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TITLE: GREECE HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE: FEBRUARY 1995
GREECE
Greece is a constitutional republic and multiparty
parliamentary democracy. In 1993 parliamentary elections, the
Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) won a comfortable
majority, and its leader, Andreas Papandreou, became Prime
Minister. The defeated New Democracy Party assumed the role of
the main opposition.
Police and security services are subject to a broad variety of
legal and constitutional restraints. The Greek Parliament, a
vigorous free press, the judiciary, committees and deputies of
the European Parliament, and Greek and international human
rights organizations monitor their activities. These
institutions and groups brought to light cases of improper
activities and pressed the Government to halt such activities.
Nevertheless, credible reports indicated that police continued
to mistreat suspects during interrogation in some drug and
other criminal investigations.
Greece has a mixed capitalist economy in which the
entrepreneurial system is overlaid by a large public sector
which accounts for about 60 percent of gross domestic product.
Low growth, a high inflation rate, a large budget deficit, and
a 10-percent unemployment rate characterize the economy. To
promote further economic development, Greece relies heavily on
the European Union (EU) for subsidies and loans.
The Constitution provides for, and, with some exceptions in the
cases of ethnic Turks and individuals who identify themselves
as Macedonians, the authorities generally respect, fundamental
human rights. There continued to be credible reports that
Greek police and military personnel abused Albanian illegal
aliens. Albanian authorities formally protested the mid-
August-November roundup and expulsion of over 115,000 illegal
Albanian migrants from Greece, which they claimed resulted in
the deaths of 6 to 8 persons. The Government continued to use
Article 19 of the Citizenship Code to revoke the citizenship of
Greek citizens who are not ethnically Greek, despite public
assurances by senior government officials in 1991 that it would
repeal Article 19.
Government officials harassed and placed under surveillance
international and domestic human rights monitors. In May the
courts accepted a lawsuit initiated by a private citizen and
joined by the Public Prosecutor against Christos Sideropoulos
under Article 191 of the Criminal Code for statements
Sideropoulos allegedly made at a Conference on Security and
Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) press conference in Copenhagen in
1990. The trial was postponed in October for 1 year because
the plaintiff, a lawyer from Piraeus, failed to show up on the
appointed date.
The Government recognizes only one minority, the Muslim
minority referred to in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, and
refuses to acknowledge the existence of any other national
(i.e., non-Greek) minority. It does not deny the existence of
Greeks of Turkish, Pomak, Vlach, Arvenite, or Roma ethnic
background, or of various linguistic or religious communities.
The Government denies, however, members of the Slavophone
community the right to declare themselves a Macedonian minority
(see Section 2.b.).
Responding to a Council of Europe (COE) team of international
monitors which issued a report on its visits to police stations,
prisons, and psychiatric hospitals, the Government took
corrective action to relieve severe overcrowding and harsh
living conditions in some prisons. Almost all pending cases
restricting freedom of expression have been dropped since the
repeal in December 1993 of a law against "insulting authority,"
with the exception of two. Several religious minorities report
a diminution in discrimination and religious persecution. One
instance of prosecution for religious proselytizing was
reported in 1994.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
There were no reports of political killing, but there were
several reports of persons killed while in official custody.
The Albanian Government twice protested killings by Greek
police or military personnel of six to eight Albanians who had
illegally entered Greece. In the first case, the Albanian
Government in March described the Greek shooting while in
custody of an apprehended illegal Albanian alien, Alfred Abas
Muco, 21 years old. After a military investigation, the Greek
Government replied that Muco's killing was accidental. In the
second case, on August 22, the Albanian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs protested the killing of Ormen Gjoka and maiming of Ali
Reci (broken back) while in Greek custody during the Greeks'
forcible expulsion of Albanians. Greece returned Gjoka's body
and Reci to Albania on August 23 without publicity or
explanation.
The Albanian Government also protested the deaths of six
unnamed Albanians during the Greek roundup and expulsion of
Albanian aliens in August-September. Of the six, one was
reportedly a 19-year-old woman, shot in the head; another was a
21-year-old man, shot in the back. Two others of the six
reportedly drowned in a river during flight from pursuing Greek
police. It was not known whether the six dead referred to
include Ormen Gjoka, mentioned above. The Greek Ministry of
Foreign Affairs states that it requested but did not receive
identifying information about the six from the Albanian
Government to aid investigation of the cases, and it is not
known if any investigation was conducted.
The Government has not provided any further information on the
army's investigation of the February 27, 1993, incident in
which a Greek soldier shot an Albanian. After a request by the
German Embassy in Athens for a followup investigation into the
death of Ramon Joachim Schulz, the Government reaffirmed the
conclusion of the original investigation, that Schulz died of a
heart attack, despite evidence to the contrary.
Greek terrorists attacked and killed three persons in 1994--a
Turkish diplomat, a prominent Greek banker, and a Greek
policeman. There have been no arrests made in these cases.
b. Disappearance
No cases of disappearances were reported in 1994. The case of
two ethnic Greeks of Albanian citizenship who disappeared on
March 4, 1993, remained unsolved. The Government claimed that
the two were not in custody when they disappeared, although
Amnesty International reported that they were seen being
arrested by an armed policeman, and initially the police
confirmed they were holding them.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
The Constitution specifically forbids torture, and a 1984 law
made the use of torture an offense punishable by a sentence of
from 3 years to life imprisonment. However, this law has never
been invoked, even though there were credible reports that
police and military personnel beat and otherwise ill-treated
illegal Albanian aliens in the process of deporting them in
August and September. The Government denied such reports.
A December 1993 report by the COE's Committee for the
Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (CPT) concluded that certain categories of persons
detained or arrested by the police, particularly persons
arrested for drug-related offenses or for serious crimes such
as murder, rape, or robbery, run a significant risk of being
ill-treated and are occasionally subjected to severe ill-
treatment or torture. The report stressed that the Government
should examine diligently all allegations of ill-treatment and
prosecute and punish offenders. It also emphasized the need
for additional education for police on human rights questions;
better training in modern investigation techniques; and the
acquisition and development of interpersonal communication
skills by police officers. Finally, it stressed the need to
strengthen formal safeguards against the ill-treatment of
persons detained by the police, including the right to access
to a lawyer from the outset of detention.
