Migrants run Greek gauntlet

By Richard Galpin
BBC News, Athens

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) and human rights organisations have sharply criticised the Greek government over its treatment of thousands of asylum-seekers who cross illegally into Greece every year from Turkey.

Coastguards rely on experience and radar to catch refugees

Since the so-called War on Terror began, the Greek authorities have been granting asylum to less than 1% of all those claiming to be fleeing from persecution - one of the lowest rates in the European Union.

But the BBC has learnt that even the majority of those who can prove they are the victims of torture are initially being rejected.

Sub-Lieutenant Christos Nanos, captain of patrol boat 150 of the Greek coastguard, exudes the night. The hours of darkness have cast a permanent shadow across his face.

Whilst most sleep, he and his crew scour the Aegean Sea off the island of Lesbos hunting for unwanted men, women and children.

He uses all the sophisticated gear on board his powerful boat, including hi-tech radar and night-vision equipment. But at times he resorts to the hunter's basic instinct - switching off the engines and lights, to wait and listen.

Refugee season

The sound of another boat's engine breaking the stillness of the night prompts a sudden surge of activity to determine whether this is a "target" or not. A target for Captain Nanos and his crew means a boat filled with migrants trying to reach Lesbos from the coast of Turkey, just a few kilometres away to the east.

Every year, thousands of migrants from countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Georgia try to make the illegal crossing in the hope of reaching the European Union.

And the summer is the peak season, with on average 12 people spotted every day.

In response, the Greek coastguard in this region has in recent years been bolstered with more boats, more personnel, more patrols and most significantly a policy of "zero tolerance".

"Our strategy here is to patrol continuously along the sea-border and prevent the boats that come from Turkey from entering Greek territorial waters", says Captain Nanos. "If we find them before they cross the line then we push them back.

"We manage to send back about 60% of the people who try to cross."

But the problem with this policy is that it is indiscriminate. Whilst many making the crossing are economic migrants, there are also people who have fled their countries due to a genuine fear of persecution.

Every time I go to the police, they say come back tomorrow, they won't stamp it. They also want my address here, but I don't have one... I have no hope Mohammed

But the only way an asylum-seeker would be allowed through during a mid-ocean confrontation with the Greek coastguard would be by shouting in clear Greek or English that he or she wanted to claim asylum.

"We've never had anyone asking," says Captain Nanos.

Human rights groups accuse the Greek government of violating international treaties on the treatment of asylum-seekers.

"Unfortunately, in the past two years we've had an increasing number being forcibly sent back before they get a chance to apply for asylum," say Gerasimos Kouvaras, director of Amnesty International in Greece.

But this is not the only alleged violation. For those migrants who do manage to get across the border and reach Greek territorial waters, their ordeal is far from over when they reach the sun-drenched islands of the Aegean.

Detention centre

Most, if not all, are immediately locked up in detention centres which have been built on the islands lying close to the Turkish coast.

International organisations including the UNHCR say there is no screening beforehand to check whether there are genuine refugees amongst them. And once inside, they say the migrants are often not properly informed of their rights.

Greek authorities regularly reject refugees' asylum applications

We applied for permission to visit the detention centre on Lesbos, but the authorities refused.

Later, local human rights activists handed us rare photographs showing conditions inside the detention centre, which perhaps explain the sensitivity of the authorities.

"In the detention centres there is a failure of following fundamental human rights. In terms of unhygienic and overcrowded conditions... prolonged periods of detention and detention of unaccompanied children put together with adults," says Mr Kouvaras.

Mohammed, a Sudanese refugee, spent three months in the Lesbos detention centre. He told me it was similar to the prison in Sudan from which he had managed to escape.

Trouble with papers

We met Mohammed in the Greek capital, Athens, at a medical clinic where he was being examined to check out his claim that he had been tortured by the Sudanese authorities.

The examination confirmed his story and yet, he says, the Greek authorities have been blocking his attempts to apply for asylum.

The preparations for the Olympics demanded most of our personnel. Thus procedures regarding refugees and issues like political asylum were postponed George Maris Government legal adviser

"It's very complicated, they want many documents I don't have," he says.

"For example, they want a paper which has to be stamped by the police, but every time I go to the police, they say come back tomorrow, they won't stamp it. They also want my address here, but I don't have one... I have no hope."

Mohammed's despair is shared by many others in Greece. It is estimated there are currently 50,000 asylum-seekers who have not even been able to officially register with the authorities, which leaves them vulnerable to arrest and deportation as illegal immigrants.

Doctor Maria Piniou-Kalli, head of the Greek branch of the Medical Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims, has examined hundreds of asylum-seekers at her Athens clinic.

"If you see the statistics for asylum in 2004, you see that about 4,500 people applied," she says. "But they [the authorities] only recognised 11 people and gave asylum to them.

"But I certified 120 [as torture victims]. That means more than 100 people identified as torture victims were rejected. Who has the right to do this?"

Athens squalor

Later, Mohammed took us to the squalid, abandoned house in central Athens where he has been sheltering for the past 10 months with more than 20 other refugees from the Darfur region of Sudan.

Some walls have collapsed entirely, others are on the verge. The air is thick with the stench of human excrement - there is no water, electricity or sanitation. One man lifts up a mattress which is teeming with bedbugs and squashes one with his finger. It is full of human blood.

Greece is not the European paradise some refugees are hoping to find

All of them say they get no help from the government and depend on charity for one proper meal a day. Some have already been living here for years, still waiting for an answer from the government about their requests for asylum.

The minister of public order who is ultimately responsible for deciding whether a person is granted asylum or not, was not available when we asked for an interview with him.

Instead George Maris, a legal adviser to the minister was put forward. He denied any suggestion that the government was deliberately blocking asylum applications as part of a broader policy of deterrence, saying there had just been a temporary administrative problem.

"There was a delay... as you know 2004 was the year of the Olympic Games. The preparations for the Olympics demanded most of our personnel. Thus procedures regarding refugees and issues like political asylum were postponed, delayed."

Fortress Europe

According to Mr Maris, the wheels of Greek bureaucracy are now moving much faster and by May the number of people granted asylum had already gone up to 5%, compared to less than 1% for the whole of last year.

"Within this year, things will be so improved you'll be impressed," he added.

But according to the UNHCR, the latest figures are already down again to less than 4%. And asylum-seekers we spoke to said nothing had changed.

"I've lost 10 years of my life," said one Iraqi Kurd who has been in Greece since the mid 1990s, trying to get asylum. "People are very, very disappointed. Every day is a death. Just waiting, waiting, waiting."

Human rights activists are also sceptical. They believe the government is implementing a "fortress Europe" policy in which the focus is on control and deterrence.