AUSTRALIAN MACEDONIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE



MEDIA RELEASE

Greek authorities prohibit entry of an Australian citizen wanting to attend his father's funeral

On 7 May 2005, Mr George Mishalis, an Australian citizen travelling with an
Australian passport, attempted to enter Greece in order to be present at the
funeral of his father in his native village.

The Greek border police prohibited his entry on the basis of a law that was
clearly discriminatorily implemented (Law 3370, Article 20, para. 1G – Greek
citizenship law) mainly against ethnic Macedonian émigrés, who have been
known in their new homelands, to have openly expressed their Macedonian
ethnic identity.

The Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC) is appalled at the
inhumane actions of Greek authorities. This is the fifth time it has
occurred in the last two years. The last time this occurred was in August
2003. On that occasion, the AMHRC wrote to the Australian Foreign Minister,
Alexander Downer. In the reply the AMHRC received from the Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade it was stated among other things that “Australia
recognises the right of a sovereign state to determine whether to grant
entry to an Australian citizen and the basis on which entry is granted.”
Frankly, this is not good enough. Macedonian-Australians pay their taxes the
same as all other citizens of Australia. It would seem however, that
Macedonian-Australian citizens have earned their passports for no useful
purpose when it comes to a question of entering Greece – which has a 90-day
no visa requirement for Australian citizens.

Therefore, the AMHRC strongly urges the Minister on this particular
occasion, to make more rigorous attempts to gain from Greek authorities some
type of explanation for cruelly denying an Australian citizen the permission
to attend his father’s funeral. Such an action can only be described as
inhumane. Surely the Australian government has some obligations towards its
citizens and therefore should be prepared to protect the interests of its
citizens, indeed as it has done in the past with regard to their denial of
entry to other countries – eg: USA post September 11.

Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee

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