Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
nancylee1
Greek Prime Minister calls asylum-seekers a “disease”
Posted by Christopher Coen on August 10, 2012
Greek authorities have detained over 6,000 refugees fleeing murderous dictators in adjacent countries and seeking political asylum in the country. The Greek government is trying to vilify the people seeking help without by carefully doing little to identify legitimate refugees meriting protection. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has attempted to dehumanize the refugees in the public’s mind by terming the asylum seekers a “disease”. An article at the Greek Reporter explains:
ATHENS – An ongoing sweep that has taken more than 6,000 immigrants into custody in search of people in Greece unlawfully has been condemned by the human rights group Amnesty International, joining a chorus of Leftist Greek political parties and organizations who also criticized the action.
“The Greek authorities must halt a mass police crackdown on irregular migrants and allow for effective access to asylum-seeking procedures to those in need of international protection,” Amnesty International said on Aug. 9, adding that it was concerned that what it called such a massive and discriminatory operation would fuel further attacks against immigrants, which are on the rise, and xenophobia in the country…
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has made a priority of going after illegal immigrants which he said were a “disease” afflicting Greece…
The Greek Council of Refugees said it understood and appreciated Greece’s right to protect its borders but said that this could not override its obligations under European and international law to respect the rights of refugees seeking political asylum…
Amnest International said the sweep, under the code name Xenios Zeus, as being conducted without any precautions to identify refugees meriting protection from other migrants… Read more here
derrick333 said
I think the Greeks are complaining that other European Union nations are not offering economic assistance for the migrants, but doesn’t the UNHCR have funds available to help nations receiving an influx of refugees?
cory82 said
Dehumanizing the target group through terms such as disease, cancer, and cockroaches is also the first step when societies engage in genocidal practices. It makes it easier to abuse the victims if you can think of them as not even human.