The aim of this report is to bring together reporting on violence and human rights violations, while creating an informative resource on the situation in Greece. Our analysis
reveals that the assaults suffered by POM are not isolated incidents but rather fit into
a pattern of rising violence exercised by Greek law enforcement officers since 2019.
In fact, this is systemic, involving various state and non-state actors across Greece.
Through the collection of testimonies, BVNM has implicated local and national police
officers, the Hellenic Coast Guard, military forces, private security companies and local
groups. Locations include transit areas, the Greek islands, state run facilities and public
spaces.
While far from perfect under the Syriza government, the situation of POM in Greece
markedly deteriorated with the election of
the New Democracy party in July, 2019. With
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis calling
migration an “asymmetrical threat,” a highly
securitised, anti-immigrant agenda was
pursued to create a hostile environment for
transit communities. Whilst BVMN has long
documented the implications of this at the
border, this report offers a new perspective
from inside Greece.
Already Greece has seen an increase in
excessive use of force and ill-treatment by
the police, including severe beatings, unlawful arrests and humiliating practices of
illegal undressing and photographing detainees. This recent ‘militarisation of the
public space’, has accompanied an unprecedented concentration of power in the Ministry of Citizen Protection that oversees
the police, which also took charge of the
Ministry of Migration and the penitentiary
system in July. As the New Internationalist
puts it, Greece is witnessing the emergence of a “police state.”
Some notable policies include beefing up
Greece’s police force with 2,000 additional officers and the launch of “Operation
Net” in Athens that will see some 130 armed officers - incongruously dubbed the
Black Panthers - patrol transport hubs
in the capital.
It is important to note, however, that violence against POM is the result of the European Union (EU) acting in its perceived
self-interest. Since 2015, the EU has used
Greece as a buffer zone against unwanted
migration. Besides providing €130 Million
for the detention centres on Aegean is-
POLICY CONTEXT