On 4 November 2010, a team of 175 border guards from 26 EU countries were deployed at the Greek-
Turkish border as part of FRONTEX Rapid Border Intervention Team (RABIT). The RABIT teams were
created in 2007 with the aim of providing rapid operational assistance to a Member State that is facing a
situation of urgent and exceptional pressure at points of its external borders due to large numbers of
third-country nationals trying to enter in an irregular way onto the territory. The RABIT was used for the
first time as Greece requested their help. The initial patrols by the Frontex team – most of whom are to
be stationed at the narrow crossing between Nea Vyssa and Orestiada – were supposed to be
reconnaissance exercises. But the mixed patrols of Frontex guards and Greek border police managed to
arrest 115 irregular migrants in just a few hours. Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, who visited the area
on the same day, said that the EU teams co-ordinated by Frontex will act under the authority of Greece
on a mission of limited duration. According to the Greek police, the presence of the EU’s border agency
in Greece demonstrated the Union’s support for the country’s efforts to curb irregular immigration.
Source:
http://ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_1_05/11/2010_120951
A European Union-subsidised scheme for the voluntary repatriation of undocumented immigrants from
Greece, launched earlier this year, has been more popular than anticipated, with more than 1,300
applications submitted, while the program only foresees the repatriation of 450 migrants at a cost of
1,300 per person. More than 300 have already been repatriated, the director of the Greek office of the
International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Daniel Esdras said. Yet another 1,000 applications or so
are outstanding. “We receive a mass of applications every day” said Esdras and in his opinion over
15,000 migrants would be repatriated if the funds could be found. The IOM is currently financing the
program, as funds have not yet been released by the Greek Citizens’ Protection Ministry. According to a
ministry source, due to the unexpected popularity of the scheme, the European Commission may extend
the funding.
The number and frequency of attacks against asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants have
reached alarming proportions. On 30 October 2010, two members of a group of about two dozen Iranian
asylum-seekers on a hunger strike in Athens were rushed to hospital after an explosive device was
thrown at them. In another part of central Athens on the same night a 36-year old Egyptian was attacked
after going to a mosque. A group of Greeks stabbed him in his arm and back. Instead of taking him to
the hospital the police arrested him. He was the fifth migrant/asylum-seeker to be violently attacked in
that neighbourhood within the space of a few weeks.
On 25 October 2010, the Ministry of Defence announced that it had drawn up a list of old army barracks
to be used as reception facilities for irregular migrants and asylum-seekers. The government plans to
create 15 reception facilities throughout the country with a total holding capacity of 1,000.
Migration News Sheet, November 2010, p. 16.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou met with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on
the sidelines of the Mediterranean Climate Change conference in Athens, on 22 October 2010. Turkey
agreed to cooperate more to curb the flow of irregular migrants heading for the EU in return for Greek
assistance in easing visa rules for Turkish nationals.
Migration News Sheet, November 2010, p. 27
The recently elected mayor of Athens, Giorgos Kaminis, presented his proposals for the municipality on
28 October 2010. One of them is to register all migrants in the upcoming census in March 2011, both
those who are regularly residing and those who do not have a permit. He said that he wants to take
these people out of the basements and grant them temporary status.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak, has warned that “Greek prisons are
overcrowded and law enforcement officials are overwhelmed” under the pressure of a constant flow of
hundreds of irregular migrants entering via Turkey on a daily basis. “The unprecedented numbers have
put the border guard stations, police stations and migrant detention centres into a critical state,” Mr.
Nowak said at the end of his fact-finding mission to Greece, from 10-20 October 2010. “I believe the
Government has the will to address this challenge. The key factor will be the implementation of new
policies and practices in the midst of the current economic crisis.” “However, Greece should not carry
the burden of receiving the vast majority of all irregular migrants entering the European Union,” the
Special Rapporteur stressed. “This is a truly European problem which needs a joint European solution.”
Source:
http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpNewsByYear_en)/9BB1B7B473C751E2C12577C200535060?Open
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