Greece

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Collectives of ESCR-Net members have filed third-party interventions in a pair of groundbreaking climate change-related human rights cases now pending before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights. The two cases—Duarte Agostinho v. Portugal and 32 Other States, and ...

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the European Council for Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) alleged that migrant children in Greece and on the Greek islands have been deprived of their rights that are guaranteed within the Revised European Social Charter (hereinafter “the Charter”). These include the rights to housing compatible with human dignity; social, legal, and economic protections; health; social and medical assistance; and education.

On 24 April, the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN), which coordinates the European Minimum Income Network, launched a bus tour across Europe to raise awareness of the importance of adequate,...

The Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM), Minority Rights Group Greece (MRG-G), and the Coordinated Organizations and Communities for Roma Human Rights in Greece (SOKADRE) collaboratively submitted a "Parallel Report on Greece’s compliance with the UN Convention on the Elimination of...

The Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM), Minority Rights Group Greece (MRG-G), and the Coordinated Organizations and Communities for Roma Human Rights in Greece (SOKADRE) collaboratively submitted an updated "Parallel Report on Greece’s compliance with the UN Convention on the...

The Greek League for Women’s Rights (GLWR) and the National Council of Greek Women (NCGW) jointly submitted a "Shadow Report on the compliance of Greece with the CEDAW Observations on the 7th Greek Report (2005-2008)" . The submission, to the General Secretariat for Gender...

An Afghan citizen (Mr. M.S.S.) presented an asylum application in Belgium after entering the EU through Greece. Pursuant to the Dublin Regulations (EU law that determines which country has responsibility for processing specific asylum petitions), Belgium transferred him back to Greece in order for Greece to process the asylum petition. Greece detained the applicant in degrading conditions and then released him into the country to await a decision on his application. During this time, Mr. M.S.S. was homeless, not permitted to work, and had no access to sanitary facilities or any resources.

This ECSR decision stemmed from a collective complaint lodged by the International Center for the Protection of Human Rights (INTERIGHTS), member of ESCR-Net, alleging that the Greek Government violated the right to housing of the Roma in Greece as protected under Article 16 of the ESC in conjunction with the Preamble of said Charter that guaranteed their equal access to social rights as a means to protect against their social exclusion.

This collective complaint, made by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), alleged that Roma in Greece were denied an effective right to housing.

The Committee held that the implementation of Article 16 with regard to nomadic groups, including itinerant Roma, implies that adequate stopping places should be provided. The Committee stated that, in this respect, Article 16 contains similar obligations to Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights.