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by Maria Polizoidou • September
15, 2018 at 5:00 am
- Emergency Response
Centre International (ERCI) describes itself as a "Greek
nonprofit organization that provides emergency response and
humanitarian aid in times of crisis...." It has
reportedly abetted the illegal entry into Greece of 70,000 immigrants
since 2015, providing the "nonprofit" with half a
billion euros per year.
- ECRI evidently
received 2,000 euros from each illegal immigrant it helped to
enter Greece. In addition, its members created a business for
"integrating refugees" into Greek society, granting
it 5,000 euros per immigrant per year from various government
programs (in education, housing and nutrition).
- With the government
of Greece seemingly at a loss as to how to handle its refugee
crisis and safeguard the security of its citizens, it is
particularly dismaying to discover that the major NGO whose
mandate is to provide humanitarian aid to immigrants is instead
profiting from smuggling them.
Migrants
arrive at a beach on the Greek island of Kos after crossing part of
the Aegean sea from Turkey in a rubber dinghy, on August 15, 2015.
(Photo by Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)
On August 28, thirty members of the Greek NGO
Emergency Response Centre International (ERCI) were arrested for
their involvement in a people-smuggling network that has been
operating on the island of Lesbos since 2015. According to a
statement released by Greek police, as a result of the
investigation that led to the arrests, "The activities of an
organised criminal network that systematically facilitated the
illegal entry of foreigners were fully exposed."
Among the activities uncovered were forgery,
espionage and the illegal monitoring of both the Greek coastguard
and the EU border agency, Frontex, for the purpose of gleaning
confidential information about Turkish refugee flows. The
investigation also led to the discovery of an additional six Greeks
and 24 foreign nationals implicated in the case.
ERCI describes itself as:
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