The COE report stated that allegations of ill-treatment
included kicks, punches, slaps, stamping on feet, as well as
blows with the butt of a pistol or wooden sticks. The report
also noted allegations of an even more serious kind, in
particular of falaka (beating on the soles of the feet) and the
administration of electric shocks; it indicated that the Athens
and Thessaloniki police had inflicted such treatment at police
headquarters. The COE team's medical personnel confirmed that
physical evidence from the victims was consistent with their
allegations. In addition, the COE team observed a variety of
unlabeled wooden sticks and batons at the Thessaloniki police
headquarters, as well as a hand-held device for delivering
electric shocks which was discovered in the personal locker of
a police officer attached to the Thessaloniki police
headquarters.
The Government conducted its own internal review of these
charges and reported in August on the status of 33 lawsuits
filed against policemen in the period 1989-1993 for abuse,
torture, and ill-treatment. Twenty cases were still pending in
court or under investigation; in three cases, the police
officers were found innocent; one police officer was sentenced
to 2 years in prison for slapping a prisoner in the face; and
in nine cases the charges were dropped. The Government refused
to accept the Committee's observations concerning investigation
methods, torture, and ill-treatment, dismissing them as without
foundation.
The COE report described conditions of detention in police
establishments visited as varying from adequate to extremely
poor and in one case as inhuman. It noted prompt compliance
with a recommendation to close cells in two police stations
immediately.
There were few reports of physical abuse from most prisons,
although the COE report cited ill-treatment of prisoners by
prison staff at the Larissa prison as an exception. According
to another credible report, two Albanian prisoners who attempted
to escape in 1993 from a prison on the island of Kos were
beaten severely after their recapture. An investigation by the
Ministry of Justice resulted in bringing charges in September
against three prison guards for "dangerous bodily harm" and
against another for "simple bodily harm." In April the
Ministry issued strict instructions to prison wardens to
prevent physical abuse of the incarcerated. The Minister of
Justice personally conducted followup investigations and
visited prisons. The wardens of two prisons were fired for
misconduct and failing to follow or enforce proper guidelines
for treatment of prisoners. The Ministry has announced a
training program for prison guards to prevent abuse of
prisoners, but it has not yet begun.
Prison overcrowding, particularly at the Korydallos prison near
Athens, was relieved in 1994 as a result of a new law which
permits parole after a prisoner has served two-fifths (versus
the previous three-fifths) of a prison term. Implementation of
this law resulted in the release of 1,200 prisoners by July,
roughly 1 out of every 6 of the total prison population. The
Justice Ministry also implemented special prison programs for
the treatment of drug addicts and a pilot vocational training,
legal, and mental health counseling program for juveniles. A
new detention and court center was opened in Thessaloniki; the
old center had been cited in the COE report as particularly
inadequate.
Prison conditions for conscientious objectors improved somewhat
in 1994, as a result of government action to reduce
overcrowding. In addition, the Government began renovations to
the Kassandra prison, which was notorious for its poor living,
health, and sanitary conditions.
The COE team provided an independent monitor of prison, police
station, and psychiatric hospital conditions. Such independent
monitoring, however, was not regularly scheduled.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
The Constitution requires judicial warrants for all arrests,
except during the actual commission of a crime, and the law
prohibits arbitrary arrest orders. The police do not always
respect these safeguards (see below). Police must, by law,
bring a person arrested on the basis of a warrant or while
committing a crime before an examining magistrate within
24 hours. The magistrate must issue a detention warrant or
order the release of the detainee within 3 days, unless special
circumstances require a 2-day extension of this time limit.
Defendants brought to court before the end of the day following
the commission of a charged offense may be tried immediately,
under a "speedy procedure." Although legal safeguards,
including representation by counsel, apply in speedy procedure
cases, the short period of time may inhibit the defendant's
ability to present an adequate defense. Defendants may ask for
a delay to provide time to prepare their defense, but the court
is not obliged to grant it. The speedy procedure was used in
less than 10 percent of misdemeanor cases. It was not used at
all for felonies.
Despite these legal safeguards, the police sometimes violate
them. For example, both the COE team and Greek defense lawyers
stated that the police, during investigation of serious crimes,
occasionally interrogated suspects as "witnesses," allegedly
because witnesses do not have the right to legal representation
during police questioning. Statements made to the police in
these circumstances may be used against these persons in court
if they are later charged and brought to trial. Witnesses do
not have the legal right to remain silent, although no one is
required to testify against himself. In such cases access to a
lawyer may be effectively denied until after interrogation,
which in some cases has resulted in torture or ill-treatment
and the subsequent signing of a statement. These circumstances
were reportedly most likely to occur in the case of serious
crimes, including drug offenses, in which the police did not
have sufficient evidence to convict without a confession. The
Government did not prosecute and punish any officials for such
misconduct during the year.
The effective maximum duration of pretrial detention was 18
months for felonies and 9 months for misdemeanors. A panel of
judges may grant release pending trial, with or without bail.
A person convicted of a misdemeanor and sentenced to 2 years or
less may, at the court's discretion, pay a fine in lieu of
being imprisoned. The percentage of the incarcerated
population comprised of pretrial detainees was 33 percent,
according to government sources.
There were no reports of incommunicado detention.
Exile is unconstitutional, and no cases have been reported
since the restoration of democracy in 1974. However, Greek
citizens not of ethnic Greek origin who travel outside the
country may be deprived of their citizenship and refused
readmittance to the country under Article 19 of the Citizenship
Code. Article 20 of the Code permits the Government to strip
citizenship from those who "commit acts contrary to the
interests of Greece for the benefit of a foreign state." (See
Section 2.d. for more information on the application of these
articles.)
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The judicial system includes three levels of courts, appointed
judges, an examining magistrate system, trial by judicial
panel, and the right of appeal by both prosecution and
defense. The Constitution provides for the independence of the
judiciary, but there are credible charges that judges sometimes
allow political criteria, including the desire to obtain
promotion, to influence their judgments.
