#EU

International protection and other provisions: Greece’s new (illegal) refugee law

Rory O'Keeffe, Koraki

Nov 9, 2019
48 min

International protection and other provisions: Greece’s new (illegal) refugee law

Context The Greek government has, as expected, passed an Act which will significantly reduce the rights of men, women and children who attempt to claim asylum. Hallowe’en is celebrated far less widely in Greece than in Western Europe, but there is an irony to the fact that Greece passed, on 31 October, a largely horrifying piece of legislation: an Act which will significantly reduce the rights of men, women and children who hope to apply for asylum in the state. The Act, whic

63 views0 comments

Rory O'Keeffe, Koraki

Oct 9, 2019
14 min

The threat made by Turkey: a guide

Since the immoral and illegal EU/Turkey Deal was enacted on 20 March 2016, it seems as if we have written almost once a week about the latest ‘threat’ from Recep Tayyip Erdogan, or the latest claim from the Greek government that Turkey has ‘opened the floodgates’ to let refugees move from Turkey to Greece. It cannot be so often. But in the wake of the latest threat from Turkey’s President, we felt it may be helpful and useful to gather and repeat some of the points most relev

49 views0 comments

Turkey and Northern Syria part two: a ‘safe zone’ which will not long be either

Rory O'Keeffe, Koraki

Oct 7, 2019
15 min

Turkey and Northern Syria part two: a ‘safe zone’ which will not long be either

We had intended to publish this yesterday, 7 October 2019, but as news broke of the Trump administration’s decision to ‘stand aside’ and ‘allow’ Turkey to enter/invade Northern Syria, we felt that should take priority. Here, we publish what was set to be yesterday’s piece, about the so-called ‘safe zone’ in Northern Syria, one of recent history’s worst ideas. Connected closely to Turkey’s potential ‘entry into/invasion of’ Northern Syria, as analysed yesterday, is the so-call

17 views0 comments

Turkey and Northern Syria part one: Invasion?

Rory O'Keeffe, Koraki

Oct 7, 2019
9 min

Turkey and Northern Syria part one: Invasion?

i. Turkey to be ‘allowed’ to enter/invade Northern Syria The US’ White House Press Spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham announced this morning (7 October 2019) that US forces would ‘no longer be in the immediate area’ of northern Syria, where Turkey plans (in Grisham’s words) ‘to move forward soon with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria.’ It is increasingly clear the US plans to withdraw at least some of the 1,000 troops it has in the region at present. What is not clear

12 views0 comments

Idlib, Istanbul, Turkey and the EU: Review, 30 July 2019

Rory O'Keeffe

Jul 31, 2019
34 min

Idlib, Istanbul, Turkey and the EU: Review, 30 July 2019

2019 Statistics so far 1. New arrivals by sea 2. Transfers from the islands to mainland 3. Other removals from the islands 4. Detention Centre populations *Brackets note the entire refugee population on the island, including those outside the detention centres. 5. Sea arrivals month-by-month *Both up to and including 29 July 6. Turkey Coastguard pushbacks 7. Deaths The current rate of death in the Eastern Mediterranean is significantly lower (one death for every 322(.79) peop

16 views0 comments

New democracy? A guide to Greece under Nea Dimokratia

Rory O'Keeffe

Jul 23, 2019
33 min

New democracy? A guide to Greece under Nea Dimokratia

People who like to deal in political aphorisms will tell you that the first weeks a government spends in power are its most important. Though – like most such ideas – this has its roots in the US, where campaigning eats roughly three-quarters of any presidential cycle, it is true that even in Europe, the early days are when a new administration seeks to set the markers from which it will build. In the case of the first two weeks since Nea Dimokratia regained power, the party

183 views0 comments

Rory O'Keeffe

Feb 22, 2019
7 min

Refugee evictions to begin in Greece

HUNDREDS of men, women and children in Greece are to be removed from their homes by the end of March. Thousands more are expected to follow later this year, in measures which have been demanded by the Greek Ministry of Migration and risk increasing the homelessness crisis already taking place in the country’s major towns and cities. Those targeted for eviction are men, women and children who are part of the UNHCR ESTIA scheme, under which refug ees are provided with shelter a

