Added to these seemingly organised incidents of racist violence is the attack against a shelter for unaccompanied minors from a group of 40-50 people covered with full face masks and hoods, throwing rocks against the building while using xenophobic language. The perpetrators targeted children and employees working at the shelter. Indeed, among the victims, there were human rights defenders who were subjected to harassment or violent behaviours due to their support towards migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. The UN Special Rapporteur in June 2022 spoke of a climate of fear due to the attempts to criminalise, among others, the action of human rights defenders. 895 Lastly, as highlighted by the US Department of State, as part of its 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Greece: ‘Significant human rights issues [in Greece] included credible reports of: cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of prison detainees and of migrants and asylum seekers by law enforcement authorities; […] forced returns and alleged violence by government authorities towards migrants and asylum seekers; […] crimes involving violence targeting members of national/racial/ethnic minority groups; and crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex persons’.896 C. Employment and education 1. Access to the labour market Indicators: Access to the Labour Market 1. Does the law allow for access to the labour market for asylum seekers? ❖ If yes, when do asylum seekers have access the labour market? Yes No 6 months 2. Does the law allow access to employment only following a labour market test? Yes No 3. Does the law only allow asylum seekers to work in specific sectors? ❖ If yes, specify which sectors: Yes No 4. Does the law limit asylum seekers’ employment to a maximum working time? ❖ If yes, specify the number of days per year Yes No 5. Are there restrictions to accessing employment in practice? Yes No Up to the end of 2019, asylum seekers had access to the labour market as employees or service or work providers from the moment an asylum application had been formally lodged and they had obtained an asylum seeker’s card.897 Applicants who had not yet completed the full registration and lodged their application (i.e. applicants who were pre-registered), did not have access to the labour market. As noted in Registration, the average time period between pre-registration and full registration across mainland Greece (registration via Skype) was 44 days in 2019. 898 Relevant data on the time between pre- and full registration for 2022 is not available at the time of writing. 899 Following the entry into force of the IPA on 1 January 2020, a 6-month time limit for asylum seekers’ access to the labour market has been introduced. This right is granted if no first instance decision has been taken by the Asylum Service within 6 months of the lodging of the application, through no fault of the applicant.900 The right is automatically withdrawn upon issuance of a negative decision which is not subject to an automatically suspensive appeal. 901 895 896 897 898 899 900 901 RVRN, ‘Presentation of the Annual Report for 2022’, 6 April 2022, written in Greek available at https://bit.ly/3OSKKVA. US Department of State, ‘2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Greece’, available at: https://bit.ly/3L7A9Tq. Article 71 L 4375/2016, as previously in force; Article 15 L 4540/2018 as previously in force. Information provided by the Greek Asylum Service on 17 February 2020. Information provided by the Office of Analysis and Studies of the MoMA on 31 March 2021. Article 53(1) IPA (replaced by article 57(3) of L 4939/2022); Article 71 L 4375/2016, as amended by Article 116(10) IPA. Article 53(2) IPA (replaced by article 57(3) of L 4939/2022). 183