Eleftheria Bitzaraki, Trainee at Koumentakis & Associates Law Firm participated in Mare Nostrum VIII, an annual congress organized for the eighth consecutive year in Rhodes by the Department of Mediterranean Studies at the University of the Aegean, with the scientific support of the Center for the Study of Mediterranean – Middle Eastern policy and culture.
Mare Nostrum’s Objective
The objective of the congress was to highlight as much as possible the multiple aspects of accumulated crises at the legal, political, ideological, economic and social levels as well as the interaction between them.
The Presentation Of Eleftheria Bitzaraki
In this context, Eleftheria was called upon to develop the legal parameters of the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean, since the last two years (2014-2016), and especially 2016, have been the most lethal year in recent years at the level of refugees. And why is it the Mediterranean? Because there is a variety of international problems in it. The only stable that exists in the Mediterranean at this time is the instability from the constant movement of populations and, along with them, the overthrow of borders and regimes.
In the presentation of Eleftheria Bitzaraki there are developed purely legal issues about the way in which the states have taken measures, both at international level and at our country level, by passing laws, by adopting decrees, by ratifying international or European conventions, in order to check the huge number of refugee flows that crossed and cross the Mediterranean even today.
Reference To The International Conventions
More characteristically, reference has been made to the well-known and with a variety of extensions Agreement between the European Union and Turkey on the control of the refugee population and the positive (for some) and negative (according to others) results it has brought, as well as the crucial role of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) by adopting both legislation and case law on this issue. Also, reference was made to the procedures for the admission of refugee flows under the Directive 2013/33 / EU and Presidential Decree 220/2007 as well as the important role of NGOs in this. Without omitting the extensive reference to the Geneva Convention 1951 and to the New York Declaration which followed, as key elements of the international legal framework for the protection of refugees and the role of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Finally, Eleftheria also referred to the Dublin Regulation on Access to Asylum Procedures and the way in which Greece with Laws 4375/2016 and 4399/2016 succeeded (or not) to incorporate European directives into domestic law.
Curriculum Vitae
Eleftheria Bitzaraki was born in Heraklion, Crete, in 1992, and completed her studies in the Law Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2016. She participated in virtual trials organized by legal entities in the country in collaboration with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Eleftheria speaks Greek, English, German, Russian.
