300 migrant workers in Athens and Thessaloniki are now on their 37th day of hunger strike. Even though the consequences for their health have by now become very serious, posing imminent risks to their lives, the Government maintains the same absolute position.
The insistence of each government on overlooking the factual reality of thousands of humans to whom Greece has become the center of their vital relations, who live and work here, who form bonds with their local communities and whose stay can in no way be seen as being characterised by temporariness, has led a significant segment of the migrant population in our country to a dead end.
These are people who do not exist for the Greek authorities as far as the enjoyment of any right is concerned, but who do exist in order to exploited and be used as an escape goat for many our country’s problems. As visible the product of their work, as invisible their existence as humans.
The particularly restrictive conditions of previous laws on regularisation which narrowed significantly their scope of application, the loss of residence status by those who had nevertheless managed to fulfil the initial requirements but were unable to keep up with the suffocating renewal requirements, as well as the lack of a continuous regularisation procedure under which migrants would be able to legalise their stay by fulfilling certain criteria, without the need of irregular retrospective schemes, characterise the unsuccessful policy which has been followed until this day.
The Government’s presumption that the primary aim of a migration policy must be the deterrence of entry into the country and the removal of all those who do not hold legal residence documents combined with the absolute refusal to provide for any regularisation prospect, deliberately overlooks the reality which has been formed. It deliberately refuses to admit that this reality cannot be dealt with repressive measures, that it leads to flagrant human rights violations and that it creates situations of extreme exploitation and social marginalisation. Ultimately it ends up reinforcing employer unaccountability and uninsured migrant work.
In view of the State’s responsibilities for the creation of this situation and in view of the absolute value of the right to life, which cannot be subject to any constraints and any exceptions, we consider compelling the adoption of a solution which will be fair, holistic and in accordance with the rule of law.
Athens, 2 March 2011
GROUP OF LAWYERS FOR THE RIGHTS OF MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES
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