Implementation of the safe third country concept in Greece

10/03/2022

RLS is a co-signatory to this joint letter to Ms Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for Home Affairs. An excerpt can be found below and the full letter can be found here.

"We, representatives of 27 civil society organisations active in the areas of asylum and migration in Greece, wish to hereby convey to you our concerns regarding systematic non-compliance by Greece with the Asylum Procedures Directive as regards the safe third country concept." (...)

"The (Greek asylum service) practice exposes applicants for international protection to a legal limbo whereby they are never granted access to an examination of their applications on their merits, contrary to the purpose of the Geneva Convention and of the Asylum Procedures Directive. It also leads to exclusion of people from reception conditions, resulting in inability to have access to dignified living standards and to cater for their basic subsistence needs, including health care and food."