Greece

Greece has launched an online inter-religious dialogue aimed at exchanging views and exploring common values. 

A four-year programme on intercultural mediation has been established to assist doctors in providing medical services for migrants in Greece. The introduction of intercultural mediators in hospitals facilitated communication between immigrants and hospital staff, thereby reducing cultural misunderstandings and promoting non discriminatory access to public health services. 

The training programmes aimed to include the value of interculturalism and emphasize capacity building at all levels of public administration (national, regional and local). They addressed public servants employed at all levels of government who deal with third-country nationals or handle issues related to them, in order to help them design and implement comprehensive integration policies.

The project included seminars with educational units regarding:

Eight stories about the experience of migrants in Greece were broadcast on TV100, a TV channel serving northern Greece, following a TV & radio production training course on migration and diversity, organised jointly by the Media Diversity Institute and Symβiosis, in partnership with TV100 in 2012.

The EU Immigration Portal serves as a first point of entry to reliable, practical and up-to-date information on immigration issues. It provides useful basic information written in user-friendly language and gives rapid and direct access to relevant external websites for further information. In concrete terms, the portal helps potential migrants to:

- Better understand the EU admission rules and procedures;

- Identify job and study opportunities;

- Find information on the rights of non-EU citizens who are in the EU;

“Migration in Greece: A Country Profile 2008” is part of a series of migration profiles produced by IOM Budapest within the “Black Sea Consultative Process on Migration Management” project, funded from IOM’s 1035 Facility. Greece has traditionally been a sending country in terms of emigration, especially after the Second World War However, in recent years it has become a destination for immigrants. By 2005, the number of immigrants has quadrupled since 1990, making Greece the country with the highest proportional increase in immigration in the EU.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece, through its General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad has established a special ID card for its Diaspora, including the right to reside in Greece together with special benefits and facilitating repatriation to Greece. It also includes favourable housing loans, and special training and language courses.

The General Secretariat for Gender Equality (Ministry of Interior) has issued a guide for migrant women concerning their rights in the areas of work, health and social security. This also helps to sensitize officials and others to the need for equal treatment.

The aim of cross-curriculum education is to set up and run primary and secondary classes that provide education to young people with a specific educational, social or cultural identity.

In cross-cultural schools, the standard curriculum is adapted to meet the specific educational, social or cultural needs of the students attending them. They are also aimed at non-native children with long-term residence in Greece.

 

A special program called "Mama Learns Greek" -Learning of the Greek Language Tailor-made for Migrant Mothers helps migrant mothers both learn the language and improve their ability to help their children in school. This contributes to gender equality, the integration of mothers and children, cohesion of the family and human development of mothers and children.

This program is also part of the Annual Program of the European Integration Fund, a program that promotes linguistic skills and women’s capacity to assist their children in their schooling and life.