Athens, Greece, May 9, 2017 鈥 The 探花精选 and 14 other nongovernmental humanitarian organizations (NGOs) urge the Greek government to immediately reverse the recent policy excluding asylum-seekers on the Greek islands who appeal negative asylum decisions from the possibility of participating later on in the International Organization for Migration鈥檚 (IOM) Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) program and forcing those who wish to participate to forego their right to appeal.
The decision follows the direction set by the recommendations in the European Commission's and Greek Government鈥檚 Joint Action Plan on the European Union (EU) 鈥 Turkey Statement of March 18, 2016, which aims to limit the steps in the appeals process and remove so-called 鈥渁dministrative obstacles to swift voluntary return.鈥