Judges are not appointed for life. Mandatory retirement ages
vary with the type of court. Some judges expressed concern
that the change in the way judges are selected might affect the
independence of the judiciary. Previously, they were elected
by their peers, but under the new law they are chosen by their
superiors.
The Government has taken Christos Sideropoulos to trial five
times in 4 years for speaking publicly about the existence and
rights of what he identifies as a Macedonian minority. A case
brought by a private citizen was accepted and joined by the
prosecutor in May despite the fact that the allegedly offensive
statements were made at a CSCE conference in Denmark in 1990.
Under Article 6 of the Criminal Code, Greek citizens may be
prosecuted for actions committed abroad only if those actions
are punishable under the laws of that country. Sideroupoulos's
alleged statements do not constitute an offense under Danish
law, but Greek courts and the Greek Government permitted the
case to go to trial; in September, the scheduled trial was
postponed for 1 year.
The Constitution provides for public trials, and trial court
sessions are open to the public, unless the court decides that
privacy is required to protect victims and witnesses or
national security matters. According to defense attorneys, the
latter provision has not been invoked since the restoration of
democracy in 1974. The defendant enjoys the presumption of
innocence, the standard of proof of guilt beyond a reasonable
doubt, the right to present evidence and witnesses, the right
of access to the prosecution's evidence, the right to cross-
examine witnesses, and the right to counsel. Lawyers are
provided to defendants (in felony cases, only) who are not able
to afford legal counsel.
The legal system does not discriminate against women or
minorities, with one clear exception: Article 19 of the
Citizenship Code (see Section 2.d.) applies only to Greek
citizens who are not ethnically Greek.
As noted above, the courts continue to permit prosecutions of
minority activists who violated laws that limit freedom of
expression (see Section 2.a.). However, no one was imprisoned
as a result of such charges in the last 5 years. Those
convicted have been allowed to convert their convictions to a
fine of about $4.00 a day.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
Although the Constitution prohibits invasion of privacy and
searches without warrants, and the law permits monitoring
personal communications only under strict judicial controls,
the variety of persons and groups subjected to government
surveillance in recent years raises questions about
safeguards. Targets included human rights monitors, non-
Orthodox religious groups, and activist members of minority
groups.
In June a parliamentary investigation committee recommended
indictment of former Prime Minister Mitsotakis and 30 persons
from the former Mitsotakis administration on charges of
wiretapping political opponents from 1989 to 1991. In January
1995, the Parliament voted to drop all charges against
Mitsotakis. The others will be tried in criminal courts in
1995.
The security services continued to monitor human rights and
minority group representatives and foreign diplomats who met
with such individuals. Human rights monitors also reported the
continuation of suspicious openings and diversions of mail,
some of which was never delivered but was subsequently
published in newspapers with apparent links to Greek security
services. So far as is known, the Government took no steps to
stop such practices or to prosecute those involved.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
Freedom of speech and press is provided for in the Constitution
and generally respected in practice, but with some significant
exceptions. Some legal restrictions on free speech remain in
force and were invoked in one case in 1994 concerning the right
of an individual to identify himself as a member of a Macedonian
minority in Greece. The charges in this case were based on
what the individual said, not on violent acts or criminal
behavior. On matters other than those involving the question
of ethnic minorities, Greece enjoys a tradition of outspoken
public discourse and a vigorous free press. Satirical and
opposition newspapers do not hesitate to attack the highest
state authorities. According to journalists, self-censorship
was practiced on national security and Greek national identity
issues.
The Constitution allows for seizure (though not prior
restraint), by order of the public prosecutor, of publications
that insult the President, offend religious beliefs, contain
obscene articles, advocate violent overthrow of the political
system, or disclose military and defense information. Seizures
have been rare, however, and did not occur in 1994.
In December 1993, the Government repealed a law which forbade
"insulting authority" and outlawed prosecution of otherwise
actionable "offenses committed by or through the press." As a
result of these changes, a number of trials involving
restrictions on freedom of speech initiated under the previous
government, including the cases of five Trotskyites and two
journalists, were terminated. With the December 1993 repeal of
an antiterrorism law, the Government lifted restrictions on the
publishing of the communications of terrorist groups; this
provided a forum for the publication of the proclamations of
Greek terrorist groups during a period of stepped-up terrorist
activity.
Several other articles of the Penal Code which were used in the
past to restrict free speech and press remain in force.
(Article 141 of the Penal Code forbids "exposing the friendly
relations of the Greek State with foreign states to danger of
disturbance;" Article 191 of the Code prohibits "spreading
false information and rumors liable to create concern and fear
among citizens and cause disturbances in the country's
international relations and inciting citizens to rivalry and
division, leading to disturbance of the peace.") The
Government continues to use laws to charge individuals who
raise politically sensitive topics, such as relations with the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the assertion of
ethnic minority identification. An example is the case of
Christos Sideropoulos, who described himself as a Macedonian
activist (see Section 1.e.). Two other freedom of expression
cases from previous years are scheduled to be heard by appeals
courts in 1995.
On April 14, charges were dropped against Sadik Ahmet Sadik for
an article he published in 1989 in which he alleged
discrimination and repression against ethnic Turks in Greece.
Sadik also appealed to the Supreme Court a February 1
conviction by the First Appeal Court in Thessaloniki for
falsifying signatures on a petition he circulated among the
Muslims of Thrace. Two other cases pending against Sadik
involve charges of theft, unlawful entry in public buildings,
and inciting violence during altercations with the authorities
in Thrace about new textbooks distributed by the Greek
Government in 1992. These two cases have been postponed.
The 1975 Constitution provides that the State exercise
"immediate control" over radio and television. An independent,
government-appointed body with the authority to enact rules
governing private broadcasting established procedural
regulations for radio several years ago. In 1993 it did so for
television as well, issuing licenses to six private stations.
Many other private television stations operated without
licenses, however. State-run stations tended to emphasize the
Government's views and positions but also reported objectively
on other parties' programs and positions.
Throughout much of western Thrace, Turkish-language satellite
television broadcasts are widely available. The mayors of two
cities in the region set up satellite ground stations for their
Turkish-speaking constituents. Eleven Turkish-language
publications--eight weekly newspapers and three monthly
magazines--are published and circulated in Thrace. Newspapers
and other periodicals from Turkey are distributed in small
numbers when brought in by taxis and travelers.
