Greece lambasted at UN over Minority rights
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
has considered the combined sixteenth to nineteenth periodic reports of Greece on its implementation of the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Presenting the report, Maria Telalian, Legal Advisor, Head of the Section of Public International Law, Legal Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece, said that in 2005, the Greek Parliament had adopted a law on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment regardless of racial or ethnic origin, religious or other beliefs, disability, age or sexual orientation. This law laid down a general regulatory framework for combating discrimination in a wide range of fields and had designated or established bodies for protecting, promoting and monitoring compliance with the principle of non-discrimination. Also, during the last years, a series of measures had been adopted in favour of persons belonging to the Muslim minority in Thrace. On the claims that Greece did not recognize the existence of a national linguistic minority by the name of “Macedonian” she said that these were totally unsubstantiated and that these threatened to create potential tensions over existing identities in the region, as well as serious confusion over that name. Turning to the situation of Roma in Greece, she noted that the Greek Roma had been identified by the State as a vulnerable group, for which special measures and actions plans had been adopted, though mostly on paper.
In preliminary concluding observations, Jose Lindgren Alves, the Committee Expert who served as Rapporteur for the report of Greece, said that the reforms carried out by the Government, specifically for Roma, Muslims and migrants, were very positive. Most of the criticism of his colleagues had to do with the recognition of minorities, which, according to European law was linked with a lot of quotas and allotting slots for them in the Government. Taking the example of the United States he said that they did not use the word “minorities”, except for the indigenous people. For him, the main point was that there were no more homogeneous people as there was no 100 per cent pure culture. “Metissage” (the cultural mixing of society) was a way out of the problems Greece was facing today with large communities living side-by-side.
Other Committee Experts raised questions and asked for further information on subjects pertaining to, among other things, whether children of Muslim migrants were envisaged as Greek citizens or would they remain forever foreign. In case they were accepted as citizens, were they considered part of the Muslim minority? What was the reason behind the fact that Greece had become a destination country of victims of human trafficking? What was the language spoken by Muslims in Greece? Was the Muslim minority recognition based on race or religion? Was the Roma group considered as an ethnic group? Other questions concerned the problem linked to the name of “Slavic Macedonians”, illegal migrants and the Greek Albanian community.
The delegation of Greece also included members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Justice.
The Committee will present its written observations and recommendations on the combined sixteenth to nineteenth periodic reports of Greece, which were presented in one document, at the end of its session, which concludes on 28 August 2009.
Report of Greece
The combined sixteenth to nineteenth report of Greece (CERD/C/GRC/19) states that the number of persons of Roma origin amounts to approximately 250,000 to 300,000 (out of a total population of around 11,100,000 persons), according to studies drawn up with a view to designing and implementing social actions and programmes for the Roma. Roma are not considered as a “minority”, but as a vulnerable social group. The Muslim minority in Thrace numbers around 100,000 persons and consists of three distinct groups, whose members are of Turkish, Pomak and Roma origin. In the context of minorities, references made by a very small number of non-governmental organizations to a so-called “Macedonian minority” in Greece do not correspond to existing realities. The fact that a small number of persons who live in Northern Greece use, in addition to the Greek language, Slavic oral idioms, does not indicate the existence of a national minority. Furthermore, the use of the term “Macedonian” to describe a so-called minority usurps the name and national and cultural identity of some two and a half million Greeks who identify themselves for many centuries as Macedonians (Makedones) in the regional and cultural context and can therefore not be accepted.
The situation of Roma in Greece poses a series of challenges to the Greek authorities and to the society in general. The integration of Roma into the society is a very complex, multi-faceted social problem, which all European countries with a Roma population face. Greek authorities are fully aware of the urgency of this problem and have repeatedly expressed, and shown in practice, their political will to find appropriate and effective solutions. As far as the issue of forced evictions of Roma is concerned, it is inaccurate to use the term eviction when the relevant administrative acts of evacuation and expulsion come in response to the unlawful occupancy of land and to the arbitrary and illegal settlement in tracts of land that are not owned by the occupants. The allegation that evictions deprive Roma of their right to adequate housing does not correspond to reality, since the majority of these cases concerns arbitrary constructions which do not fulfil the requirements for decent and healthy living conditions. Regarding political participation of Roma, it can be noted that Roma participated in administrative bodies and procedures and in the political life of the country. A political party was created by Greek Roma and persons of Roma origin have been also elected to municipal bodies in several municipalities of Greece. Members of the Muslim minority also participated in politics, as they had been elected in almost all successive elections since 1927 within the main governing and opposition political parties.
