It appears that some asylum seekers arriving from Syria in Egypt are at risk of refoulement, forced return to Syria, Human Rights Watch said. Egyptian airport officials deported two Syrian men back to Syria on January 13, 2013, in violation of Egypt’s non-refoulement obligations. In mid-December, immigration officials halted an attempted deportation of 13 Syrians at the last minute.

“Egypt may have a right to detain people temporarily or investigate them on grounds of false documentation but it may not under any circumstance return them to Syria,” said Bill Frelick, Refugee Program director at Human Rights Watch. “Egypt is obligated under international law not to return anyone, regardless of status, to a place where they would be persecuted.”

The authorities should allow representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to visit the two men, Human Rights Watch said. The Palestinians told credible sources that they had entered Egypt from Syria using their official Palestinian refugee travel documents with the rest of their family.

Subsequently the man travelled to Turkey using his travel document and from there attempted to travel to a European Union country using improper documents, Turkish officials said. Turkish officials deported them to Egypt, where airport officials detained them on grounds of having attempted to travel using false documents and told them they would be deported.

UNHCR’s latest guidance on Syrian refugees calls on all countries to “maintain a moratorium on all returns to Syria for the time being, pending an assessment of when the changed situation in the country would permit return in safety and dignity.”

Both the Convention against Torture and the African Refugee Convention forbid Egypt from sending people to countries where they face a serious risk of persecution or torture. The African Refugee Convention calls on member states to use their “best endeavors” to receive refugees and provide them asylum.

Egypt is also a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which, under article 13, prohibits arbitrary expulsion and entitles foreigners to an individual decision on their removal/expulsion. The UN Human Rights Committee has interpreted article 7 of the ICCPR to forbid refoulement – or forced return – of people to places where they would be at risk of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. Egypt is bound to apply the ICCPR to anyone in its territory.

On January 13, Cairo airport officials deported two other Syrian men, ages 20 and 22, to Damascus on January 13. The two had landed in Egypt on December 12 from Syria with valid passports. When they attempted to travel to France13 days later, airport immigration officials detained them on the grounds that their visas to France were forged, credible community sources told Human Rights Watch.

In the week of December 13, immigration officials transferred 13 Syrians who had been in detention in Qanater prison after their arrest in Salloum to Cairo airport for deportation. Airport security officials released 6 of them on January 16 after their lawyer intervened, and the other 7 remained in the airport for another day. They were released after UNHCR intervened. It is unclear what prompted this attempted deportation, and what stopped it.

Egypt has provided protection for more than 13,000 refugees from Syria, a positive development, Human Rights Watch said. And most refugees have been able to enter at the Cairo airport without difficulty. But the two cases of refoulement raise concerns that, going forward, airport officials might use improper documents as grounds to deport to Syria, Human Rights Watch said.

Egypt is party to the 1951 Refugee Convention but has turned over responsibility for determining refugee status to UNHCR. Interior Ministry immigration officials have in the past ordered deportations that amount to refoulement, most notoriously in 2008 with the deportation of 1,200 Eritreans. But until the past two months Egypt had not attempted refoulement of Syrians.

Interior Ministry deportation orders may be challenged before Egypt’s administrative courts. In 2010, an Egyptian administrative court ordered immigration officials to halt an attempted deportation of two recognized Sudanese refugees on the grounds that their deportation would violate Egypt’s obligations under the Refugee Convention and the ICCPR.

“At a time of great conflict and tragedy in Syria, we call on Egypt and all countries not to return any residents of Syria, including Palestinians, to Syria,” Frelick said.

Since Greece made a concentrated effort to tighten the border crossing along Turkey, the main entry point for illegal immigrants to Europe, the Aegean islands are now taking the strain.

The decision to set up the four centers, according to Kathimerini, located on Chios, Lesvos, Samos and Rhodes was taken during a meeting on Monday between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, Defense Minister Panos Panayiotopoulos, Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias and Merchant Marine Minister Costas Mousouroulis in an attempt to prevent immigrants from reaching the mainland before they are deported.

Dendias also presented to Samaras a plan code-named Ioni aimed at dealing with the influx of refugees from Syria, the paper writes.The islands are ill equipped to deal with the mass influx of migrants they warily anticipate, with particular concerns that a flood of Syrian refugees will be smuggled in from Turkey.

According to sources, the plan outlines three scenarios, foreseeing the refugees’ arrival in Greece, Cyprus and Turkey. In either of the latter two cases, Greek authorities would help the neighboring countries. In the event that the migrants arrive in Greece, the plan is to temporarily detain them on Crete. Turkey, meanwhile, is hosting more than 80,000 Syrians who have been fleeing their country’s civil war. There’s been no sign yet of a notable number of Syrians arriving to Greece. But the government in Athens is under pressure to crack down on illegal migration in general.

Earlier this month a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) team visited the Aegean Islands of Samos, Leros, and Simi to respond to reports of a recent influx of Syrian and Afghan migrants and asylum-seekers. According to a report by MSF newly arrived migrants face limited access to health care in Greece. Infrastructure and accommodation capacity is limited and sanitation standards are inadequate in all of the facilities visited by the MSF team, and access to basic resources such as drinking water and in some cases food is limited. Personal hygiene items are unavailable, and currently used transit sites do not have separate facilities for men, women, and families.

“The figures of the Report and the result of the opinion poll support the Commission’s view that the European Union needs a strong and coherent migration policy, responding both to short term and long term needs. We need to effectively manage our external borders, to safeguard free movement within the EU, to provide genuine protection to those in need whilst at the same time providing channels for legal migration and mobility”, said Cecilia Malmström, Commissioner for Home Affairs.