Academic freedoms are respected.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The Constitution provides for freedom of assembly. Police
permits were routinely issued for public demonstrations, and
there were no reports that the permit requirement was abused.
The Constitution provides for the right of association, which
was generally respected, except in cases involving ethnic
minorities. In 1994 the Supreme Court upheld the 1991 decision
of lower courts to deny registration to the "Macedonian
Cultural Center" in Florina, organized by Greeks who consider
themselves of Slavic descent. The 1991 ruling held that "the
true goal of the society...is to affirm the idea of the
existence of a Macedonian minority in Greece, which contradicts
(Greece's) national interests and the law." The organizers
planned to appeal the decision to the European Court of Human
Rights.
Greek authorities, while recognizing a Muslim minority, did not
recognize the existence of other minorities based on ethnic
grounds (see Section 5). This is contrary to the 1990
Copenhagen document of the CSCE to which the Government is a
party, which asserts that "to belong to a national minority is
a matter of a person's individual choice."
c. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution establishes the Greek Orthodox Church, to
which perhaps 95 percent of the population at least nominally
adhere, as the prevailing religion but prohibits discrimination
against religious minorities. The Greek Orthodox Church wields
significant influence through its relationship with the
Ministry of Education and Religion. Religious training is
mandatory in Greek public schools for Greek Orthodox pupils.
Non-Orthodox students are exempt from this requirement.
However, there are reports from Helsinki Monitor (Greece) that
some schoolteachers force Jehovah's Witnesses students to
attend Orthodox services. The Constitution limits religious
practice by prohibiting proselytizing. In contrast to past
years, in 1994 only one arrest for proselytizing by other
faiths was reported.
In January police in Thessaloniki arrested two members of the
Church of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) for violating immigration
law and jailed them overnight. After a 10-day trial, they were
acquitted. The Church complained in September of harassment by
local thugs in Piraeus but at the same time reported a
generally improved relationship with local police.
Traditionally, Jehovah's Witnesses ministers were not granted
the exemption from military service accorded under Greek law to
clergy of "known religions" and thus served prison sentences
for refusing military service. Since 1990-91, the Council of
State, the highest court dealing with civil and administrative
matters whose opinions are binding on the Government, has ruled
that the Jehovah's Witnesses were a "known religion" and has
ordered the release of ministers who had refused induction.
However, the recruiting service of the armed forces regarded
these rulings as applying only to individual appellants, not as
binding precedents for subsequent Jehovah's Witnesses ministers
who were called up. It thus continued to rely, in the first
instance, on the opinion of the Ministry of Education and
Religion, which in turn accepted the view of the Greek Orthodox
Church that the Jehovah's Witnesses are not a "known religion."
As a consequence, for the past few years, ministers of the
Jehovah's Witnesses have been called up for military service
and prosecuted for refusal; only after conviction could they
appeal to the Council of State for exemptions as ministers of a
"known religion." In practice, these ministers have spent
periods of a few months to over a year in jail while appealing
their cases to the Council of State. In contrast to past
years, in 1994 only one arrest for proselytizing by other
faiths was reported. A Jehovah Witnesses canvasser was
arrested in Volos on October 14, and the local public
prosecutor charged him with proselytizing. He was subsequently
released pending hearing of the case in 1995.
To open and operate a house of worship in Greece requires
approval by the Ministry of Education and Religion. The
Ministry bases its decision on the advisory opinion of the
local Orthodox bishop. In recent years, it has not been
uncommon for such permission to be delayed or even, at times,
withheld, though some denominations have been able to open and
operate churches in the guise of cultural centers.
Several denominations report difficulties getting residence
permits for foreign members of their faiths who come to Greece
to perform missionary or charity work. Although such problems
continued in 1994, these denominations reported overall better
relations with immigration authorities and routine approval of
extensions of tourist visas for these persons for up to
9 months.
Mosques and other Muslim religious institutions operate freely
in western Thrace and in Rhodes, where most Greek citizens of
the Muslim faith reside. Some Muslims claimed that Greek law
weakens the financial autonomy of the "Wakfs," community funds
used for maintaining mosques, schools, and for charitable
works, by placing the Wakfs under the administration of
appointed "muftis" (Islamic judges and religious leaders) and
their representatives. Those who object to this system say it
violates the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne.
In accordance with a 1990 presidential decree, the State
appointed the two muftis in Greece, both resident in western
Thrace, based on the recommendations of a committee of local
Muslim scholars, religious authorities, and community leaders.
The Government argued that it must appoint muftis because, in
addition to their religious duties, they perform judicial
functions in many civil and domestic matters, for which the
State pays them. The Muslim minority remains divided on the
mufti selection issue. Some Muslims accept the authority of
the appointed muftis; others elect muftis to serve their
communities.
The Government denied entry to two Turkish theologians invited
to Thrace for Ramadan and in July refused to admit a delegation
of six religious leaders from Turkey to enter Greece on the
grounds that they intended to engage in political, not
religious, activities.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
The Constitution calls for freedom of movement within and
outside the country, and the right to return. However, Article
19 of the Citizenship Code distinguishes between Greek citizens
who are ethnic Greeks and those who are not. Most Article 19
cases involve ethnic Turks from western Thrace, since only the
"Muslim minority" is recognized as having non-Greek ethnicity.
Greek citizens who are not ethnic Greeks may be deprived of
their citizenship if it is determined that they left Greece
with the apparent intention not to return. However, immigrants
who are ethnic Greeks are normally recognized as Greek citizens
and accorded full rights, despite years or even generations of
absence from Greece.
The Interior Ministry initiates proceedings under Article 19 on
the basis of reports by local authorities in Greece or by Greek
embassies or consulates abroad. It holds hearings at which the
affected person is neither present nor notified of the hearing.
Those who lose Greek citizenship as a result of such hearings
sometimes learn of this loss only when they seek to reenter
Greece. According to the Foreign Ministry, 42 persons lost
Greek citizenship under Article 19 in 1994 as of October (down
from 123 in 1993).