Presentation of Report
FRANCISCOS VERROS, Permanent Representative of Greece to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that it was an honour and privilege to appear before the Committee. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination was a core instrument at the universal level against all forms of racism and racial discrimination, including new ones. Greece also attached great importance to the recommendations issued by the Committee.
MARIA TELALIAN, Legal Advisor, Head of the Section of Public International Law, Legal Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that their report provided information on recent legislation, action plans and initiatives that were take in the fight against all forms of racial discrimination. Greece’s periodic report had been drafted by the Legal Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in close cooperation with a number of other ministries. The involvement of a large number of ministries showed an increased awareness of the importance and significance of the Convention. They had also included in the report useful comments and inputs by the National Commission on Human Rights, in which six major non-governmental organizations participated.
Ms. Telalian acknowledged that her country faced a number of important challenges. Additional efforts and further improvements in the implementation of the relevant legislation were required to effectively combat discrimination and exclusion.
In 2005, the Greek Parliament had adopted a law on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment regardless of racial or ethnic origin, religious or other beliefs, disability, age or sexual orientation. This law laid down a general regulatory framework for combating discrimination in a wide range of fields and had designated or established bodies for protecting, promoting and monitoring compliance with the principle of non-discrimination. The principle of equal treatment included therein applied to all persons, said Ms. Telalian.
Ms. Telalian said that a chapter of this law established or designed competent bodies for the promotion of equal treatment. The Greek Ombudsman examined complaints for alleged violations of the principle of equal treatment by services of the public sectors. The Labour Inspectorate dealt with allegations of discrimination in the fields of occupation and employment. And the Committee for Equal Treatment, a body under the Minister of Justice, also took up specific cases. Greece had not opted for the system of a unique specialized independent body.
Until now, the Labour Inspectorate and the Committee for Equal Treatment had dealt with a very limited number of complaints. The Ombudsman had investigated a more substantial number of cases, most of them related to issues affecting persons of Roma origin. The law had not developed its full potential yet and they were aware that more needed to be done in order to increase the level of knowledge and awareness of victims, potential victims and civil society actors, said Ms. Telalian.
During the last years, a series of measures had been adopted in favour of persons belonging to the Muslim minority in Thrace, said Ms. Telalian. A 2008 law had introduced a quota of 0.5 per cent for the recruitment of members of the Muslim minority in the public sector. Courses in Turkish language had been included in public school curricula in Thrace since 2006, as an optional foreign language. Since 2007, the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs had provided for the recruitment of 240 imams.
With respect to the allegations that there were limitations on the Muslim minority in Thrace to have their “Turkish” identity recognized, Ms. Telalian said that these allegations completely ignored the fact that the Muslim minority in Thrace consisted of three distinct groups, whose members were of Turkish, Pomak or Roma origin. Each of these groups had its own distinct spoken language and cultural traditions and heritage, which were fully respected by the Greek State. Any attempt of the Turkish-origin component of this minority to impose its cultural characteristics and traditions on the Pomaks and Roma components was not in conformity with the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 regulating the status of the Muslim minority in Thrace.
The policies that were implemented by the Greek State aimed at guaranteeing the smooth integration of the Muslim minority of Thrace in the social fabric of the country, while safeguarding its cultural and religious identity and preventing exploitation of its problems by radical circles which wished to keep the minority marginalized and with an inward-looking mentality, said Ms. Telalian. As to the existence of minorities other than the Muslim minority in Thrace, she reiterated that any person who claimed to belong to a distinct ethnic or cultural group was free to do so, with no negative consequences. However, such subjective claims or perceptions, which were not based on objective facts or criteria, were not sufficient by themselves to impose on the State an obligation to officially recognize a group as a minority.
