A/HRC/32/50/Add.1
adopted and applied with the protection of the fundamental human rights. (These
recommendations were also made in 2010, 2011 and 2013.)
22.
The National Commission for Human Rights has also commented on the inadequate
support of the authorities of Greece with regard to combating discrimination against
Muslim women, and has highlighted the lack of a comprehensive legal and regulatory
framework for the effective implementation of the action plan for the social integration of
Greek Roma. The Commission has thus proposed the expansion of the sociomedical
community centres, the enhancement of action towards equal treatment in housing, the
immediate registration of Roma at the municipal level and the creation of educational
programmes on human rights for state officials.
23.
The Special Rapporteur was pleased to hear that United Nations experts, as well as
several entities of the Council of Europe, had quoted excerpts of the recommendations of
the National Commission for Human Rights in their reports on Greece.9 The Independent
Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of
States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural
rights, explicitly referred to a more dynamic approach to systematically analysing the
impact of austerity on human rights.10 The Commission has also expressed satisfaction with
the legislative initiative of the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction
regulating the establishment of departments and agencies of response against racist
violence, and has highlighted the need for unreserved condemnation of each act of police
violence or arbitrariness. The Commission has further highlighted the need for
collaboration among state agencies; the Racist Violence Recording Network, which
monitors racist incidents nationally; non-governmental organizations (NGOs); and
immigrant communities.
24.
The Special Rapporteur also met with the representative of the Greek Ombudsman’s
office, a constitutionally sanctioned independent authority that has existed since October
1998, and which currently operates under Law No. 3094/2003, to safeguard and promote
the rights of citizens. The Office offers its services to the public by investigating individual
administrative actions taken or omissions by government departments or public services
that infringe on the human rights of individuals. Each submitted complaint goes through a
three-stage process before a settlement is reached.
25.
Additionally, according to the European directive 2008/115/EC (art. 8, para .6) and a
joint ministerial decision issued by the Government of Greece in October 2014, the Greek
Ombudsman is officially the independent body responsible for the control of all stages in
the process of returning migrants to their countries of origin.
26.
In 2014, the Office received 16,339 complaints, an increase from 14,738 in 2013 and
a 50 per cent increase from the numbers reported in 2011.11 The Office reports that 80 per
cent of these cases are successfully settled; they mostly concern issues related to public
insurance and taxation. Nevertheless, the Greek Ombudsman’s office offers its services free
of charge and produces reports on specific issues. In 2014, the Office published reports on
9
10
11
8
In particular, the European Committee of Social Rights quoted seven decisions proposed by the
National Commission for Human Rights in regard to the urgent need to reverse the trend of
debasement of individual and social rights; the Committee of Ministers referred to the Commission’s
propositions regarding the application of the European Code of Social Security by Greece; and the
Commissioner for Human Rights, in its 2013 paper on “Safeguarding human rights in times of
economic crisis”, made reference to a more rigorous analysis of the implications of austerity measures
for human rights, as recommended by the National Commission for Human Rights of Greece.
See A/HRC/31/60/Add.2.
See www.synigoros.gr/resources/docs/150403-dt-ee.pdf.