Persons who lose their Greek citizenship under Article 19 have
the right of "administrative appeal" to the Interior Ministry
and may also appeal to the Greek Council of State and to the
Council of Europe. Leaders of the Turkish-origin Greek
community complain that the time and expense involved tends to
discourage such appeals. Three persons who lost Greek
citizenship in 1993 and three persons who lost citizenship in
1994 have filed administrative appeals which are pending. Six
decisions on appeals from previous years were taken in 1993:
three denied and three upheld the appeals, according to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Another section of the Citizenship Code, Article 20, permits
the Government to strip citizenship from those who "commit acts
contrary to the interests of Greece for the benefit of a
foreign state." While the law as written applies equally to
all Greeks regardless of their ethnic background, according to
activists who support minority causes, it is exercised
principally against those who speak out against government
policy on national issues, including at least three activists
who call themselves Macedonian.
Some Greek citizens, particularly those of Slavic descent,
credibly reported that they were subject to extensive searches
and questioning at the border when traveling between Greece and
the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Greece maintains restricted military zones along its borders,
including along its northern border with Bulgaria, an area
where many Pomaks (Muslims who speak a Bulgarian dialect)
reside. Since entry into the zone is strictly controlled, even
for local inhabitants, some residents of the area complain that
their freedom of movement is restricted. Foreign diplomats are
allowed into the zone only under escort and with special
authorization.
Greece frequently offers temporary asylum, though rarely
permanent resettlement, to a growing number of refugees from
Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. Permanent resettlement in Greece is
not usually available for nonethnic Greek refugees. There are
3,482 cases of asylum seekers in Greece with apparently
legitimate claims to refugee status that are under review by
the Government in cooperation with the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
In August and September, the Government rounded up and expelled
over 50,000 illegal Albanian migrants from Greece. There were
credible allegations by Albanians and by international human
rights observers of abuse of some deportees, especially at
border crossings on the Greek-Albanian border. The roundup
coincided with sharply worsened relations between the
Governments of Greece and Albania, resulting from the trial of
five ethnic Greek leaders in Tirana on treason and weapons
charges.
Ethnic Greek immigrants, including those who came from the
former Soviet Union since 1986 and those rescued from the civil
war in Georgia, normally qualified promptly for citizenship and
special assistance from the Government. The returnees have
been settled initially on government-owned land in western
Thrace, where government programs to get them to remain have
met with limited success. Most move to Athens, Thessaloniki,
or other cities where job prospects are better.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
Greece is a multiparty democracy in which the Constitution
calls for full political rights for all citizens and for the
peaceful change of governments and of the Constitution.
However, the Government limits the right of some individuals to
speak publicly and associate freely on the basis of their
self-proclaimed ethnic identity and thus impinges on the
political rights of such persons. It also combined voting
districts in Thrace, making it impossible for ethnic Turks to
be elected there (see below). Additionally, Roma
representatives report that local authorities sometimes deprive
Roma of the right to vote by refusing to register them.
Members of the unicameral 300-seat Parliament are elected to
maximum 4-year terms by secret ballot.
The Government headed by Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou of
the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) won in free and fair
elections in October 1993. Parliament elects the President for
a 5-year term. Universal suffrage applies to those over age 18
and enforced by fines and administrative penalties. Opposition
parties function freely and have broad access to the media.
Under a 1990 electoral law, no candidate may be elected whose
party does not receive 3 percent or more of the nationwide
vote. This law also applies to independent candidates. As a
result, neither of Greece's former independent Muslim members
of Parliament, both of whom proclaim their Turkish ethnic
identity, was reelected to Parliament in 1993. In the June
election to the European Parliament, candidates identifying
themselves as Macedonian running under the European-wide
"Rainbow Coalition" banner received 5.5 percent of the vote in
Florina, a heavily Slavophone province in northern Greece, and
a total of over 7,000 votes nationwide. The Supreme Court
invalidated the list of Rainbow Coalition candidates but then
reversed its decision 2 weeks before the election. Rainbow
candidates had little time to campaign officially, and were not
allowed to take part in government-sponsored television and
radio programs which included all other candidates. In
addition, some polling stations did not receive lists needed
for supporters to vote for Rainbow candidates. One of the same
activists ran without incident for governor of Florina
prefecture in the local elections in October; he won 3.3
percent of the vote.
In October Greece held elections at the local level, including,
for the first time (as a result of a new election law),
elections for governors and prefectural councils. One month
prior to the elections, Parliament passed legislation combining
electoral districts in Athens and Thrace. The prefecture of
Rodopi, about half of whose citizens are ethnic Turks or
Pomaks, was united with Evros, which is approximately 5-percent
Muslim. Xanthi prefecture, which is approximately 40-percent
ethnic Turkish and Pomak, was united with two other prefectures
which had virtually no Muslim population. Ethnic Turks
complained correctly that the law as it was applied to Thrace
was intended to eliminate any possibility that an ethnic Turk
could be elected governor of either of the prefectures.
In June unknown persons fired shots at Anastassios Boulis, a
Macedonian activist who was a candidate for the European
Parliament. Boulis charged that, although local police knew
who the perpetrators were, they never investigated. The
Government claimed a police investigation produced no
corroborating evidence or witnesses.
Although there are no legal restrictions on the participation
of women or minorities in government or politics, women's
representation at the higher levels of political life remain
low. The head of the Communist Party is a woman. Women hold
no ministerial positions in the Government and only 3 of 26
deputy ministerial positions. Eleven of the 300 members of
Parliament are women. Women are underrepresented in the
leadership of the two largest parties.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights
The Government allows domestic human rights organizations to
operate but may or may not cooperate with them. In principle,
it respects the right of foreign diplomats to meet with
officials and other citizens, including critics of official
policy, though it is clear that the security services observe
contacts of human rights monitors, including listening in on
conversations held between those monitors and human rights
investigators and diplomats. The security services'
surveillance of such meetings is often blatant, and some such
meetings are treated tendentiously in the press. Monitors view
this activity as a form of intimidation and say that it deters
others from meeting with investigators.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
Disability, Language, or Social Status
The Constitution provides for equality before the law and the
full protection of individual life, honor, and freedom
irrespective of nationality, race, language, or religious or
political belief.
