A/HRC/33/7
125. Ukraine noted the measures to protect the rights of vulnerable persons from the
effects of the economic recession, and the proactive stance of Greece in advocating the
rights of journalists in international forums.
126. Greece noted that the austerity measures it had had to take within the framework of
the programme of assistance of the European Central Bank and the International Monetary
Fund had been found by international and European treaty bodies to be in violation of
human rights treaties. It outlined the measures it had taken to protect the most vulnerable
sections of the population, noting its investments to address unemployment, particularly for
young people, women and the long-term unemployed, to deal with housing and poverty and
to reorganize the social policy system. Furthermore, Law 4368/2016 provided for free
access to the public health system for uninsured individuals and members of vulnerable
groups.
127. Greece stressed that the use of the term “Macedonian” to refer to a small number of
persons who lived in the northern Greek region of Macedonia and spoke, besides Greek, a
Slavic idiom, without any qualifier reflecting their Slav-oriented identity, infringed upon
the rights and identity of more than 2.5 million Greek-Macedonians who used the adjective
to denote their regional and cultural provenance. Those persons could nevertheless freely
express their views, organize cultural events and speak their idiom. In relation to the
Muslim minority, persons were free to declare their origin, but the attempt to subsume
Pomak and Roma persons under a Turkish identity was not acceptable. Greece was firmly
committed to upholding the right to education of the Muslim minority in Thrace and since
the 1990s, a programme to upgrade their education had been in place.
128. The Asylum Service was identifying unaccompanied minor migrant children and
attempting to determine if there was a parent or other person responsible for each child.
Greece was trying to find more reception centres for them and to upgrade the relevant
procedures.
129. Greece had taken special measures for the education of the Roma. However, there
were still individual reports of Roma children who received education in segregated
schools. Some had been dealt with successfully, but others needed further interventions and
the involvement of the whole community.
130. The new national action plan on gender equality was under preparation. The
priorities included social cohesion, poverty eradication and addressing the migration crisis
with a gender perspective.
131. Greece had stepped up its efforts to combat trafficking in persons, especially through
the establishment of the Office of the National Rapporteur. It provided further details on its
actions.
132. The implementation of the National Action Plan on Human Rights (2014-2016)
would be evaluated at the end of 2016 and a follow-on plan would be prepared in
consultation with the public and civil society.
133. The refugee crisis had offered Greek society collective self-esteem: the lost belief in
solidarity had been regained and local communities had demonstrated it. Greece intended to
use the challenges mentioned in the interactive dialogue not as an excuse, but as a means of
understanding reality. It assured the meeting that the recommendations would be widely
disseminated and thanked the participants in the discussion.
13
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