Push to set up asylum agency
Citizens’ Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis yesterday fleshed out his proposal for the creation of an independent agency for processing the asylum applications of thousands of immigrants in Greece, saying that a working committee would convene tomorrow to thrash out the details of the agency’s composition and operation. The working committee is to comprise experts from the Citizens Protection, Interior and Health ministries, the United Nations refugee agency, a string of nongovernmental organizations, the Ombudsman, the Athens Bar Association and a host of academics. The aim is for the committee to use the next few weeks to draft a proposal regarding the form an independent agency for asylum applications should take and the way it should operate. The agency would be responsible for processing a backlog of more than 30,000 asylum applications by immigrants that have built up over the past few years. There are also plans to set up a separate team that would inspect rejected asylum claims at second instance, sources revealed. Under current legislation introduced by the previous conservative government, the responsibility for decision making on asylum applications lies with the country’s 50 police directorates. In the summer, the UN refugee agency UNHCR suspended its participation in the processing of asylum claims in protest at the role of police in the procedure. The UNHCR also objected to the abolition of an appeals board which reviews applications. Earlier this month, a group of 21 rights groups sent a letter to the European Commission complaining about the alleged mistreatment of refugees by Greek authorities.