68 views0 comments

Rory O'Keeffe

Dec 10, 2018
10 min

Curious November: movement and winter

More than 30,000 (30,138) people have arrived in Greece by sea since 1 January 2018: 254 more than arrived by sea in the whole of 2017. Although only 1,945 people arrived in the whole of November (the third-lowest total since April 2017, and the lowest since February 2018), the first six days of December have seen 762 new arrivals – more than a third of the previous month’s total in just a fifth of the time. Added to this, an estimated 16,300-18,700 people have crossed the ‘l

13 views0 comments

Blame; or, very few stories have only one side

Rory O'Keeffe

Nov 5, 2018
13 min

Blame; or, very few stories have only one side

In brief: More than 1,000 people arrived by sea to the Aegean islands this week; Vagiochori closes (officially on 2 November, but some people have been left with no alternative accommodation) 1. New arrivals by sea, 26 October-1 November 2018 2. Transfers from the islands 3. Detention centre populations 4. Combined land and sea arrivals to 25 October 2018 (land arrivals still using 31 August figure) 5. Mainland refugee population (‘confirmed’, as at 30 October & 1 November) 6

9 views0 comments

Rory O'Keeffe

Oct 22, 2018
9 min

Numbers: the missing 17,951?

There are at least 17,951 people who were registered as refugees and/or made an application for asylum, in Greece, from 1 January-18 October this year, currently missing from the UN and Greek government’s data on the refugee situation in the state. First, a quick note. Many of you had received these updates on a regular basis last year, which ended when we suffered a data loss. We did offer an update on 28 April, but since then, we have been engaged in a number of specific pr

57 views0 comments

Rory O'Keeffe

Apr 28, 2018
19 min

Movement and the gathering storm

Thessaloniki, 28 April Arrivals to Eastern Aegean islands, 1 January – 26 April 2018, inclusive Lesvos, 4,613. Total arrivals since 3 April: 1,728. Chios, 653. Total arrivals since 3 April: 413. Samos, 1,577. Total arrivals since 3 April: 148. Leros, 110. Total arrivals since 3 April: 0. Kos, 573. Total arrivals since 3 April: 62. Tilos, 0. Total arrivals since 3 April: 0. Kastellorizo, 27. Total arrivals since 3 April: 0. Rhodes, 31. Total arrivals since 3 April: 16 Other is

37 views0 comments

Greece - an ongoing, and growing, crisis

Rory O'Keeffe

Apr 6, 2018
29 min

Greece - an ongoing, and growing, crisis

Arrivals to Eastern Aegean islands, 1 January – 4 April 2018, inclusive Lesvos, 3,079. Total arrivals since 30 March: 351. Chios, 397. Total arrivals since 30 March: 220. Samos, 1,429. Total arrivals since 30 March: 376. Leros, 110. Total arrivals since 30 March: 1. Kos, 553. Total arrivals since 30 March: 511. Tilos, 0. Total arrivals since 30 March: 0. Kastellorizo, 27. Total arrivals since 30 March: 0. Rhodes, 15. Total arrivals since 30 March: 7 Other islands, 242. Total

93 views0 comments

Open Arms? Closing borders and refusing to talk is handing Europe to the far-Right

Rory O'Keeffe

Mar 30, 2018
33 min

Open Arms? Closing borders and refusing to talk is handing Europe to the far-Right

The – justified – outrage over the impounding of the ship ‘Open Arms’ has its roots in Italy’s refusal to make a case for aiding refugees, a failure which is also at the heart of Italy’s recent descent into populism. We examine how refusing even to have the debate can hand victory to those you know you are correct to oppose... Italy and the EU: desperation fed by refusal On 24 March (Saturday), protestors from around the world gathered to call for the immediate release of the