Violence against homosexuals is not common in Greece. However,
police occasionally harass gay bar owners and gay men,
including detaining them at police stations overnight and
sometimes physically mistreating them. Homosexuals discovered
in the military service are dismissed for reasons of "mental
illness," and would-be draftees are exempted from compulsory
military service for the same reason. Declared homosexuals
exempted from military service for that reason are ineligible
for public sector jobs.
Women
There are broad constitutional and legal protections for women,
including equal pay for equal work, but the General Secretariat
for Equality of the Sexes (GSES), an independent government
agency, maintains that these laws are not consistently
enforced, and as a consequence women generally receive lower
salaries than men for similar jobs. A GSES report states that
in 1993 average women's salaries in retail trade were 79.4
percent of those of men in comparable positions.
Although there are still relatively few women in senior
positions, in recent years women have entered traditionally
male-dominated occupations in large numbers.
The incidence of reported physical violence against women is
low; however, the GSES asserts that police tend to discourage
women from pursuing domestic violence charges and instead
undertake reconciliation efforts, though they are neither
qualified for nor charged with this task. The GSES also claims
that the courts are lenient when dealing with domestic violence
cases; it hopes that attitude will change as more women enter
the judiciary.
As a result of pressure from women's groups, a center for
battered women was established in Athens in 1988, and a
residential facility for battered women and their children
opened in 1993. These centers provide legal advice,
psychological counseling, information on social services, and
temporary residence for battered women and their children.
They received approximately 250 women in 1994.
The Government lists progress on women's issues as a high
priority and established a new position of Deputy Minister for
Women's Affairs in the Office of the Prime Minister. This
Office and the GSES coordinate efforts to remove barriers.
Children
Legislation enacted in 1992 prohibits and provides penalties
for all forms of maltreatment of children perpetrated by
parents or others. The State provides preventive and treatment
programs for abused children and for children deprived of their
family environment, seeking to ensure that alternative family
care or institutional placement is made available to them.
However, children's rights advocacy groups claim that protection
of high-risk children in state residential care centers is
inadequate and of low quality. They cite lack of coordination
between welfare services and the courts, inadequate funding of
the welfare system, and poor manning of residential care
centers as systemic weaknesses in child abuse prevention and
treatment efforts. Societal abuse of children in the form of
prostitution, pornography, and child labor is rare in Greece.
In recent years, Greece has experienced a dramatic rise in the
population of street children, mainly from Albania, who
panhandle or peddle at city intersections on behalf of adult
family members or for organized crime. Police occasionally
take these children into custody and bring them to state or
charitable institutions which care for wayward children.
Parents can reclaim their children from these institutions, but
risk deportation if they are illegal immigrants. The number of
Albanian street children has been greatly diminished since the
expulsion of illegal Albanians in August-September 1994. Roma
children are still in evidence on Athens streets, however.
Few children are available for adoption by childless couples.
As a result, occasional cases of prosecution against the
selling of Greek babies to childless couples are reported.
Usage of public health facilities by Roma is low because of the
low rate of integration of Roma communities within Greek
society and social security systems. Ninety percent of Roma
are not insured by any of the government social security
systems because they are self-employed or work in off-the-books
jobs that do not make contributions to the social security
system. The fact that health facilities are not located close
to the camps in which the Roma live also contributes to their
low rate of access.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
There are communities in Greece which identify themselves as
Turks, Pomaks, Vlachs, Roma, and Macedonians. Many are fully
integrated into Greek society. The only minority Greece
formally recognizes is a "Muslim minority," which is referred
to in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. The Government insists on
the use of this rubric to refer to several different ethnic
communities, most of which adhere to the Muslim faith. The
Muslim minority is comprised primarily of ethnic Turks or
Turkish speakers in western Thrace, which the Government
estimates at roughly 120,000 persons. In addition to people of
Turkish origin, it includes Pomaks (Muslims who speak a
language akin to Bulgarian) and Roma. Many Greek Muslims,
including Pomaks, identify themselves as Turks and say that the
Muslim minority as a whole has a Turkish cultural consciousness.
The use of the word "tourkos" ("Turk") is prohibited in titles
of organizations, though individuals may legally call
themselves "tourkos." To most Greeks, the word "tourkos"
connotes Turkish identity or loyalties, and many object to its
use by Greek citizens of Turkish origin. Use of a similar
adjective, "tourkoyennis" (of Turkish descent/affiliation/
ethnicity), however, is allowed (see also Section 2.b.).
Northern Greece is home to an indeterminate number (estimates
range from under 10,000 to 50,000 or more) of Greek citizens
who are descended from Slavs or Slavophones. Some still speak
a Slavic dialect, particularly in the Florina district. A
small number of them consider themselves to be members of a
distinct ethnic group which they identify as Macedonian and
assert their right to minority status. The Government
continues to harass and intimidate some of these people,
including putting one person on trial for asserting the
existence of a Macedonian minority (see Section 2.a.), denying
their right to association (see Section 2.b.), monitoring
activists' meetings with human rights investigators (see
Section 2.d.), and accusing activists publicly of being agents
of a foreign government. These activists say that, as a
result, some Greeks who consider themselves Macedonian do not
declare themselves openly for fear of losing their jobs or
other sanctions.
A 1994 report by Human Rights Watch/Helsinki entitled "Denying
Ethnic Identity--the Macedonians of Greece" charged, inter
alia, that an ethnic Macedonian minority with its own language
and culture exists in northern Greece and that the Greek
Government's denial of that minority is in violation of
international human rights laws and agreements. They also
state that the Greek Government discriminates against this
minority in violation of international law or agreements to
which it is a party. In responding to these charges, the
Government says that it recognizes, under the Copenhagen CSCE
document, the right of people to identify themselves as members
of ethnic minorities. However, it states that such self-
identification does not require government recognition of such
a minority or entitle its members to any privileges under CSCE
or other instruments. As noted , however, the Government
continues to deny the rights of free speech and association to
some who have tried peacefully to assert what they consider to
be their minority rights.
