URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY

GRE 001 / 0318 / OBS 036

Arson attack / Break-in / Threats

Greece
March 30, 2018

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership ofthe World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH, requests your urgentintervention in the following situation in Greece.

Descriptionof the situation:

TheObservatory has been informed by the Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) about thebreak-in and arson attack of the Afghan Community Centre’s[1]premises in Athens as well as about threats targeting the Hellenic League forHuman Rights (HLHR) and originating from an extreme right-wing group, callingitself Krypteia.

Accordingto the information received, on March 22, 2018, at around 1 pm, an arson attackwith racist motives was perpetrated against the Afghan Community Centre’spremises located in central Athens.

The assailants broke into the Afghan Community Centre’spremises and smashed computers, speakers and framed photos on the wall, beforestarting the fire by pouring flammable liquid in the office. The arson attackcaused significant damages to the premises, but luckily no injuries, since atthis time the office workers had left on their lunch break. A complaint hasbeen filed before the department engaged in the fight against racial violenceof the Hellenic police in Athens, which is currently investigating theincident.

On March 23, 2018, a little-known extremeright-wing group, calling itself Krypteia[2] claimedresponsibility for the arson attack on the Afghan Community Centre, in a callto the Greek newspaper “Ethnos”.

The Observatory recalls that this not the firstracist incident targeting the Afghan Community Centre and its work advocatingfor the respect of the Afghan migrant and refugee community’s human rights. Thearson attack comes after the Afghan Community Centre received a swell of deaththreats from far-right groups. Moreover, in 2010, the Afghan Community Centrehad already been attacked by a band of far-right assailants armed with sticksand knives, who kicked in the door of its premises, broke in, destroyed andbeat Mr. Yonous Muhammadi, whowas president of the Afghan Community in Greece at the time.

Inaddition, on March 22, members of HLHR’sstaff were threatened by members of Krypteia at their office in central Athens.They hit the doorbell at the entrance of the block where the office is locatedand threatened HLHR’s staff over the interphone and advised them to take greatcare. Shortly after the incident, HLHR filed a complaint before the departmentengaged in the fight against racial violence of the Hellenic police in Athens,which is currently investigating the incident. Prior to this incident HLHR hadalready been threatened by Krypteia over the phone in relation to their work onmigrants and refugee rights and in particular their collaboration with RacistViolence Recording Network[3].

TheObservatory highlights that the situation of minority rights defenders inGreece has been critical for years. Human rights defenders dealing with thismatter are consistently targeted for their legitimate work and face differenttypes of attacks, surveillance, arbitrary arrests, detentions, ill-treatment,entry bans and expulsion[4]. TheObservatory is also concerned by the fact that several complaints related toracism and minority’s rights have not been investigated and/or have been sentto the “archive of unknown perpetrators”[5].

TheObservatory expresses its deep concern for the overall situation of minorityrights defenders in Greece, and urges the Greek authorities to conduct animmediate, thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into theabove-mentioned incidents against the Afghan Community Centre and HLHR in orderto identify all those responsible, bring them before an independent tribunal,and sanction them as provided by the law.

Actionsrequested:

Please write to the authorities of Greece askingthem to:

i. Put in place all necessary measures to guarantee the security and the physical and psychologicalintegrity of the staff members of the Afghan Community Centre and HLHR, as wellas of all minority rights defenders in Greece;

ii. Carry out an immediate, thorough, impartial, andtransparent investigation into the events described above in order to identifyall those responsible, and sanction them as provided by the law;

iii. Putan end to all acts of harassment against the Afghan Community Centre and HLHR,as well as all minority rights defenders in Greece, so that they are able tocarry out their work without hindrance or fear of reprisals;

iv. Complywith all the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders,adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1998, inparticular with its Articles 1, 5(b), and 12.2;

v. Ensurein all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms inaccordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and withinternational human rights instruments ratified by Greece.

Addresses:

· PrimeMinister of Greece, Mr. Alexis Tsipras, Email: mail@primeminister.gr

· Ministerof Justice Mr. Stavros Kontonis Email: grammateia@justice.gov.gr

· AlternateMinister for Citizens Protection of Greece, Mr. Nikolaos Toskas, Fax: +30 210692 9764, Email: minister@mopocp.gov.gr

· GeneralSecretary for Transparency and Human Rights, Ms. Maria Yannakaki, Fax: Email:ggdad@justice.gov.gr

· DeputyPermanent Representative of Greece, Mr. Ioannis Tsaousis, First Counsellor,Permanent Mission of Greece to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Fax:+41 22 732 21 50; Email: grdel.gva@mfa.gr

· Ambassadorof Greece, H.E. Eleftheria Galathianaki, Embassy of Greece in Brussels,Belgium, Fax: (+32) 2 545 5585, Email: gremb.bru@mfa.gr

· PermanentRepresentative of Greece, H.E. Papastavrou Andreas, Permanent Representation tothe European Union (EU), Fax: +32 2 5515651, 5127912
Email: mea.bruxelles@rp-greece.be

Please also write to the diplomatic representations ofGreece in your respective countries.

***

Geneva-Paris, March30, 2018

Kindly informus of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by the WorldOrganisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH. The objective of this programmeis to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rightsdefenders. OMCT and FIDH are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights DefendersMechanism implemented by international civil society.

To contact theObservatory, call the emergency line:

· E-mail:Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and faxOMCT +41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / +41 22 809 49 29

· Tel and faxFIDH +33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80

[1] The Afghan Community Centre is the main non-governmental organisation representing and defending human rights of the Afghan migrant and refugee community in Greece. Its office is also the community Centre where classes, celebrations and gathering with children and adults usually take place.

[2] This group was largely unknown until it took creditfor an attack on Emir, an 11-year-old Afghan boy’s home in November 2017, wherethey left behind a note urging him to "go back to [his] village".

[3] The Racist ViolenceRecording Network primarily focuses on monitoring and recording of racistattacks against refugees and migrants in Greece and has received similarthreats by Krypteia.

[4] SeeOMCT’s Written Submission to the 35th Session of the United Nations HumanRights Council on the situation of minority rights defenders in Greece of May25, 2017.

[5] See OMCT’s Urgent appeal “Greece: Impunity regarding theattacks perpetrated in December 2016 against minority human rights defenders”,issued on February 21,2018. @font-face { font-family: "Arial";}@font-face { font-family: "Courier New";}@font-face { font-family: "Wingdings";}@font-face { font-family: "ＭＳ 明朝";}@font-face { font-family: "Cambria Math";}@font-face { font-family: "MS Mincho";}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }h1 { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0cm; page-break-after: avoid; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-weight: normal; }p.MsoHeader, li.MsoHeader, div.MsoHeader { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoFooter, li.MsoFooter, div.MsoFooter { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }span.MsoFootnoteReference { vertical-align: super; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }p { margin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }pre { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Courier New"; }p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }span.Titre1Car { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }span.apple-converted-space { }span.PieddepageCar { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }span.En-tteCar { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.ListParagraph1, li.ListParagraph1, div.ListParagraph1 { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }span.HTMLprformatCar { font-family: "Courier New"; }.MsoChpDefault { font-family: Cambria; }div.WordSection1 { }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; }