This is why I would protest in Thessaloniki.
| “Here’s why I would protest in Thessaloniki” ANNA KARAMANOU MEP, President of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality of the European Parliament |  |
| “I would demand an end to the sanctuary” | 18. 06. 2003 |
“If I did not have the opportunity to fight through democratic institutions, specifically through the European Parliament, then I would peacefully protest in Thessaloniki, as I did in the past when I was a trade unionist, for the same fundamental issues I fight for today: human rights, democratic freedoms, gender equality, peaceful resolution of conflicts, and minority rights. In this context, I would demand from the powerful of Europe:”
1) The respect for fundamental human rights and the immediate restoration of decent living conditions for the 700 Roma refugees, who are at the border of Greece and North Macedonia, in Meditligia, expelled by our neighbors, with their camp destroyed, without tents, without water, without basic sanitation facilities.
2) The abolition of the criminal law (Article 43b of Legislative Decree 2623/1953/A-268), which imposes a prison sentence of two to twelve months on any woman who violates the sanctuary of Mount Athos. Even backwardness has its limits!
3) To place high on the political agenda the issue of the systematic violation of human rights of women and children. To immediately address the criminal activities of international trafficking networks. To recognize gender equality in practice and promote a balanced participation of women and men in democratic institutions and all decision-making processes, as an indispensable condition for designing a better future, with peace, dialogue, respect for diversity, and a fair distribution of the planet’s resources and the benefits of science and technology, among peoples and individuals.
ELEFTHEROTYPIA – 18/06/2003