Government officials and Greek courts deny requests by
individuals and groups to identify themselves using the ancient
term Macedonian, since some 2.2 million ethnic (and
linguistically) Greek citizens already use the term to identify
themselves. The Greek Government does not define the dialect
spoken by some thousands of northern Greeks as Macedonian, and
government officials deny that it is a language at all. The
officials also noted that Greece regulates the establishment of
all commercial language academies, and questioned whether
advocates of "Macedonian" language schools meet the relevant
requirements. They added that the Government would not
interfere with the holding of informal language classes within
the Slavophone community.
The Secretariat for Adult Education (a government agency) in
1994 revised upward its estimate of the number of Roma in
Greece to approximately 300,000. Almost half of the Roma
population is permanently settled, mainly in the Athens area.
The other half is mobile, working mainly as agricultural
workers, peddlers, and musicians throughout the country.
Government policy is to encourage assimilation of Roma.
Poverty, illiteracy, and social prejudice continue to plague
large parts of the Roma population. The Secretariat for Adult
Education conducted education programs targeting the Roma
population, including the use of mobile schools. Some 1,200
Roma children attended the mobile school program during the
last school year.
The rate of employment of Muslims in the public sector and in
state-owned industries and corporations is much lower than the
Muslim percentage of the population. In Xanthi, where Muslims
hold seats on the town council, there are no Muslims among the
approximately 130 regular employees of the prefecture. Ethnic
Turks and other Muslims in Thrace claim they are hired only for
lower level, part-time work. The Government says lack of
fluency in written and spoken Greek and the need for university
degrees for high-level positions limits the number of Muslims
eligible for government jobs.
Public offices in Thrace do their business in Greek; the courts
provided interpreters as needed. In the Komotini district in
Thrace, where many ethnic Turks live, the office of the district
governor ("nomarch") has Turkish-language interpreters
available.
While discriminatory treatment against Muslims regarding
licenses to operate a business, own a tractor, or construct
property diminished greatly in recent years, basic services
provided to Muslim-populated neighborhoods and villages
(electricity, telephones, paved roads) in many cases continue
to lag far behind those provided to non-Muslim neighborhoods.
The Treaty of Lausanne provides that the Muslim minority has
the right to Turkish-language education, with a reciprocal
entitlement for the Greek minority in Istanbul. Western Thrace
has both Koranic and secular Turkish-language schools.
Government disputes with Turkey over teachers and textbooks
caused these secular schools serious problems in obtaining
sufficient numbers and quality of faculty and teaching
materials. Over 9,000 Muslim children attended
Turkish-language primary schools. Around 650 attended
Turkish-language secondary schools, and approximately 1,000
attended Greek-language secondary schools. Many Muslims
reportedly went to high school in Turkey due to the limited
number of places in the Turkish-language secondary schools,
which are assigned by lottery. In 1994 no Greek Muslims
succeeded in passing the entrance examinations to attend a
Greek university.
Ethnic Turks found it difficult to obtain permission to bring
in teachers from Turkey or to hire Turkish-speaking teachers
locally, particularly for the secular Turkish-language middle
schools in Xanthi and Komotini. Under a 1952 educational
protocol, Greece and Turkey may annually exchange 35 teachers
on a reciprocal basis. Each group serves in Istanbul and
western Thrace, respectively, but in recent years the Greek
side limited the exchanges to 16 teachers per country due to
the dwindling needs of the small and aging Greek population in
Turkey. According to the Government, during the 1993-94 school
year, Greece and Turkey did not exchange any teachers due to an
ongoing dispute over reductions of Greek instruction for Greek
students in Turkey, and the nonissuance of diplomas to some
Greek students there. The teacher exchange was, however,
effected during the 1994-95 school year; 16 teachers were
exchanged by each country on November 1, 1994.
During the January 1994 visit of a group of Turkish
parliamentarians to western Thrace, a group of Christian
extremists hurled stones at the bus in which the delegation was
traveling. There were no injuries, and no arrests were made.
Religious Minorities
Several religious denominations, including the Roman Catholic
Church, reported difficulties in dealing with Greek authorities
on a variety of administrative matters. Privileges and legal
prerogatives granted the Greek Orthodox Church were not
routinely extended to other recognized religions. Rather, the
non-Orthodox must make separate and lengthy applications to
government authorities on such matters as arranging
appointments to meet with Ministry of Education and Religion
officials and gaining permission to move places of worship to
larger quarters.
Leaders of various non-Orthodox religious groups assert that
their members face discrimination in reaching the senior ranks
in government service; furthermore, it appears that only those
of the Orthodox faith can become officers in the Greek
military. They allege that to avoid this restriction some
members of their faiths resort to declaring themselves
Orthodox. Senior government officials, when questioned about
such allegations of discrimination, deny that it exists and
point out certain persons not of the Orthodox faith who have
successful careers in government service. There appear to be
no statistics to support either side.
Teachers who are Jehovah's Witnesses have faced difficulties in
gaining or keeping employment in recent years in public or
private schools. As a result of such difficulties, six
Jehovah's Witnesses have appeals on employment discrimination
pending with the Council of State, some dating back as far as
1989.
Greek law requires that Greek citizens declare their religion
on their bilingual identity cards that, if and when issued,
would allow Greeks to travel freely within the EU instead of
using passports. The law has caused particular concern among
the Catholic and Jewish religious communities in Greece and
abroad and has drawn strong criticism from the European
Parliament. The Government declined in 1994 to act either to
change the law mandating the declaration of religion on the
cards or to issue the new EU cards. Instead, the old Greek
identity cards, which normally list religion but which allow
the bearer the option not to do so, are still being issued.
Leaders of the Jewish community in Greece have lobbied the
Government for several years to change five anti-Semitic
references in Greek public school textbooks. In 1994 the
Ministry of Education deleted two of the five passages.
The Government allowed Turkish Prime Minister Ciller's
counselor Mustafa Kahramanyol to visit Thrace in early June,
but denied a visa to the Turkish Director General of Religious
Affairs, who wanted to visit a few weeks later.
People with Disabilities
Legislation mandates the hiring of disabled persons in public
and private enterprises employing more than 50 persons.
