Ep. 2 – Greece Criminalizes the Work of NGOs – Europe Talks Back

During the month of June, Mary Lawlor, the UN Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, went on a 10-day long mission to Greece. At the end of her mission, in a preliminary observations and recommendation document, Lawlor wrote being “concerned about the increasing criminalization of humanitarian assistance in Greece”. Lawlor also came to understand that the nature of cooperation between the Government and civil society, and the overall perception about the role of civil society and human rights defenders in Greece, has undergone a significant shift since 2019. Lawlor says that since 2019 human rights defenders have found it increasingly difficult to carry out their work. This is particularly tangible in relation to those human rights defenders who defend the rights of asylum seekers, migrants and refugees. On this episode of Europe Talks Back, host Alexander Damiano Ricci meets with Dimitris Choulis, lawyer specialized in fighting human rights violations, and Dialekti Angeli, reporter from Greece for EFSYN, to discuss how Greek institutions are criminalizing the work of human rights defenders at the borders of Europe.