Topic: std
Subject: Greece human rights report

        GREECE

Greece is a constitutional republic and multiparty parliamentary
democracy.  In 1993 parliamentary elections, the Panhellenic
Socialist Movement (PASOK) won a comfortable majority, and its
leader, Andreas Papandreou, became Prime Minister.  The defeated New
Democracy Party assumed the role of the main opposition.

Police and security services are subject to a broad variety of legal
and constitutional restraints.  The Greek Parliament, a vigorous free
press, the judiciary, committees and deputies of the European
Parliament, and Greek and international human rights organizations
monitor their activities.  These institutions and groups brought to
light cases of improper activities and pressed the Government to halt
such activities.  Nevertheless, credible reports indicated that
police continued to mistreat suspects during interrogation in some
drug and other criminal investigations.

Greece has a mixed capitalist economy in which the entrepreneurial
system is overlaid by a large public sector which accounts for about
60 percent of gross domestic product.  Low growth, a high inflation
rate, a large budget deficit, and a 10-percent unemployment rate
characterize the economy.  To promote further economic development,
Greece relies heavily on the European Union (EU) for subsidies and
loans.

The Constitution provides for, and, with some exceptions in the cases
of ethnic Turks and individuals who identify themselves as
Macedonians, the authorities generally respect, fundamental human
rights.  There continued to be credible reports that Greek police and
military personnel abused Albanian illegal aliens.  Albanian
authorities formally protested the mid-
August-November roundup and expulsion of over 115,000 illegal
Albanian migrants from Greece, which they claimed resulted in the
deaths of 6 to 8 persons.  The Government continued to use Article 19
of the Citizenship Code to revoke the citizenship of Greek citizens
who are not ethnically Greek, despite public assurances by senior
government officials in 1991 that it would repeal Article 19.

Government officials harassed and placed under surveillance
international and domestic human rights monitors.  In May the courts
accepted a lawsuit initiated by a private citizen and joined by the
Public Prosecutor against Christos Sideropoulos under Article 191 of
the Criminal Code for statements Sideropoulos allegedly made at a
Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) press
conference in Copenhagen in 1990.  The trial was postponed in October
for 1 year because the plaintiff, a lawyer from Piraeus, failed to
show up on the appointed date.

The Government recognizes only one minority, the Muslim minority
referred to in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, and refuses to
acknowledge the existence of any other national (i.e., non-Greek)
minority.  It does not deny the existence of Greeks of Turkish,
Pomak, Vlach, Arvenite, or Roma ethnic background, or of various
linguistic or religious communities.  The Government denies, however,
members of the Slavophone community the right to declare themselves a
Macedonian minority (see Section 2.b.).

Responding to a Council of Europe (COE) team of international
monitors which issued a report on its visits to police stations,
prisons, and psychiatric hospitals, the Government took corrective
action to relieve severe overcrowding and harsh living conditions in
some prisons.  Almost all pending cases restricting freedom of
expression have been dropped since the repeal in December 1993 of a
law against "insulting authority," with the exception of two.
Several religious minorities report a diminution in discrimination
and religious persecution.  One instance of prosecution for religious
proselytizing was reported in 1994.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1       Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
                                Freedom from:
        a.      Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

There were no reports of political killing, but there were several
reports of persons killed while in official custody.

The Albanian Government twice protested killings by Greek police or
military personnel of six to eight Albanians who had illegally
entered Greece.  In the first case, the Albanian Government in March
described the Greek shooting while in custody of an apprehended
illegal Albanian alien, Alfred Abas Muco, 21 years old.  After a
military investigation, the Greek Government replied that Muco's
killing was accidental.  In the second case, on August 22, the
Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested the killing of Ormen
Gjoka and maiming of Ali Reci (broken back) while in Greek custody
during the Greeks' forcible expulsion of Albanians.  Greece returned
Gjoka's body and Reci to Albania on August 23 without publicity or
explanation.

