Out of the spotlight: The rights of foreigners and minorities are still a grey area 3 Greece OUT OF THE SPOTLIGHT The rights of foreigners and minorities are still a grey area INTRODUCTION “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status.” Article 2, Universal Declaration of Human Rights Freedom from discrimination is the basis upon which the protection of human rights rests. The failure to guarantee freedom from discrimination is thus a fundamental failure in such protection practices. Amnesty International has documented various aspects of this failure around the globe. This report outlines the situation in Greece. It documents a consistent pattern of human rights violations across a range of fields that stem from the failure of the state to combat discrimination, in the practices of its representatives as well as of non-state actors. These practices range from the denial of protection to refugees and the illtreatment of migrants, to the forced eviction of Roma from their settlements and the inadequate protection of minority rights. In a previous report on Greece, published jointly with the International Helsinki Federation in 2002,1 the persistence of human 1 Greece: In the Shadow of Impunity: Ill-treatment and the Use of Firearms, Amnesty International and International Helsinki Federation joint publication (AI Index: EUR 25/022/2002) Amnesty International 5 October 2005 rights violations, and ill-treatment in particular, was documented. One of the major findings in that report was that “Roma and immigrants are particularly at risk of abuses at the hands of law enforcement officials” and that “the pattern is sufficiently clear to leave little room for doubt that xenophobia and racial profiling have played a part in the human rights violations suffered by members of these groups”. Since 2002, there has been little change to this pattern, despite the fact that new domestic legislation has been put in place to deal specifically with the areas of concern highlighted in that report, as well as with various other aspects of discrimination. The legislation relates to the use of firearms, access to justice, combating trafficking in human beings, and immigration control. The reports received by Amnesty International of human rights violations in the period between 2002 and 2005 show that many of the provisions of this legislation, especially those designed to protect human rights and to safeguard freedom from discrimination, are yet to be implemented. AI Index: EUR 25/016/2005