Press Release: Response to Recent Changes to Asylum Registration
29 NOVEMBER 2021
A decision by the Greek government to cancel the Skype pre-registration system for applicants applying for asylum in Greece for the first time and force people seeking asylum into prison-like centres is a lose-lose policy change, says Greece-based charity, Mobile Info Team.
The Skype system, which had been running for seven years, had immense delays of up to 14 months as evidenced in Mobile Info Team Lives on Hold report. These delays forced people to live undocumented and destitute for prolonged periods.
The new system, effective immediately, will force all people who enter Greece via the land border to go to two undisclosed, but already existing facilities, one in Northern Greece and one in Southern Greece, to register their asylum claim whilst being detained. The only Reception and Identification Centre currently on mainland Greece is a closed site in the Evros region with a mandatory 25-day detention period. The centre has capacity for just 282 people, yet this year alone UNHCR has recorded 4,311 people entering via this border. The expansion of this facility has also raised grievances with local residents.
Scrapping the Skype system without an immediate alternative was not the answer. Practical improvements of the system such as increasing staffing capacity and the number of hours people could call would have cut delays. In combination with access to in-person registration or through written application forms, it would have allowed fair and efficient access to asylum from anywhere on mainland Greece, Crete and Rhodes without prohibiting people’s freedoms.
Mobile Info Team has serious concerns around this seemingly rushed-out and ill-defined policy change. Firstly, people who were previously eligible for the Skype procedure are currently blocked from entering the asylum system - in violation of national and international law. Until the two mainland centers are ready to accept people for registration, weeks or even months could pass by. Yet the Skype route has already been closed.
Mobile Info Team has already begun to witness the impact of this policy. Daamir*, a 39-year-old from Algeria who got through to the Asylum Service on Skype just a day after this policy was implemented, said:
"The Skype operators told me that there was a new law and that I needed to wait for some time. I did not understand what was going on. I am not going to stay in Thessaloniki as it is too risky without papers."
Already this year, Greece has seen policy change aimed at driving people seeking asylum into facilities where they can be more easily monitored - by cutting cash assistance for all those who do not live in Ministry overseen accommodation.
There have also been horrifying developments in the fortification of camps across the country. Dozens of camps on mainland Greece have already had concrete walls or chain-linked fences constructed around them. Camps will also have updated surveillance technology and biometric entry and exit features. The only viable explanation for these costly developments is the control and surveillance of camp residents in facilities akin to prison-camps.
Mobile Info Team is extremely concerned that this new policy is less about fair and efficient access to the asylum procedure and more about containment and control.
Corinne Linnecar, Advocacy Manager at Mobile Info Team, said:
“While the previous Skype pre-registration system was far from perfect, with improvements and an increase in capacity it could have offered a more fair and more efficient way to enter the asylum system without compromising people's freedoms. The Greek government has chosen to pursue a hostile procedure that would detain men, women and children whose only crime is seeking safety. Fair and efficient access to asylum is a priority, but policies that focus on control and containment are never the answer.”
Mobile Info Team call on the Government to urgently:
Reinstate access to the asylum procedure on mainland Greece, Crete and Rhodes without prohibiting people’s freedoms
For any changes to the asylum procedure, perform a major information campaign to ensure all people have access to comprehensive information and can access the asylum procedure
Notes
*Daamir's name and age have been changed to protect his identity. At this moment, he is afraid to remain in a city in Greece undocumented.