Working for an organisation registered in the “NGO Registry” of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum becomes a punishable offence with the proposed changes to Articles 24 and 25 of the Migration Code.

After five years of constant recommendations from the European Commission, the Council of Europe and the UN to put an end to arbitrary restrictions on the work of civil society organisations supporting refugees and migrants, the Ministry continues to target the organisations deemed inconvenient solely for carrying out their work.

The mere membership of an organisation registered in the NGO Registry elevates misdemeanours such as facilitation of illegal stay, or refusal to hand a travel document, to felonies punishable by up to ten years’ imprisonment and fines of tens of thousands of euros. It is thus considered an aggravating circumstance sufficient to reclassify the offence as a felony, in an affront to fundamental principles of criminal policy and legislation. Mere criminal prosecution suffices for removal of the organisation from the Registry.

These provisions are intended to intimidate civil society. They are introduced only a few months after the Minister of Migration and Asylum made threats against the legal representatives of people who arrived in Crete during the unlawful three-month asylum ban and were protected from deportation by interim measures of the European Court of Human Rights. These attacks were immediately condemned by international and national institutions, yet the competent Minister refuses to retract them.

For the undersigned organisations, this attempt is unjust, unlawful, and unreasonable. We call for the immediate withdrawal of these provisions.

The undersigning organisations:

1. ΑΝΤΙΓΟΝΗ – Κέντρο Πληροφόρησης και Τεκμηρίωσης για τον ρατσισμό, την οικολογία, την ειρήνη και τη μη βία
2. Αλληλεγγύη Λέσβου – LESOL
3. ΒΙΟΖΩ – Πανελλήνια Ένωση Καταναλωτών
4. Γιατροί του Κόσμου – Ελληνική Αντιπροσωπεία
5. Doctors Without Borders – Greek Section 
6. Γυναικεία Ομάδα Αυτοάμυνας
7. Network for the Social Support of Refugees and Migrants
8. Greek Housing Network
9. Greek League for Human Rights
10. Greek Helsinki Monitor
11. Greek Forum of Migrants
12. Greek Forum of Refugees
13. Greek Council for Refugees (GCR)
14. Ένωση Μικρομεσαίων Ο.Κοι.Π. Ελλάδας
15. ΚΑΛΛΙΣΤΩ
16. CARITAS HELLAS
17. Centre Diotima
18. Κόσμος Χωρίς Πολέμους και Βία
19. Μέλισσα Δίκτυο Μεταναστριών στην Ελλάδα
20. ΝΑΟΜΙ, Οικουμενικό Εργαστήριο Προσφύγων
21. Οικολογία-Αλληλεγγύη
22. Ecological Movement of Thessaloniki
23. Οικολογικό Δίκτυο
24. Πανελλήνια Ομοσπονδία Νέμεσις για το Περιβάλλον και τα Ζώα
25. Παρατηρητήριο Αστυνομικής Βίας – Copwatch GR
26. Παρατηρητήριο για τα Δικαιώματα στο Χώρο της Ψυχικής Υγείας
27. ΠΕΚΑμεΑ
28. Συμβίωση – Σχολή Πολιτικών Σπουδών στην Ελλάδα, Δίκτυο Σχολών του Συμβουλίου της Ευρώπης
29. Σύμπλεξις
30. Σύνδεσμος Αντιρρησιών Συνείδησης
31. Το Μωβ, οργάνωση Γυναικείων Δικαιωμάτων
32. Refugee Support Aegean (RSA)
33. ART HUB Athens
34. Boat Refugee Foundation
35. Changemakers Lab
36. Civil Society Alliance Greece
37. Collective Aid
38. Community Peacemaker Teams-Aegean Migrant Solidarity
39. DCI Greece
40. ECHO100PLUS
41. Emfasis Non-Profit
42. EmpowerVan
43. Equal Legal Aid (ELA)
44. Equal Rights Beyond Borders
45. Europe Cares e.V.
46. FemArtAct
47. Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid
48. HIAS Greece
49. HIGGS
50. Human Rights Legal Project
51. The HOME Project
52. I Have Rights
53. Inter Alia
54. InterMediaKT
55. Intereuropean Human Aid Association 
56. INTERSOS HELLAS
57. Irida Women’s Center
58. iSea
59. Ithaca Laundry
60. Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Greece
61. Last Rights
62. Legal Centre Lesvos
63. Mazí Housing 
64. Mobile Info Team
65. Nimertis Action Art
66. Northern Lights Aid
67. PRAKSIS
68. Project Armonia
69. Reading to the Others
70. Ref Checkpoint
71. Safe Passage International Greece
72. Samos Volunteers
73. SAMS Ελλάς
74. SAO Association
75. SHE – Society for Help and Empowerment
76. Statewatch
77. Τhess-δίκτυο
78. Velos Youth
79. Vouliwatch