Video for the Refugees in Greece

Violations of human rights and refugees

Are the refugees entitled to rights and fundamental freedoms?

Refugees have rights which should be respected prior to, during, and after the process of seeking asylum.

Respect for human rights is a necessary condition for both preventing and resolving today's refugee flows.

In what ways can the rights of refugees be violated in the process of asylum-seeking in host countries?

Rights of Refugees

In practical terms, the task of international protection includes the prevention of refoulement, assistance in the processing of asylum seekers, providing legal counsel and aid, promoting arrangements for the physical safety of refugees, promoting and assisting voluntary repatriation, and helping refugees to resettle .


The right to protection include

• the right to life,
• protection from torture and ill-treatment,
• the right to a nationality,
• the right to freedom of movement,
• the right to leave any country, including one's own, and to return to one's country,
• and the right not to be forcibly returned.

These rights are affirmed, among other civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, for all persons, citizens and non-citizens alike, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which together make up the International Bill of Human Rights.
(a) "No one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile" (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 9);
(b) "Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution." (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 14);
(c) "Everyone has the right to a nationality" (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 15);
(d) "Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State"(Universal Declaration of Human rights, article 13; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 12).

Violations of rights of refugees

Three issues are giving rise to concern.

1. The disturbing tendency to close doors to asylum-seekers.
2. Intolerance, racism, xenophobia, aggressioni, national and ethnic tensions and conflicts during the process of applying for sylum and also after refugee status has been granted
3. The persistence of human rights violations in countries of origin and the need to address those violations before refugees can be voluntarily repatriated.

Resources: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FactSheet20en.pdf