The head of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Greece George Tsarbopoulos on Wednesday issued a statement on the hunger strike staged by Iranian asylum seekers in downtown Athens in support of their “legitimate claim” to have their asylum request examined.

“The hunger strike of the Iranian asylum seekers at Propylea, seven of which have sewn their lips shut, is founded on their legitimate claim to have their asylum requests examined and receive a definitive decision on their status based on the provisions included in the legislation on refugees,” the statement underlined.

“It is worth noting that among the hunger strikers are people whose first degree interviews have delayed for over a year, while for others, second degree interviews are pending for years,” according to UNHCR Greece.
It is underlined that the radical reform of the asylum granting system is imperative to ensure the fair, speedy and effective examination of requests and the issuing of relevant decisions.

The UNHCR Greece called on the competent authorities “to proceed without any further delay to the scheduled examination of the Iranian asylum seekers’ requests” and concluded that it “supports any relevant requests made by asylum seekers regardless of nationality, given that the law guarantees their right to a fair and speedy response by the national authorities as regards their status”.