The Albanian Government also protested the deaths of six unnamed
Albanians during the Greek roundup and expulsion of Albanian aliens
in August-September.  Of the six, one was reportedly a 19-year-old
woman, shot in the head; another was a 21-year-old man, shot in the
back.  Two others of the six reportedly drowned in a river during
flight from pursuing Greek police.  It was not known whether the six
dead referred to include Ormen Gjoka, mentioned above.  The Greek
Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that it requested but did not
receive identifying information about the six from the Albanian
Government to aid investigation of the cases, and it is not known if
any investigation was conducted.

The Government has not provided any further information on the army's
investigation of the February 27, 1993, incident in which a Greek
soldier shot an Albanian.  After a request by the German Embassy in
Athens for a followup investigation into the death of Ramon Joachim
Schulz, the Government reaffirmed the conclusion of the original
investigation, that Schulz died of a heart attack, despite evidence
to the contrary.

Greek terrorists attacked and killed three persons in 1994--a Turkish
diplomat, a prominent Greek banker, and a Greek policeman.  There
have been no arrests made in these cases.
        b.      Disappearance

No cases of disappearances were reported in 1994.  The case of two
ethnic Greeks of Albanian citizenship who disappeared on March 4,
1993, remained unsolved.  The Government claimed that the two were
not in custody when they disappeared, although Amnesty International
reported that they were seen being arrested by an armed policeman,
and initially the police confirmed they were holding them.
        c.      Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment

The Constitution specifically forbids torture, and a 1984 law made
the use of torture an offense punishable by a sentence of from 3
years to life imprisonment.  However, this law has never been
invoked, even though there were credible reports that police and
military personnel beat and otherwise ill-treated illegal Albanian
aliens in the process of deporting them in August and September.  The
Government denied such reports.

A December 1993 report by the COE's Committee for the Prevention of
Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)
concluded that certain categories of persons detained or arrested by
the police, particularly persons arrested for drug-related offenses
or for serious crimes such as murder, rape, or robbery, run a
significant risk of being ill-treated and are occasionally subjected
to severe ill-
treatment or torture.  The report stressed that the Government should
examine diligently all allegations of ill-treatment and prosecute and
punish offenders.  It also emphasized the need for additional
education for police on human rights questions; better training in
modern investigation techniques; and the acquisition and development
of interpersonal communication skills by police officers.  Finally,
it stressed the need to strengthen formal safeguards against the
ill-treatment of persons detained by the police, including the right
to access to a lawyer from the outset of detention.

The COE report stated that allegations of ill-treatment included
kicks, punches, slaps, stamping on feet, as well as blows with the
butt of a pistol or wooden sticks.  The report also noted allegations
of an even more serious kind, in particular of falaka (beating on the
soles of the feet) and the administration of electric shocks; it
indicated that the Athens and Thessaloniki police had inflicted such
treatment at police headquarters.  The COE team's medical personnel
confirmed that physical evidence from the victims was consistent with
their allegations.  In addition, the COE team observed a variety of
unlabeled wooden sticks and batons at the Thessaloniki police
headquarters, as well as a hand-held device for delivering electric
shocks which was discovered in the personal locker of a police
officer attached to the Thessaloniki police headquarters.

The Government conducted its own internal review of these charges and
reported in August on the status of 33 lawsuits filed against
policemen in the period 1989-1993 for abuse, torture, and
ill-treatment.  Twenty cases were still pending in court or under
investigation; in three cases, the police officers were found
innocent; one police officer was sentenced to 2 years in prison for
slapping a prisoner in the face; and in nine cases the charges were
dropped.  The Government refused to accept the Committee's
observations concerning investigation methods, torture, and
ill-treatment, dismissing them as without foundation.

The COE report described conditions of detention in police
establishments visited as varying from adequate to extremely poor and
in one case as inhuman.  It noted prompt compliance with a
recommendation to close cells in two police stations immediately.

There were few reports of physical abuse from most prisons, although
the COE report cited ill-treatment of prisoners by prison staff at
the Larissa prison as an exception.  According to another credible
report, two Albanian prisoners who attempted
to escape in 1993 from a prison on the island of Kos were beaten
severely after their recapture.  An investigation by the Ministry of
Justice resulted in bringing charges in September against three
prison guards for "dangerous bodily harm" and against another for
"simple bodily harm."  In April the Ministry issued strict
instructions to prison wardens to prevent physical abuse of the
incarcerated.  The Minister of Justice personally conducted followup
investigations and visited prisons.  The wardens of two prisons were
fired for misconduct and failing to follow or enforce proper
guidelines for treatment of prisoners.  The Ministry has announced a
training program for prison guards to prevent abuse of prisoners, but
it has not yet begun.

