*[Enwl-eng] EU turns its back on human rights
ENWLine
Hi,
Imagine you’ve fled violence in your own country, crossing international borders on foot, or through terrifying journeys by sea. Now you’re living in a refugee camp ravaged by a global pandemic - and the country you’re in won’t even let you apply for asylum.
That’s exactly the situation for refugees in Greece right now. [1] They’re facing worse conditions than ever. And with no asylum process running, there’s nothing they can do about it.
The European Union was founded on a shared commitment to human rights. Now those values are being thrown into question. We need to act fast and turn up the pressure on our campaign to stand up for refugees: to protect them, and defend the values that underpin the EU overall.
We’ve already found a legal team to challenge the Greek government for free. But now we need to gather the evidence to back it up - and doing this specialist research costs money.
Can you chip in, so we can stop the Greek government and the EU turning their backs on refugees?
Right now, the situation in Greece is dire. There is at least one report of migrants dying as they tried to cross the border without permission [2]. Within refugee camps, there are rumours of African residents being subjected to racist beatings and abuse. [3] People with health conditions are struggling to survive the pandemic in unclean, crowded conditions.
Our lawyers will soon file a complaint with the Commission about the Greek government breaking EU law on their treatment of migrants. Because it’s so important, they’ve taken the case for no charge. The lawyers' support is already a huge breakthrough for the campaign, saving us tens of thousands of Euros.
Can you contribute so that we can build a case and protect migrants coming to Europe, now and in the future?
Although the EU has issued guidance saying that asylum applications must continue despite coronavirus, [4] Greece needs to be pushed to ensure asylum applications start again. Some EU leaders have even tweeted that they support Greece in shutting down the application process. [5]
But 100,000s of WeMove members are stronger than a few lone voices showing off on Twitter. Already, we’ve delivered a letter signed by 100,000 of us, from all over Europe. Now we need to show Europe’s leaders that we won’t go home just because they ignore us - we’ll turn up the volume instead.
Can you chip in, so we can take our legal fight for Europe’s refugees to the next level?
Thanks for being involved!
David, Giulio (Rome), and the entire
WeMove Europe team
P.S. By bringing this case to the Commission, our aims are twofold. We want to ensure that Greece and all Member States respect the right to asylum for hundreds of people fleeing war and poverty, and make sure that the EU heightens its humanitarian response ensuring that asylum seekers are relocated from Greece to other EU countries equitably, fairly and humanely. Donate to push Europe to stand up for refugees!
References:
[1]
http://asylo.gov.gr/en/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/English-Announcement-April-10_MK.pdf
[2]
https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/recently-arrived-migrants-test-positive-for-covid-19-in-packed-greek-camp/news
[3]
https://www.borderviolence.eu/wp-content/uploads/Press-Release_Greek-Pushbacks.pdf
[4]
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1587138114770&uri=CELEX:52020XC0417(07)
[5]
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51721356
WeMove Europe is an independent and values-based organisation that seeks to build people power to transform Europe in the name of our community, future generations and the planet.
WeMove Europe SCE mbH | Planufer 91 Berlin | www.wemove.eu | Privacy policy
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