Attica home to half of migrants
Half of Greece’s 800,000 legal immigrants live in Attica, which has helped to induct them into the local community, according to a survey made public yesterday. The study, put together by the National Technical University of Athens, also found that 40 percent of Attica’s immigrants, or 140,626 people, live in the City of Athens. Another 5 percent reside in Piraeus, while 3.2 percent have opted for the western suburb of Peristeri. The large spread has helped the country’s new members to become a part of the local community and avoid the appearance of ghettos forming, the study found. Immigrants in central Athens, half of whom are from Albania, prefer to live west of Omonia, where accommodation is cheap and there is easy access to trains and buses. The study also found that immigrants from Poland and Africa have created their own neighborhood groups in Kypseli, while those from India and Pakistan have shown a preference for Omonia and the areas off Athinas Street. Meanwhile, another report also released yesterday showed that the children of immigrants, refugees and Roma families are often forced into child labor in Greece. The survey by Arsis, an organization which protects youngsters, found that up to 150,000 children under 18 work in jobs across Greece as authorities are unable to stamp out child labor. The children normally work in afternoon hours or on weekends often with the consent of their parents after school has ended for the day. Yiannis Kouzis, associate professor at Panteion University, pointed out that Labor Ministry inspection teams are understaffed and unable to handle the problem. «Greece is first in terms of labor law violations. Six in 10 companies that are checked again after violating labor laws have failed to conform or only partially conformed,» he said. On a world basis, some 5.7 million children are believed to be forced into working. Another 1.8 million are forced into prostitution, while 1.2 million youngsters are the victims of human trafficking.