Prison overcrowding, particularly at the Korydallos prison near
Athens, was relieved in 1994 as a result of a new law which permits
parole after a prisoner has served two-fifths (versus the previous
three-fifths) of a prison term.  Implementation of this law resulted
in the release of 1,200 prisoners by July, roughly 1 out of every 6
of the total prison population.  The Justice Ministry also
implemented special prison programs for the treatment of drug addicts
and a pilot vocational training, legal, and mental health counseling
program for juveniles.  A new detention and court center was opened
in Thessaloniki; the old center had been cited in the COE report as
particularly inadequate.

Prison conditions for conscientious objectors improved somewhat in
1994, as a result of government action to reduce overcrowding.  In
addition, the Government began renovations to the Kassandra prison,
which was notorious for its poor living, health, and sanitary
conditions.

The COE team provided an independent monitor of prison, police
station, and psychiatric hospital conditions.  Such independent
monitoring, however, was not regularly scheduled.

        d.      Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

The Constitution requires judicial warrants for all arrests, except
during the actual commission of a crime, and the law prohibits
arbitrary arrest orders.  The police do not always respect these
safeguards (see below).  Police must, by law, bring a person arrested
on the basis of a warrant or while committing a crime before an
examining magistrate within 24 hours.  The magistrate must issue a
detention warrant or order the release of the detainee within 3 days,
unless special circumstances require a 2-day extension of this time
limit.

Defendants brought to court before the end of the day following the
commission of a charged offense may be tried immediately, under a
"speedy procedure."  Although legal safeguards, including
representation by counsel, apply in speedy procedure cases, the short
period of time may inhibit the defendant's ability to present an
adequate defense.  Defendants may ask for a delay to provide time to
prepare their defense, but the court is not obliged to grant it.  The
speedy procedure was used in less than 10 percent of misdemeanor
cases.  It was not used at all for felonies.

Despite these legal safeguards, the police sometimes violate them.
For example, both the COE team and Greek defense lawyers stated that
the police, during investigation of serious crimes, occasionally
interrogated suspects as "witnesses," allegedly because witnesses do
not have the right to legal representation during police questioning.
 Statements made to the police in these circumstances may be used
against these persons in court if they are later charged and brought
to trial.  Witnesses do not have the legal right to remain silent,
although no one is required to testify against himself.  In such
cases access to a lawyer may be effectively denied until after
interrogation, which in some cases has resulted in torture or
ill-treatment and the subsequent signing of a statement.  These
circumstances were reportedly most likely to occur in the case of
serious crimes, including drug offenses, in which the police did not
have sufficient evidence to convict without a confession.  The
Government did not prosecute and punish any officials for such
misconduct during the year.

The effective maximum duration of pretrial detention was 18 months
for felonies and 9 months for misdemeanors.  A panel of judges may
grant release pending trial, with or without bail.  A person
convicted of a misdemeanor and sentenced to 2 years or less may, at
the court's discretion, pay a fine in lieu of being imprisoned.  The
percentage of the incarcerated population comprised of pretrial
detainees was 33 percent, according to government sources.

There were no reports of incommunicado detention.

Exile is unconstitutional, and no cases have been reported since the
restoration of democracy in 1974.  However, Greek citizens not of
ethnic Greek origin who travel outside the country may be deprived of
their citizenship and refused readmittance to the country under
Article 19 of the Citizenship Code.  Article 20 of the Code permits
the Government to strip citizenship from those who "commit acts
contrary to the interests of Greece for the benefit of a foreign
state."  (See Section 2.d. for more information on the application of
these articles.)

        e.      Denial of Fair Public Trial

The judicial system includes three levels of courts, appointed
judges, an examining magistrate system, trial by judicial panel, and
the right of appeal by both prosecution and defense.  The
Constitution provides for the independence of the judiciary, but
there are credible charges that judges sometimes allow political
criteria, including the desire to obtain promotion, to influence
their judgments.

