Joint Civil Society Statement on the Migration Ministry bill

Working for an organisation registered in the “NGO Registry” of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum becomes a punishable offence with the proposed changes to Articles 24 and 25 of the Migration Code.

After five years of constant recommendations from the European Commission, the Council of Europe and the UN to put an end to arbitrary restrictions on the work of civil society organisations supporting refugees and migrants, the Ministry continues to target the organisations deemed inconvenient solely for carrying out their work.

The mere membership of an organisation registered in the NGO Registry elevates misdemeanours such as facilitation of illegal stay, or refusal to hand a travel document, to felonies punishable by up to ten years’ imprisonment and fines of tens of thousands of euros. It is thus considered an aggravating circumstance sufficient to reclassify the offence as a felony, in an affront to fundamental principles of criminal policy and legislation. Mere criminal prosecution suffices for removal of the organisation from the Registry.

These provisions are intended to intimidate civil society. They are introduced only a few months after the Minister of Migration and Asylum made threats against the legal representatives of people who arrived in Crete during the unlawful three-month asylum ban and were protected from deportation by interim measures of the European Court of Human Rights. These attacks were immediately condemned by international and national institutions, yet the competent Minister refuses to retract them.

For the undersigned organisations, this attempt is unjust, unlawful, and unreasonable. We call for the immediate withdrawal of these provisions.

The undersigned organisations:

1. ART HUB Athens
2. Association of Greek Conscientious Objectors
3. Association of Greek Small- and Medium CSOs
4. Boat Refugee Foundation
5. Centre Diotima
6. Changemakers Lab
7. Civil Society Alliance Greece
8. Collective Aid
9. Community Peacemaker Teams-Aegean Migrant Solidarity
10. Doctors of the World – Greek Delegation
11. ECHO100PLUS
12. Emfasis Non-Profit
13. EmpowerVan
14. Equal Legal Aid (ELA)
15. Equal Rights Beyond Borders
16. FemArtAct
17. Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid
18. Greek Council for Refugees (GCR)
19. Greek Forum of Migrants
20. Greek Forum of Refugees
21. Greek Helsinki Monitor
22. Greek Housing Network
23. Hellenic League for Human Rights (HLHR)
24. HIAS Greece
25. HIGGS
26. The HOME Project
27. Human Rights Legal Project
28. I Have Rights
29. Inter Alia
30. Intereuropean Human Aid Association 
31. InterMediaKT
32. INTERSOS HELLAS
33. Irida Women’s Center
34. iSea
35. Legal Centre Lesvos
36. Mazí Housing
37. Médecins Sans Frontières Greece
38. Melissa Network of Migrant Women in Greece
39. Mobile Info Team
40. Nimertis Action Art
41. Northern Lights Aid
42. PΕkAmeA
43. Police Violence Observatory – Copwatch GR
44. PRAKSIS
45. Project Armonia
46. Reading to the Others 
47. Refugee Support Aegean (RSA)
48. Safe Passage International Greece
49. Samos Volunteers
50. SHE – Society for Help and Empowerment
51. Symbiosis-Council of Europe School of Political Studies in Greece
52. Symplexis
53. Velos Youth
54. VIOZO – Greek Union of Consumers
55. Women’s Self Defence Group
56. Vouliwatch