence highly vulnerable to organised crime, and share such data within the Schengen Visa Information System as well as with other neighbouring countries;

9.1.5ensure that unaccompanied minors and women are particularly protected against violence, sexual exploitation and human trafficking, as required by the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (CETS No. 201) and the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (CETS No. 197); make use of the Handbook for frontline professionals on how to convey child-friendly information to children in migration;

9.1.6ensure effective guardianship for unaccompanied minors, which implies due responsibility of guardians and respect of the right of parents to maintain parental authority over unaccompanied minors; provide more housing facilities for unaccompanied minors both on mainland Greece and on the islands; unaccompanied minors should be allowed to reunite or maintain contact with family members, for instance by applying the European Agreement on the Abolition of Visas for Refugees (ETS No. 31); in accordance with Assembly Resolution 2195 (2017) on child-friendly age assessment for unaccompanied migrant children, particular attention should be paid to the age assessment of unaccompanied minors;

9.1.7set up specific law-enforcement units for dealing with organised crime, to combat human trafficking and smuggling as well as the misappropriation of public funds earmarked for assisting refugees, in accordance with the Criminal Law and Civil Law Conventions on Corruption (ETS Nos. 173 and 174) and the Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism (CETS No. 198);

9.1.8ensure that refugees who perish in Greece have a decent burial in accordance with their religious customs;

9.1.9not deny access to the camps by NGOs which provide necessary humanitarian assistance to asylum applicants;

9.2the Turkish authorities should:

9.2.1increase their efforts to ensure that human traffickers and smugglers cannot act with impunity when moving migrants to Greece;

9.2.2honour the bilateral Greek–Turkish agreement on the readmission of irregular migrants and rejected asylum applicants as well as the EU–Turkey statement;

9.2.3register and identify all migrants and refugees entering Turkey and share such data with the Schengen Visa Information System and other countries;

9.3the European Union should:

9.3.1assist Greece in accommodating asylum seekers and refugees as well as in managing external European Union borders;

9.3.2assist Greece in establishing better asylum procedures on the Greek islands with expeditious transfers to mainland Greece;

9.3.3reintroduce financing programmes of humanitarian projects operated by NGOs, which allow for more decentralised projects closer to the people in need;

9.3.4assist Turkey in the implementation of its bilateral Greek–Turkish readmission agreement, which applies to irregular migrants and rejected asylum applicants who came by boat from Turkey as well as those who came across the Turkish–Greek land border;

9.3.5assist Greece in concluding and implementing readmission agreements with other safe countries of origin of rejected asylum seekers and irregular migrants;

9.3.6invite Greece to prevent push-backs of migrants in recognition of the fact that push-backs are a serious violation of fundamental human rights;

9.3.7assist member States in implementing family reunification in accordance with the European Union Family Reunification Directive and Assembly Resolution 2243 (2018);

9.3.8introduce a new relocation programme targeted at alleviating pressure from asylum seekers in countries of first arrival;

9.3.9monitor the effective and transparent use of European Union funds and establish performance indicators as well as compliance control mechanisms and good governance requirements.

Draft recommendation

1Referring to its Resolution …. (2019) “The situation of migrants and refugees on the Greek islands: more needs to be done”, the Parliamentary Assembly emphasises the seriousness of the humanitarian situation inside the reception and identification centres for asylum seekers on the Greek islands of Lesbos, Samos and Chios. The Council of Europe needs to address this subject adequately and assist the Greek authorities in improving this situation urgently.

2The Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

2.1invite Greece and Turkey to continue the readmission of rejected asylum applicants and irregular migrants who have arrived across the Turkish–Greek sea and land borders, in accordance with the bilateral Greek–Turkish readmission agreement as well as the EU–Turkey statement;

2.2invite the Committee of the Parties of the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (CETS No. 197) as well as the Committee of the Parties to the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (CETS No. 201) to assess the action of Greece and Turkey in combating the trafficking and sexual exploitation of migrants who cross from Turkey to Greece or vice versa; particular attention should be paid to the numerous young male prostitutes to be found on the streets of Greek cities and who seem to fall through the usual protection measures for women and children;

2.3invite the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) to address the issue of misappropriation of public funds for refugees in the framework of its Fifth evaluation round on Greece;

2.4invite the Co-operation Group to Combat Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Drugs (the Pompidou Group) to address drug trafficking in the context of the migrant routes from Afghanistan to western Europe.