Judges are not appointed for life.  Mandatory retirement ages vary
with the type of court.  Some judges expressed concern that the
change in the way judges are selected might affect the independence
of the judiciary.  Previously, they were elected by their peers, but
under the new law they are chosen by their superiors.

The Government has taken Christos Sideropoulos to trial five times in
4 years for speaking publicly about the existence and rights of what
he identifies as a Macedonian minority.  A case brought by a private
citizen was accepted and joined by the prosecutor in May despite the
fact that the allegedly offensive statements were made at a CSCE
conference in Denmark in 1990.  Under Article 6 of the Criminal Code,
Greek citizens may be prosecuted for actions committed abroad only if
those actions are punishable under the laws of that country.
Sideroupoulos's alleged statements do not constitute an offense under
Danish law, but Greek courts and the Greek Government permitted the
case to go to trial; in September, the scheduled trial was postponed
for 1 year.

The Constitution provides for public trials, and trial court sessions
are open to the public, unless the court decides that privacy is
required to protect victims and witnesses or national security
matters.  According to defense attorneys, the latter provision has
not been invoked since the restoration of democracy in 1974.  The
defendant enjoys the presumption of innocence, the standard of proof
of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the right to present evidence and
witnesses, the right of access to the prosecution's evidence, the
right to cross-
examine witnesses, and the right to counsel.  Lawyers are provided to
defendants (in felony cases, only) who are not able to afford legal
counsel.

The legal system does not discriminate against women or minorities,
with one clear exception:  Article 19 of the Citizenship Code (see
Section 2.d.) applies only to Greek citizens who are not ethnically
Greek.

As noted above, the courts continue to permit prosecutions of
minority activists who violated laws that limit freedom of expression
(see Section 2.a.).  However, no one was imprisoned as a result of
such charges in the last 5 years.  Those convicted have been allowed
to convert their convictions to a fine of about $4.00 a day.

        f.      Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence

Although the Constitution prohibits invasion of privacy and searches
without warrants, and the law permits monitoring personal
communications only under strict judicial controls, the variety of
persons and groups subjected to government surveillance in recent
years raises questions about safeguards.  Targets included human
rights monitors, non-
Orthodox religious groups, and activist members of minority groups.

In June a parliamentary investigation committee recommended
indictment of former Prime Minister Mitsotakis and 30 persons from
the former Mitsotakis administration on charges of wiretapping
political opponents from 1989 to 1991.  In January
1995, the Parliament voted to drop all charges against Mitsotakis.
The others will be tried in criminal courts in 1995.

The security services continued to monitor human rights and minority
group representatives and foreign diplomats who met with such
individuals.  Human rights monitors also reported the continuation of
suspicious openings and diversions of mail, some of which was never
delivered but was subsequently published in newspapers with apparent
links to Greek security services.  So far as is known, the Government
took no steps to stop such practices or to prosecute those involved.

Section 2       Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
        a.      Freedom of Speech and Press

Freedom of speech and press is provided for in the Constitution and
generally respected in practice, but with some significant
exceptions.  Some legal restrictions on free speech remain in force
and were invoked in one case in 1994 concerning the right of an
individual to identify himself as a member of a Macedonian
minority in Greece.  The charges in this case were based on what the
individual said, not on violent acts or criminal behavior.  On
matters other than those involving the question of ethnic minorities,
Greece enjoys a tradition of outspoken public discourse and a
vigorous free press.  Satirical and opposition newspapers do not
hesitate to attack the highest state authorities.  According to
journalists, self-censorship was practiced on national security and
Greek national identity issues.

The Constitution allows for seizure (though not prior restraint), by
order of the public prosecutor, of publications that insult the
President, offend religious beliefs, contain obscene articles,
advocate violent overthrow of the political system, or disclose
military and defense information.  Seizures have been rare, however,
and did not occur in 1994.