According to the Report:

- There are some 20.2 million third-country nationals in the EU, around 4% of the total EU population (502.5 million) and 9.4% of the estimated 214 million migrants worldwide.

- In 2011, some 343 000 persons were refused entry to the EU, a decrease of 13% from 2010. Also in 2011, some 468 500 persons were apprehended (a decrease from 2010 when it was about 505 000) and Member States returned around 190 000 third-country nationals (15% less than in 2010).

- In 2010, the average employment rate of third-country nationals aged 20-64 was 58.5%, compared to 68.6% of the total population aged 20-64.

- In 2011 EU Member States recorded just over 302 000 asylum applications, a significant increase of 16.2% compared to 2010. This remains however far below the peak of 425 000 applications received in 2001.

- Some 12.7 million Schengen visas were issued in 2011, the majority in the Russian Federation (40.7%), followed by the Ukraine (8.7%), China (8.1%) and Turkey (4.7%).

According to the Eurobarometer:

- 68% of the poll thinks that legal immigrants should have the same rights as their own national citizens. Four in ten Europeans (42%) think the EU should encourage labour migration from non EU countries to help tackle demographic challenges and labour shortages, with 46% disagreeing.

- Eight Europeans in ten (80%) think that the EU should increase its assistance to Member States to handle irregular migration. 78% think that the cost of handling irregular migration should be shared among EU Member States.

- 53% of the poll thinks that immigration enriches EU countries economically and culturally. 60% of the Europeans believe immigrants may face integration difficulties because of discrimination.

- 80% of the poll thinks that EU Member States should offer protection and asylum to those in need. Eight Europeans in ten think that the number of asylum seekers should be more equally shared among EU Member States.

- Just fewer than six in ten respondents (57%) agree that it should be easier for non EU citizens to travel to the EU for tourism or business. The possibility to travel within the EU without internal border controls is important for 67% of the respondents.

“We condemn every kind of racist violence, the daily attacks against humans, against their color or race. We have watched the election campaigns of the main parties attracting votes, promising to vanish the immigrants of the country, pointing them as the main reason of the crisis,” MAG stated in a press release.

“This practice, along with the entry of extreme right party Golden Dawn in the parliament, that guarantees extermination of every foreigner, legal or illegal, asylum to everyone who attacks foreigners (claiming nation-defense), has triggered a pogrom of escalating daily attacks. Suddenly Greece acquired a Racist Profile,” the association added.

The statement came after eight supporters of Golden dawn (Chrysi Avgi) party have attacked 4 Egyptians in Athens in the urban area of Kallithea on Thursday. The supporters of the Neo-Nazi party, who wore black clothes, attacked the Egyptians with batons and chains while 3 of the 4 Egyptians were seriously injured.

The party’s rise has been accompanied by an alarming number of attacks on migrants. A pilot scheme set up by nongovernmental organizations, including the UNHCR, recorded 63 racist attacks in central Athens alone over a three-month period.

MAG calls on the Hellenic Public Order and Justice, the European and International Law, to protect the migrant population and International Human Rights Organizations to give their attention.

‘The solution for the illegal immigration is not the physical extermination but the application of a proper policy that will deal the matter effectively and humanly,” MAG noted.

According to the ELIAMEP think tank, in 2011 the country was home to an estimated 1.1 million migrants, who make up almost 10 percent of the country’s population. About 400,000 are thought to be undocumented, a high number for a country as small as Greece.

MAG is a nonprofit association headquartered in Athens, Greece, where thousands of Muslims live. Since its establishment in 2003, MAG has worked to bring together all Muslims in Greece and has exerted efforts to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in Greece. Through media relations, relations with Greek authorities, education and advocacy for Muslims’ rights, MAG ensures that the Muslim voice is represented.

The supporters of the  Neo-Nazi party, who wore black clothes, attacked the Egyptians with batons and chains while 3 of the 4 Egyptians were seriously injured.

The 6th of April movement in Greece, has from its part, warned the Egyptian Arab community about the anti-immigrant party. In a press release issued by the movement they demanded that Egyptians ” avoid staying out alone late at night or talking on cell phones in Arabic aloud while walking at night and avoid areas like Omonia, Akharnon, Kallithea where many of the immigrants live and many of the attacks have by the racist party have taken place.”

Meanwhile, the President of the Muslim Association of Greece Naim El Ghandour condemned the “clearly racist”  attacks noting the recent escalation of racism and discrimination against all immigrants in Greece “which never existed before”.

Golden Dawn, the extreme-right party, who seeks to dpeort illegal immigrantss, managed to enter the parliament after the 6th of May elections in Greece. Even though, according to all the opinion polls before the elections this was anticipated, they managed to gain an surprisingly almost 7% (6.97%) of the vote, while in the previous elections in 2009 they had received only 0.29% of the vote.

Greece is the main entry point by land for illegal immigrants in Europe, where, via the Greece-Turkey border, nine out of ten illegal immigrants enter the European Union, according to the UN.

The Greek Ombudsman, which is also called the citizen’s advocate, is an independent authority aiming at mediating between the public administration and citizens, in order to help them exercise their rights effectively.

The purpose of this new website is to contribute to the improvement of information concerning immigration, asylum and citizenship.

The site includes special reports, findings and legislative recommendations of the Ombudsman on general issues of immigration, asylum and citizenship, as well as recent speeches, documents and opinions of the independent authority on specific issues which has been asked to mediate for.

It was founded in October 1998 and provides its services to the public free of charge. It has received more than 82.535 complaints during its eight first years of operation (from 1 October 1998 to 31 December 2006).

The site is at : http://www.synigoros.gr/?i=foreigner.el.home