Human Rights

At a time of multiple crises and weakening of social cohesion, ideologies of inequality gain attractiveness and diffusion in Greek society. Addressing them requires our mobilization to defend human rights, combat discrimination, respect for diversity and equal social inclusion of vulnerable social groups.

Notis Mitarakis in the Hellenic Parliament

On the border: Greece’s response to Afghan asylum seekers

Commentary

Just days after Taliban violently seized control of Afghanistan, the Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum, Notis Mitarakis, has warned of a repeat of the situation in 2015 and announced that Greece will not be the “gateway to Europe for illegal Afghan migrants”.

By Neda Noraie-Kia

More about Democracy and Human Rights

Social Media & Newsletter

Discrimination and Diversity

Aegean chronicles: A reporter’s confrontation with Europe’s failures and moral imperative

A 6-year-old boy from Afghanistan drowned in November 2020 off the coast of Samos. Ηe was with his father and other asylum seekers onboard a dinghy that was shipwrecked. The tragic loss of a child’s life hardly made an impression on the international media or public discourse in Greece.

By Giorgos Christides

Select Respect Festival 2020

FESTIVAL

Online this year, the Select Respect Festival is running on 19-22 November, with over 3.000 participations at the competition, from which 46 short films were selected, along with special screenings such as the "Nimic" movie of Yorgos Lanthimos

Gender Equality in Adult Education

PUBLICATION

The overall aim of the guide “Gender Equality in Adult Education” is to inform, raise awareness and empower adult learners and teachers in educational organizations, structures and adult education units, so that they can process and critically reflect on issues related to gender, in modern social reality.

By Vagelis Kosmatos, Giorgos Nikolaidis and Alexandros Delistathis

More about Discrimination and Diversity

Education for Democracy

Human rights & Democracy in School

SEMINAR

On Friday 12 and Saturday 13 April 2019, a seminar on gender identity, human rights and democracy in school was organised for educators in Thessaloniki, following two seminars on gender identity which took place in February in Athens

More about Education for Democracy

Migration and Inclusion

Asylum bans in the European Union: How states break the law and get away with it

In July 2025, Greece took a radical, if unsurprising, decision to ban people irregularly arriving on its shores by boat from North Africa from claiming asylum. The government presented the asylum ban as a decisive measure against an increase in arrivals on the southern Greek islands of Crete and Gavdos. The new Greek asylum ban is a textbook breach of EU rules neither unprecedented nor isolated. It comes as a fresh symptom of the deteriorating state of the EU’s Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and of the rule of law that sees governments across the continent openly flout straightforward refugee protection standards, disregard the courts, and get away with it.

By Minos Mouzourakis

Civil Society Work under threat Greece Refugees

On the radar – How civil society work is under threat in Greece

ANALYSIS

Civil society players have been working hard for years to safeguard the fundamental rights of people seeking asylum in Europe. This has made them the target of an aggressive policy of deterrence, endangering both refugees and solidarity work itself.

By Wasil Schauseil

Beyond the Crisis Mode of the EU-Turkey Refugee Agreement

E-paper

This policy paper assesses the effects of the EU Turkey Refugee Agreement for Greece, Turkey and the European Union. It provides an overview of the 2015 context and the development of the agreement and analyses its repercussions in the region as well as for the EU as a whole. It concludes that the EU needs a strong alternative to the current agreement with Turkey, which is rights-based and sustainable.

By J. OLAF KLEIST

More about Migration and Inclusion