In December 1993, the Government repealed a law which forbade
"insulting authority" and outlawed prosecution of otherwise
actionable "offenses committed by or through the press."  As a result
of these changes, a number of trials involving restrictions on
freedom of speech initiated under the previous government, including
the cases of five Trotskyites and two journalists, were terminated.
With the December 1993 repeal of an antiterrorism law, the Government
lifted restrictions on the publishing of the communications of
terrorist groups; this provided a forum for the publication of the
proclamations of Greek terrorist groups during a period of stepped-up
terrorist activity.

Several other articles of the Penal Code which were used in the past
to restrict free speech and press remain in force.  (Article 141 of
the Penal Code forbids "exposing the friendly relations of the Greek
State with foreign states to danger of disturbance;" Article 191 of
the Code prohibits "spreading false information and rumors liable to
create concern and fear among citizens and cause disturbances in the
country's international relations and inciting citizens to rivalry
and division, leading to disturbance of the peace.")  The Government
continues to use laws to charge individuals who raise politically
sensitive topics, such as relations with the Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia and the assertion of ethnic minority identification.  An
example is the case of Christos Sideropoulos, who described himself
as a Macedonian activist (see Section 1.e.).  Two other freedom of
expression cases from previous years are scheduled to be heard by
appeals courts in 1995.

On April 14, charges were dropped against Sadik Ahmet Sadik for an
article he published in 1989 in which he alleged discrimination and
repression against ethnic Turks in Greece.  Sadik also appealed to
the Supreme Court a February 1 conviction by the First Appeal Court
in Thessaloniki for falsifying signatures on a petition he circulated
among the Muslims of Thrace.  Two other cases pending against Sadik
involve charges of theft, unlawful entry in public buildings, and
inciting violence during altercations with the authorities in Thrace
about new textbooks distributed by the Greek Government in 1992.
These two cases have been postponed.

The 1975 Constitution provides that the State exercise "immediate
control" over radio and television.  An independent,
government-appointed body with the authority to enact rules governing
private broadcasting established procedural regulations for radio
several years ago.  In 1993 it did so for television as well, issuing
licenses to six private stations.  Many other private television
stations operated without licenses, however.  State-run stations
tended to emphasize the Government's views and positions but also
reported objectively on other parties' programs and positions.

Throughout much of western Thrace, Turkish-language satellite
television broadcasts are widely available.  The mayors of two cities
in the region set up satellite ground stations for their
Turkish-speaking constituents.  Eleven Turkish-language
publications--eight weekly newspapers and three monthly
magazines--are published and circulated in Thrace.  Newspapers and
other periodicals from Turkey are distributed in small numbers when
brought in by taxis and travelers.

Academic freedoms are respected.

        b.      Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

The Constitution provides for freedom of assembly.  Police permits
were routinely issued for public demonstrations, and there were no
reports that the permit requirement was abused.

The Constitution provides for the right of association, which was
generally respected, except in cases involving ethnic minorities.  In
1994 the Supreme Court upheld the 1991 decision of lower courts to
deny registration to the "Macedonian Cultural Center" in Florina,
organized by Greeks who consider themselves of Slavic descent.  The
1991 ruling held that "the true goal of the society...is to affirm
the idea of the existence of a Macedonian minority in Greece, which
contradicts (Greece's) national interests and the law."  The
organizers planned to appeal the decision to the European Court of
Human Rights.

Greek authorities, while recognizing a Muslim minority, did not
recognize the existence of other minorities based on ethnic grounds
(see Section 5).  This is contrary to the 1990 Copenhagen document of
the CSCE to which the Government is a party, which asserts that "to
belong to a national minority is a matter of a person's individual
choice."

        c.      Freedom of Religion

The Constitution establishes the Greek Orthodox Church, to which
perhaps 95 percent of the population at least nominally adhere, as
the prevailing religion but prohibits discrimination against
religious minorities.  The Greek Orthodox Church wields significant
influence through its relationship with the Ministry of Education and
Religion.  Religious training is mandatory in Greek public schools
for Greek Orthodox pupils.  Non-Orthodox students are exempt from
this requirement.  However, there are reports from Helsinki Monitor
(Greece) that some schoolteachers force Jehovah's Witnesses students
to attend Orthodox services.  The Constitution limits religious
practice by prohibiting proselytizing.  In contrast to past years, in
1994 only one arrest for proselytizing by other faiths was reported.

