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The Council of Europe urges Greece to penalise racial discrimination
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), a monitoring body of the Council of Europe, has issued several reports examining racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance in the Czech Republic, Greece and Switzerland. Athens has been criticised once again for failing to address discrimination against the country's minority communities.
ECRI's report [pdf] acknowledges Greece's efforts to consolidate a legislative framework on non-discrimination, such as the adoption of the Law 3304/2005 on the "Implementation of the principle of equal treatment" and the 2008 amendment of the Criminal Code, which now provides for the racist motivation of a crime to be considered as an aggravating circumstance. However, the Council of Europe says that the new legislation is "seldom applied", and that "few racial discrimination complaints have been filed so far due to due to insufficient legal assistance and information".
According to the report, the Roma community "continues to face a lot of problems in the fields of employment, housing and justice" despite the Integrated Action Plan which was approved to tackle such disadvantages. The report also points out that "issues relating to the freedom of association of persons belonging to some ethnic groups have not yet been solved" and that "significant improvements are called for in the treatment of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants".
Turkish newspapers Hürriyet and Today's Zaman have stressed that a dialogue between the Greek authorities and representatives of the Muslim community -mainly the Turkish minority- "is still necessary" to solve matters of concern to these communities. They also point out that, according to the report, "the predominance of the Greek Orthodox Church, which continues to enjoy a strong influence in Greek public life, affects the manner in which members of minority religious groups are treated, as they sometimes face discrimination and prejudice in various areas, including employment in some public sectors".
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