However, the law is poorly enforced, particularly in the
private sector. The law states that disabled persons should
comprise 3 percent of staff in private enterprises. In the
civil service, 5 percent of administrative staff and 80 percent
of telephone operator positions are reserved for disabled
persons. Persons with disabilities have been appointed to
important positions in the civil service, including secretary
general of the Ministry of Welfare.
The Construction Code mandates physical access for disabled
persons to private and public buildings, but again the law is
poorly enforced. In the past 2 years, ramps and special curbs
for the disabled have been constructed on Athens streets and at
public buildings, and sound signals have been installed at some
city street crossings. In 1993 the Government started
replacing old city buses with new ones with stairs specially
designed for the disabled; the accessible buses numbered 500 in
1994. The new Athens subway lines under construction will
provide full access for the disabled.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The Constitution and subsequent legislation provide for the
right of association. All workers, with the exception of the
military and the police, have the right to form or join unions.
Approximately 30 percent of Greek workers (nearly 1 million
persons) were organized in unions in 1994. Unions receive most
of their funding from a Ministry of Labor organization, the
Workers' Hearth, which distributes mandatory contributions from
employees and employers. Only the five most powerful public
sector unions have dues-withholding provisions in their
contracts, in addition to receiving Workers' Hearth subsidies.
Following the recommendation of the International Labor
Organization (ILO), the Government in 1990 enacted a law ending
its financial involvement in trade union affairs and the
collection of union dues. Strong union reaction, however, led
to new legislation in 1994 which allowed unions to continue to
receive Workers' Hearth funds.
Over 4,000 unions are grouped into regional and sectoral
federations and two umbrella confederations, one for civil
servants and one, the General Confederation of Greek Workers
(GSEE), for private sector employees. Unions are highly
politicized, and there are party-affiliated factions within the
labor confederations, but day-to-day operations are not
controlled by political parties or the Government. There are
no restrictions on who may serve as a union official. Unions
maintain a variety of international affiliations and are free
to join international associations.
Legislation passed in 1994 mandates a skeleton staff during
strikes affecting public services, such as electricity,
transportation, communications, and banking. During strikes in
June and July, skeleton staffs did not ensure that essential
services continued uninterrupted; however, there were no legal
repercussions for the unions.
Legal restrictions on strikes include a mandatory period of
notice, which is 4 days for public utilities and 24 hours for
the private sector. Public utility companies, state-owned
banks, the postal service, Olympic Airways, and the railroads
are also required to maintain a skeleton staff during strikes.
The courts have the power to declare strikes illegal, although
such decisions are seldom enforced. Unions complain, however,
that this judicial power serves as a deterrent to some of their
membership from participating in strikes. In 1994 the courts
declared a majority of strikes illegal for a variety of
reasons, but no striking workers were prosecuted. The
Government may also declare "civil mobilization" of workers in
the event of danger to national security, life, property, or
the social and economic life of the country. It threatened to
do so when air traffic controllers staged a work slowdown in
August-September. The ILO Committee of Experts has criticized
this power as violating the standards of ILO Convention 29 on
forced labor. The Government resorted to civil mobilization in
December 1993 to resolve a bus owners' strike in opposition to
government efforts to deprivatize the Athens bus system.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
Legislation passed in 1955 and amended in 1990 ensured the
right to organize and bargain collectively in the private
sector and in public corporations. These rights were respected
in practice. There were no restrictions on collective
bargaining for private sector employees. The Union of Civil
Servants negotiates with the Office of the Minister to the
Prime Minister.
In 1993 the Government passed a decree setting limits to wage
and salary increases for public enterprises employees. A
complaint to the ILO by the General Confederation of Greek
Workers led the ILO Committee of Experts to request that the
Government stop intervening in the collective bargaining
process by setting maximum wage levels.
In response to union complaints that most labor disputes ended
in compulsory arbitration, legislative remedies were enacted in
1989 providing for mediation procedures, with compulsory
arbitration as a last resort. The legislation establishing a
national mediation, reconciliation, and arbitration
organization went into effect in January 1992 and applies to
the public sector and public corporations (the military and
civil service excluded).
Antiunion discrimination is prohibited. The Labor Inspectorate
or the courts investigates complaints of discrimination against
union members or organizers. Court rulings have mandated the
reinstatement of improperly fired union organizers.
Greece has no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The Constitution prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and the
Ministry of Justice enforces this prohibition.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The minimum age for employment in the industrial sector is
15 years, with higher limits for certain activities. The
minimum age is 12 in family businesses, theaters, and the
cinema. These age limits are enforced by occasional Labor
Inspectorate spot checks and are generally respected. However,
families engaged in agriculture, food service, or merchandising
often have younger family members assisting them, at least
part-time. Education is free and compulsory for all children
through the ninth grade.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
Collective bargaining between the GSEE and the Employers'
Association determines a nationwide minimum wage. The Ministry
of Labor routinely ratifies this minimum wage, which has the
force of law and applies to all Greek workers. The minimum
wage ($21 daily and $463 monthly) was sufficient for a decent
standard of living for a worker and family.
The maximum legal workweek is 40 hours in the private sector
and 37 1/2 hours in the public sector. A law that took effect
in 1992 significantly extended legal operating hours for retail
establishments, provided that the average workweek did not
exceed the legal maximum over a period of time. The law
provides for at least one 24-hour rest period per week,
mandates paid vacation of 1 month per year, and sets limits on
overtime.
Legislation provides for minimum standards of occupational
health and safety. Although the GSEE characterized health and
safety legislation as satisfactory, it charged that
enforcement, the responsibility of the Labor Inspectorate, was
inadequate. In 1992 the GSEE cited statistics indicating a
high number of job-related accidents over the past two
decades. Inadequate inspection, failure to enforce
regulations, outdated industrial plant and equipment, and poor
safety training of employees contributed to the accident rate.
Workers did not have the legal right to remove themselves from
situations they believed endangered their health. They did
have the right, however, to lodge a confidential complaint with
the Labor Inspectorate. Inspectors had the right to close down
machinery or a process for a period of up to 5 days if they saw
safety or health hazards which they believe represented an
imminent danger to the workers.
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