People arriving from North Africa will be arrested and returned to their country of origin or departure.

On Thursday, the Greek Parliament is set to vote on a bill amendment that would deny asylum to undocumented migrants arriving by sea from North Africa. Instead, those individuals will be arrested and returned to their country of origin or departure.

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“For those entering illegally, we will not accept asylum applications. They will be arrested, detained, and returned,” Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris, a conservative, stated on social networks.

The amendment — expected to pass due to the absolute majority held by the ruling conservative New Democracy party — stipulates a suspension of the submission of asylum applications for those entering Greece illegally by sea from North Africa.

“These individuals will be returned, without being registered, to their countries of origin or departure,” the text of the amendment states, adding that the measure will remain in effect for at least the next three months.

Article 19 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — which Greece has signed — prohibits collective expulsions and states that “no one may be removed, expelled or extradited to a state where there is a serious risk of being subjected to the death penalty, torture, or other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

The bill comes amid a sharp increase in irregular migrant arrivals from North Africa to the island of Crete, located roughly 300 kilometers north of the Libyan coast. Since the beginning of the year, approximately 9,000 migrants have arrived on this eastern Mediterranean island — 2,000 of them just in the past week.

On Thursday, hundreds of migrants rescued south of Crete earlier this week arrived by ship at the port of Lavrio, near Athens, for registration and transfer to a state-run facility.

“The government is sending a message of determination: Greece is closing the passage. We are telling traffickers and their potential clients that the money they spend could be entirely wasted,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a conservative, told Parliament on Wednesday.

“What we are telling the Greek people is this: we will not tolerate an invasion from North Africa with continuous boat arrivals. And this is also a clear message to Europe,” Plevris said Thursday.

The government also plans to establish “special detention centers” for all migrants arriving in Greece from North Africa — primarily from Libya — according to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, which reported that several existing state facilities on the mainland could be converted into such centers.

Plevris emphasized that those arriving from North Africa will be subjected to “administrative detention,” which can last up to 18 months under EU regulations. “There are countries to which they can be returned, countries with which we have agreements, or others they may voluntarily return to,” he said.

He also stated that another bill will soon be introduced in Parliament under which remaining in the country after an asylum application has been denied will be considered a criminal offense punishable by five years in prison, without the possibility of parole. The only way to avoid the prison sentence will be for the migrant to “cooperate and return” to their country.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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