19 views0 comments

Rory O'Keeffe

Mar 20, 2018
20 min

The EU/Turkey Deal, two years on

The exact date of the anniversary of the initiation of the EU/Turkey Deal is a matter of some debate, as the document was signed on 16 March, and the deal came into ‘full effect’ on 4 April. But, as those most affected by the Deal – the refugees who are searching for a place to be safe and to create new lives for themselves and their families – were ‘marked’ by it on the grounds of whether they arrived in Greece on 20 March 2016, or earlier, we are regarding today, 20 March 2

35 views0 comments

The problem with the EU/Turkey Deal is not its 'failure', but its absolute immorality, and i

Rory O'Keeffe

Dec 21, 2017
3 min

The problem with the EU/Turkey Deal is not its 'failure', but its absolute immorality, and i

In an actually quite dangerous article, Greek national newspaper Kathimerini this morning pretends that the EU/Turkey Deal ‘is failing’. By this it does not mean that it is failing in moral terms, or failing to provide what is best for the desperate men, women and children fleeing war and terror, and attempting to reach safety. Those criticisms would be accurate. Instead, the Greek daily states that the Deal is ‘failing’ because it is not ‘stemming the flow’ of people enterin

7 views0 comments

Rory O'Keeffe

Dec 16, 2017
2 min

What's in a name? Greece and Macedonia

Greek national newspaper Kathimerini reports with outrage this morning that Radmila Sekerinska, the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister of Macedonia has called ‘Greek concerns’ about her state’s name are ‘laughable’. There are a couple of things to note. First, what she actually said was: ‘The next year is crucial. We need to show that there are developments – people do not expect everything to be solved tomorrow, but they expect progress because we have been stuck for

2 views0 comments

Greece and EU policy of refugee detention is unjustifiable; torture

Rory O'Keeffe

Dec 16, 2017
3 min

Greece and EU policy of refugee detention is unjustifiable; torture

Human Rights Watch warns that the Greek government is failing to provide protection to women and girls in the Aegean detention centres, leaving them exposed to harassment, threats of gender-based violence and health risks. Its report also highlighted insufficient security, poor hygiene and sanitation facilities, and failures in the system to identify and address the needs of vulnerable people. Hillary Margolis, HRW’s women’s rights researcher, said: ‘There is no excuse for fa

1 view0 comments

Greece: how austerity, and forced surplus-chasing, risk wrecking a 'recovery'

Rory O'Keeffe

Nov 24, 2017
4 min

Greece: how austerity, and forced surplus-chasing, risk wrecking a 'recovery'

Greece has had the highest increase in tax revenue of any of the 35 OECD countries in the last 12 months. Its revenue grew from 36.4 per cent to 38.6 per cent of GDP. The average across the 35 (which of course includes Greece) was just 0.3 per cent. Although much of Greece's media describes this as a ‘tax hike’, the OECD statistical model does take into account not only the amount of tax charged, but also the amount successfully collected, and so the picture need not be as ne

0 views0 comments

Rory O'Keeffe

Nov 13, 2017
4 min

UNHCR's flawed approach to Africa

The United Nations says it has moved 25 ‘extremely vulnerable’ refugees from Libya to Niger, in the first stage of its new – deeply questionable – policy on refugees in Africa. UNHCR says it has moved the refugees from Libya both because they – 15 women, six men, and four children from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan – are in urgent need of relocation, and because Libya itself is in the fourth year of its second civil war since 2011, and in chaos with two illegitimate governments

2 views0 comments

Greece, EU, 'breaking international law' with policy of detaining refugees

Rory O'Keeffe

Nov 11, 2017
3 min

Greece, EU, 'breaking international law' with policy of detaining refugees

Three October cases decided in refugees’ favour by the Administrative Court in Mytelline have cast doubt over the legality of Greek authorities to detain refugees. In one case, noted here on 1 November, the court ruled that Greek police had been wrong to detain a Syrian man ‘to check his identification and details’ (not least because he had already given them his passport) and in the other two, the court ruled that it was unacceptable under Greek (it is also unacceptable unde

17 views0 comments