Greece to make 250,000 migrant children citizens
June Samaras
Wed Nov 4, 2009 10:20pm IST
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-43683520091104
By Renee Maltezou
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece, long criticised for its handling of
immigrants, will grant citizenship to some 250,000 migrant children
but will also send thousands of detained illegal immigrants away, a
senior official told Reuters.
Human rights groups for years have denounced Greece's handling of
migrants and appalling conditions in migrant detention centres in a
country struggling to cope with swelling numbers of people seeking
refuge in Europe.
"It's irrational that a child born and educated here cannot receive
Greek nationality," Deputy Citizen Protection Minister Spyros Vougias
said in an interview on Wednesday.
"There will be a regulation that will rectify this inequality between
immigrants' and Greeks' children," he said.
"It's about 250,000 children."
Whether the parents were legal or illegal migrants would not be an
issue provided the children were born in Greece or had arrived at an
early age and had received basic education in Greek schools, Vougias
said.
Asked if parents of these children also would be granted citizenship,
Vougias said the government was still studying the matter. He did not
say when the new legislation would be passed.
The Socialists, who won a snap election on Oct.4, have set immigration
at the top of their agenda, but with most Greeks believing their
crisis-hit country cannot take in more migrants, striking the right
balance will be a tough challenge.
Vougias said Greece would send thousands of illegal migrants away to
their home country, unless they were accused of crimes. They would be
offered money and given a month to leave.
"DANTE'S HELL"
The new government announced earlier this week the temporary closure
of a migrant centre on Lesbos island, which Vougias had described as
"Dante's hell" during a visit in October.
"We started from what was a blot in our reputation," Vougias said of
the centre in which hundreds shared very few toilets and often slept
on mattresses on the floor.
Vougias said a new centre in Lesbos would be ready to operate by
autumn next year, while the rest of Greece's migrant centres gradually
would be upgraded.
About 14,000 illegal migrants crossed the Aegean Sea in the first half
of 2009, nearly twice as much as in 2008, often risking their lives in
an effort to reach EU-member Greece.
The increase is partly due to the effective policies of other
Mediterranean countries, such as Italy and Spain, that have cut down
on sea arrival numbers, with migrants taking alternative routes even
if the journey is longer, Vougias said.
Although Greece is one of Europe's main entry points for illegal
immigrants, it also is the country with the lowest approval rate of
asylum claims, accepting 379 people in 2008 out of nearly 20,000
requests.
Vougias said this was mainly due to inexperienced police staff at
Greek borders, who could not confirm whether asylum requests were
justified. He said they would be replaced by specialists.
--
June Samaras
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