In January police in Thessaloniki arrested two members of the Church
of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) for violating immigration law and
jailed them overnight.  After a 10-day trial, they were acquitted.
The Church complained in September of harassment by local thugs in
Piraeus but at the same time reported a generally improved
relationship with local police.
Traditionally, Jehovah's Witnesses ministers were not granted the
exemption from military service accorded under Greek law to clergy of
"known religions" and thus served prison sentences for refusing
military service.  Since 1990-91, the Council of State, the highest
court dealing with civil and administrative matters whose opinions
are binding on the Government, has ruled that the Jehovah's Witnesses
were a "known religion" and has ordered the release of ministers who
had refused induction.  However, the recruiting service of the armed
forces regarded these rulings as applying only to individual
appellants, not as binding precedents for subsequent Jehovah's
Witnesses ministers who were called up.  It thus continued to rely,
in the first instance, on the opinion of the Ministry of Education
and Religion, which in turn accepted the view of the Greek Orthodox
Church that the Jehovah's Witnesses are not a "known religion."
As a consequence, for the past few years, ministers of the Jehovah's
Witnesses have been called up for military service and prosecuted for
refusal; only after conviction could they appeal to the Council of
State for exemptions as ministers of a "known religion."  In
practice, these ministers have spent periods of a few months to over
a year in jail while appealing their cases to the Council of State.
In contrast to past years, in 1994 only one arrest for proselytizing
by other faiths was reported.  A Jehovah Witnesses canvasser was
arrested in Volos on October 14, and the local public prosecutor
charged him with proselytizing.  He was subsequently released pending
hearing of the case in 1995.

To open and operate a house of worship in Greece requires approval by
the Ministry of Education and Religion.  The Ministry bases its
decision on the advisory opinion of the local Orthodox bishop.  In
recent years, it has not been uncommon for such permission to be
delayed or even, at times, withheld, though some denominations have
been able to open and operate churches in the guise of cultural
centers.

Several denominations report difficulties getting residence permits
for foreign members of their faiths who come to Greece to perform
missionary or charity work.  Although such problems continued in
1994, these denominations reported overall better relations with
immigration authorities and routine approval of extensions of tourist
visas for these persons for up to 9 months.

Mosques and other Muslim religious institutions operate freely in
western Thrace and in Rhodes, where most Greek citizens of the Muslim
faith reside.  Some Muslims claimed that Greek law weakens the
financial autonomy of the "Wakfs," community funds used for
maintaining mosques, schools, and for charitable works, by placing
the Wakfs under the administration of appointed "muftis" (Islamic
judges and religious leaders) and their representatives.  Those who
object to this system say it violates the terms of the Treaty of
Lausanne.

In accordance with a 1990 presidential decree, the State appointed
the two muftis in Greece, both resident in western Thrace, based on
the recommendations of a committee of local Muslim scholars,
religious authorities, and community leaders.  The Government argued
that it must appoint muftis because, in addition to their religious
duties, they perform judicial functions in many civil and domestic
matters, for which the State pays them.  The Muslim minority remains
divided on the mufti selection issue.  Some Muslims accept the
authority of the appointed muftis; others elect muftis to serve their
communities.

The Government denied entry to two Turkish theologians invited to
Thrace for Ramadan and in July refused to admit a delegation of six
religious leaders from Turkey to enter Greece on the grounds that
they intended to engage in political, not religious, activities.

        d.      Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation

The Constitution calls for freedom of movement within and outside the
country, and the right to return.  However, Article 19 of the
Citizenship Code distinguishes between Greek citizens who are ethnic
Greeks and those who are not.  Most Article 19 cases involve ethnic
Turks from western Thrace, since only the "Muslim minority" is
recognized as having non-Greek ethnicity.  Greek citizens who are not
ethnic Greeks may be deprived of their citizenship if it is
determined that they left Greece with the apparent intention not to
return.  However, immigrants who are ethnic Greeks are normally
recognized as Greek citizens and accorded full rights, despite years
or even generations of absence from Greece.

