With a report of 46 pages and approximately 10,000 words, the State Department refers extensively to the allegations of human rights violations in our country.
“There have been no significant changes in the human rights situation in Greece over the past year. Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of prison inmates and of migrants and asylum seekers by law enforcement authorities – crimes involving violence directed at members of national, racial or ethnic minority groups – and crimes that include violence or threats of violence directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, homosexual or intersex people.
The government regularly took steps to investigate, prosecute and punish officials who committed human rights abuses, whether in the security forces or elsewhere in the government. There were, however, complaints from non-governmental organizations and international organizations about the government’s failure to effectively investigate allegations of forced returns of asylum seekers and hold those responsible to account.” states the report’s introductory note.
Publications and investigations make up the puzzle of complaints
Among other things, the State Department report uses publications as sources to confirm the allegations that exist. In particular, a publication of the Spanish newspaper “El Pais” is used, which referred to 374 incidents of pushback involving Greek security forces at the Evros border with Turkey. These are incidents that took place between 2017 and 2022.
Elsewhere in the report there is a reference to a New York Times report which included video allegedly showing the Greek Coast Guard transporting 12 migrants and asylum seekers, including small children, from a truck to a raft, taking them out to sea and abandons them.
At the same time, the report also includes the result of the Border Violence Monitoring Network’s survey, which reported findings that 65% experienced or witnessed violence from the authorities.
Report on Predator as well
The State Department reports that “a May report by the European Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry into the use of spyware found that the country was not using spyware ‘as part of an integrated authoritarian strategy’ but was using the spyware against ‘journalists, politicians and businessmen’, and exported spyware in countries with poor human rights performance. During the year, there were no new reports of spyware cases.
During the year, Artemis Sifford, a former Meta employee with dual Greek and American citizenship who, according to a March 20 New York Times report, worked on policy cybersecurity issues, claimed she was being monitored by the National Intelligence Service through Predator spyware on her mobile phone between September and November 2021. Opposition and international press reports argued that the pattern of evidence implicated the country’s authorities.
In July the Hellenic Data Protection Authority presented findings suggesting that in 2022 at least 92 Greek citizens had been subjected to attempts
to install Predator spyware on their personal devices. The authority said it has no evidence to indicate the origin of these efforts, but added that the investigation remains ongoing..
The reaction of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs was assigned to the US State Department’s report on human rights and the report that exists in Greece. In the statement it issued, it points out that “the report records, without further investigation, complaints by non-governmental organizations for which no independent verification is carried out.”
It is then emphasized that the “Greek government will continue to consistently serve democracy and the rule of law in Greece, deepening the essential equality of citizens and their individual and social rights and improving their standard of living.”
The announcement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
“The report records, without further investigation, allegations by non-governmental organizations that are not independently audited.
Precisely because of this indiscriminate recording, it appears that serious human rights issues exist in all countries with a developed rule of law. Particularly important for the integrity, reliability and objectivity of the report is the fact that the opinion of the Greek state was not sought in relation to the mentioned issues.
Although the progress in relation to the protection of rights in Greece is recognized on many levels, the report ignores or completely ignores regulatory interventions and national strategies of recent years to ensure the rights of vulnerable categories of citizens, such as the disabled, LGBTQI and unaccompanied minors.
Throughout time, the reports on Greece present similar human rights issues. Particularly in the period 2016-2019, very serious complaints were cited, which gradually disappeared.
The Greek government will continue to consistently serve democracy and the rule of law in Greece, deepening the essential equality of citizens and their individual and social rights and improving their standard of living.”.
