Athens, Greece: Greece's migration ministry on Saturday said it had submitted a new bill to parliament aimed at toughening penalties for migrant trafficking, including life sentences.
There are several legal proceedings underway against aid workers and migrants accused of being people smugglers.
"Penalties for the illegal trafficking of migrants will be toughened at all levels," the ministry said in a statement.
Sentences of up to life imprisonment are envisaged for smugglers, and migrants convicted of offences may be directly expelled, it said.
Assistance provided to irregular migrants by migrants with regular status will also be criminalised, according to the proposals.
Penalties against NGO members prosecuted for migrant trafficking are also to be beefed up with prison sentences, the ministry said, adding that parliament will examine the bill next week.
In a joint statement, 56 NGOs, including the Greek branches of Doctors of the World and Doctors Without Borders, called for the immediate withdrawal of several articles that reclassify certain offences as crimes, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and fines of tens of thousands of euros when a member of an organisation is prosecuted.
They also decry the exorbitant power granted to the ministry, which can decide to remove an organisation from the registry and end its work solely on the basis of charges brought against one of its members, without a conviction.
On January 15, 24 aid workers, including Sarah Mardini, a Syrian who, together with her Olympic swimmer sister inspired the 2022 film "The Swimmers", were acquitted by a court on the island of Lesbos.
Charged with "forming a criminal organisation" and "illegally facilitating the entry into Greece of foreign nationals from third countries," they had faced up to 20 years in prison.
With this new law, the migration ministry aims to promote legal migration by easing hiring procedures for workers from third countries, creating a new visa for employees of high-tech companies, and issuing residence permits to students from third-world countries for the duration of their studies.
For asylum seekers and refugees, vocational training programmes in sectors facing labour shortages, such as construction, agriculture, and tourism, are being introduced to support their entry into the job market.
