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Summary: General overview of Greece's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.
National laws on children's rights Status of the CRC in national law Constitution: Part II of the Constitution of Greece contains a number of rights provisions that apply regardless of age, but also a small number that make specific reference to the rights of children: Legislation: There is no comprehensive Children's Act in Greek law; rather, legislation relating to children can be found throughout various Codes and Laws. Such legislation includes, but is by no means limited to: Legal Research Case Law Case Law Research Compliance with the CRC In depth analysis With regards to the legal regime surrounding asylum-seeking and refugee children, the Committee was critical of the absence of a procedure to assign guardianship of unaccompanied or separated children. Accordingly, the Committee recommended the introduction of appropriate legislative amendments to establish “a functional, substantial and effective guardianship system for unaccompanied and separated minors” and to ensure the prompt appointment of legal representatives to allow children to effectively access the asylum procedure. Juvenile justice also emerged as an area of Greek law that contained substantial incompatibilities with the Convention. Specifically, the Committee raised concerns at the sentencing of children as young as 15 to penal correction for between 10 and 15 years; at the system of prolonged pre-trial detention; at the persistent criminalisation of children for begging; and at the potentially discriminatory treatment of Roma children within the justice system. The Committee urged the State to reform the juvenile justice system, including by setting a clear minimum age of criminal responsibility; instituting alternative measures to deprivation of liberty; enacting specific protections for children aged 15 to 18; and conducting a thorough analysis of the over-representation of foreign and Roma children in the juvenile justice system. Current legal reform projects
Under article 28 of the Greek Constitution, generally recognised rules of international law and properly ratified Conventions, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, are an integral part of domestic law and prevail over any conflicting provision in national legislation. The Convention can be invoked directly before courts and administrative authorities insofar as it has “a self-executing character”.
The Greek Parliament maintains an officiaal website which offers a database of enacted legislation in Greek and English (http://www.hellenicparliament.gr/en/Nomothetiko-Ergo/Psifisthenta-Nomoschedia), and the Constitution is available in English through the website of the Hellenic Resources Network (http://www.hri.org/docs/syntagma/). The World Law Guide (http://www.lexadin.nl/wlg/legis/nofr/eur/lxwegri.htm) and the International Labour Organisation's NATLEX database (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.country?p_lang=en&p_country=GRC) also provide access to a selection of national legislation in a variety of languages. In addition, the GlobaLex initiative at New York University has published a guide to legal research in Greece (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Greece1.htm), and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/gr/) and U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/greece.php) provide selections of links to legal and government resources.
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases in national law which reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The website of the Hellenic Supreme Court of Civil and Penal Law maintains a case law database in Greek (http://www.areiospagos.gr/), though limited resources are also available in English.
In its Concluding Observations of 2012, the Committee on the Rights of the Child welcomed Greece's enactment of a number of laws on children's issues, but nonetheless expressed regret that several areas of national legislation were incompatible with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and that there had been a failure to implement the legislation that did exist. The Committee also expressed concern about the practice of Sharia law in some matters of family law within the Muslim community of Thrace, in particular with regards to early marriage and inheritance practices that discriminate against girls.
Discrimination against children from a number of disadvantaged groups emerged as a theme throughout the Committee's 2012 Concluding Observations, perhaps most prominently that against Roma children, children with disabilities, children of undocumented migrants, and children of other ethnic or religious minority backgrounds. The Committee urged the State to “review domestic laws and expeditiously take all measures necessary to ensure that all children in the State party's territory be treated equally”.
In the 2012 Greek report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the State indicated that a system of initial reception centres for asylum-seekers would be fully operational by autumn 2012 pursuant to the legal reforms initiated by Law 3928/2011.