Greek migrant policy sparks controversy

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The increasing number of illegal migrants that apply for an assylum and are obliged to live for years waiting for a decision under humiliating conditions is a raising social problem in Greece. Migrants that desire their case to be examined and to leave for another country find themselves waiting for an answer living under conditions that violate their human rights. Greece is used for years as a buffer zone for the immigration flow in Europe reaching today at a point that the number of migrants and the growth of the problem have increased dramatically causing social disputes.

Biometrics, Migrants, and Human Rights

http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=289

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The use of biometric technology in order to make accurate identity checks as a way of control of borders to prevent terrorist attacks and illegal migration becomes more and more frequent in recent years. However, security does not always coincide with human rights. There is great discussion as far as the violation of human rights by these new technologies is concerned and the legitimacy of biometrics to collect such information. In addition, it is quentionable the effectiveness of these new technologies as illegal migrants tend to live in an illegal framework without official papers anyway and so they are difficult to be controlled.

Commissioner in action for human rights

The clip shows how the Office of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights works. Through interviews with the first two Commissioners, Alvaro Gil-Robles and Thomas Hammarberg, and images filmed during country visits, the clip highlights the main human rights concerns in Europe, including: discrimination, racism, migration, internally displaced persons, refugees, asylum-seekers, minorities, the conditions in prisons and the fight against terrorism.
The Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent, non-judicial institution within the Council of Europe, mandated to promote awareness of, and respect for, human rights in the 47 member states of the Organisation. Elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the present Commissioner, Mr Thomas Hammarberg, took up his function on 1 April 2006.

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The European Convention on the Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms was adopted in 1950 and was put into force in 1953 from the Council of Europe. It concerns basically individual and political rights, as the protection of economical and social rights is held by the European Social Charter which was signed in 1961 in the framework of the Council of Europe. Although the Convention doesn't explicitly make reference to migrants it clarifies that it refers to all humans and since 1953 it is the legal framework of Europe related to human rights, including migrants.