GNCHR meeting with the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Michael O’Flaherty
A meeting between the Greek National Commission for Human Rights (GNCHR) and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Mr. Michael O'Flaherty took place on Wednesday 5 February 2025 at the GNCHR premises, in Athens.
The Commissioner's visit to Greece was conducted within the framework of the monitoring and evaluation of the human rights situation in the Member States of the Council of Europe. The discussion focused particularly on the rights of Roma as well as on issues relating to human rights protection of migrants and asylum seekers in the context of border control operations. Concerning the rights of Roma, the GNCHR has once more highlighted the need to safeguard the right to access to education and expressed its concern about reports of incidents of arbitrariness against Roma citizens. Furthermore, it referred to the lack of social inclusion policies and the plight of Roma women and girls, who, although they have great potential for driving change in their communities, bear the brunt of discrimination and social exclusion on a daily basis. As regards issues relating to the field of asylum and migration, emphasis was placed on ensuring the accountability of authorities for human rights violations at the borders and assessing the impact of such violations on the rule of law. The Commissioner was informed about the challenges facing the Recording Mechanism of Informal Forced Returns during its first years of operation, while, finally, special reference was made to the issue of continuous violations of the rights of refugees and migrants belonging to the LGBTQ+ community.
From the GNCHR the meeting was attended by Maria Gavouneli (President), Giannis Ioannidis (First Vice - President), Ellie Varhalama (Second Vice - President), Alexandros Konstantinou (Chair of the Sub-Commission for the Application of Human Rights to Aliens), Anna Apergi - Konstantinidi, (Chair of the Sub-Commission for the Promotion of Human Rights), Eleni Spathana, (Member, designated by the Greek Council for Refugees), Eva Tzavala (Head of the Scientific Unit) , Katerina Charokopou (Legal Officer), Christos Tsevas (Human Rights Officer, Legal Advisor), Garyfallia Anastasopoulou (Assistant Coordinator of the Racist Violence Recording Network) and Ilias Tsampardoukas (Supervisor of the Recording Mechanism of Informal Forced Returns).
In addition to the Commissioner, the Council of Europe delegation included Özgür Derman (Head of Department, Deputy Director of the Commissioner's Office) and the Commissioner's Advisers Matteo de Bellis, and Matthieu Birker.
