Greece takes over Council of Europe chair amid rights criticism

ATHENS: Greece on Friday takes over the rotating chair of Europe’s oldest human rights organisation, the Council of Europe, amid criticism over its treatment of asylum seekers.

The Greek foreign ministry on Tuesday said the May 15-November 18 presidency would focus on "democracy, the rule of law and the protection of human rights."

Critics of Greece’s treatment of asylum-seekers, most of whom live in overcrowded, squalid camps, have included the Council of Europe’s own human rights commissioner Dunja Mijatovic.

Mijatovic last week said she "shared" concerns raised by rights groups and the UN refugee agency regarding a new migration bill that was approved by the Greek parliament on Friday.

In addition to shortening the time required to process asylum requests, Mijatovic highlighted an "expanded use of detention" and the creation of closed migrant camps on islands.

There are an estimated 100,000 asylum seekers in Greece, many of them stranded after other European countries shut their borders in the wake of the 2015 migration crisis.

Greece has defended the need to tighten control in island migrant camps, partly to prevent the spread of coronavirus but also to placate locals who have lived at the forefront of the migration crisis since 2015.

"We don’t intend to hide any shortcomings under the carpet, we know them and are trying to address them," junior foreign minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis told a news teleconference on Tuesday.

"We have not violated Council values, and there has not been any serious complaint by this institution as regards the border region of Evros and the Aegean islands," Varvitsiotis said.

The Greek government earlier this week dismissed a report in the German weekly Der Spiegel which said there was "overwhelming" evidence that a Pakistani migrant was shot and killed by Greek fire during a migrant surge encouraged by Turkey in March.

At the time, Athens had also denied reports and testimony from migrants that they had been beaten and stripped by Greek police after crossing the border.

Founded in 1949, the Council has 47 mostly European member states in addition to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia and Turkey.

Greece joined the Council in 1949 and became a major human rights challenge for the organisation in 1967 when a military dictatorship took over the country.

Spurred by complaints from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands over thousands of arrests and torture carried out by the Greek junta against is political opponents, the Council began an investigation.

The dictators pulled Greece out of the Council in 1969 before sanctions could be imposed. Greece rejoined after democracy was restored in 1974.