The Interior Ministry initiates proceedings under Article 19 on the
basis of reports by local authorities in Greece or by Greek embassies
or consulates abroad.  It holds hearings at which the affected person
is neither present nor notified of the hearing.
Those who lose Greek citizenship as a result of such hearings
sometimes learn of this loss only when they seek to reenter Greece.
According to the Foreign Ministry, 42 persons lost Greek citizenship
under Article 19 in 1994 as of October (down from 123 in 1993).

Persons who lose their Greek citizenship under Article 19 have the
right of "administrative appeal" to the Interior Ministry and may
also appeal to the Greek Council of State and to the Council of
Europe.  Leaders of the Turkish-origin Greek community complain that
the time and expense involved tends to discourage such appeals.
Three persons who lost Greek citizenship in 1993 and three persons
who lost citizenship in 1994 have filed administrative appeals which
are pending.  Six decisions on appeals from previous years were taken
in 1993: three denied and three upheld the appeals, according to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Another section of the Citizenship Code, Article 20, permits the
Government to strip citizenship from those who "commit acts contrary
to the interests of Greece for the benefit of a foreign state."
While the law as written applies equally to all Greeks regardless of
their ethnic background, according to activists who support minority
causes, it is exercised principally against those who speak out
against government policy on national issues, including at least
three activists who call themselves Macedonian.

Some Greek citizens, particularly those of Slavic descent, credibly
reported that they were subject to extensive searches and questioning
at the border when traveling between Greece and the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia.

Greece maintains restricted military zones along its borders,
including along its northern border with Bulgaria, an area where many
Pomaks (Muslims who speak a Bulgarian dialect) reside.  Since entry
into the zone is strictly controlled, even for local inhabitants,
some residents of the area complain that their freedom of movement is
restricted.  Foreign diplomats are allowed into the zone only under
escort and with special authorization.

Greece frequently offers temporary asylum, though rarely permanent
resettlement, to a growing number of refugees from Turkey, Iraq, and
Iran.  Permanent resettlement in Greece is not usually available for
nonethnic Greek refugees.  There are 3,482 cases of asylum seekers in
Greece with apparently legitimate claims to refugee status that are
under review by the Government in cooperation with the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In August and September, the Government rounded up and expelled over
50,000 illegal Albanian migrants from Greece.  There were credible
allegations by Albanians and by international human rights observers
of abuse of some deportees, especially at border crossings on the
Greek-Albanian border.  The roundup coincided with sharply worsened
relations between the Governments of Greece and Albania, resulting
from the trial of five ethnic Greek leaders in Tirana on treason and
weapons charges.

Ethnic Greek immigrants, including those who came from the former
Soviet Union since 1986 and those rescued from the civil war in
Georgia, normally qualified promptly for citizenship and special
assistance from the Government.  The returnees have been settled
initially on government-owned land in western Thrace, where
government programs to get them to remain have met with limited
success.  Most move to Athens, Thessaloniki, or other cities where
job prospects are better.

Section 3       Respect for Political Rights:  The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government

Greece is a multiparty democracy in which the Constitution calls for
full political rights for all citizens and for the peaceful change of
governments and of the Constitution.  However, the Government limits
the right of some individuals to speak publicly and associate freely
on the basis of their self-proclaimed ethnic identity and thus
impinges on the political rights of such persons.  It also combined
voting districts in Thrace, making it impossible for ethnic Turks to
be elected there (see below).  Additionally, Roma representatives
report that local authorities sometimes deprive Roma of the right to
vote by refusing to register them.  Members of the unicameral
300-seat Parliament are elected to maximum 4-year terms by secret
ballot.

The Government headed by Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou of the
Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) won in free and fair elections
in October 1993.  Parliament elects the President for a 5-year term.
Universal suffrage applies to those over age 18 and enforced by fines
and administrative penalties.  Opposition parties function freely and
have broad access to the media.

Under a 1990 electoral law, no candidate may be elected whose party
does not receive 3 percent or more of the nationwide vote.  This law
also applies to independent candidates.  As a result, neither of
Greece's former independent Muslim members of Parliament, both of
whom proclaim their Turkish ethnic identity, was reelected to
Parliament in 1993.  In the June election to the European Parliament,
candidates identifying themselves as Macedonian running under the
European-wide "Rainbow Coalition" banner received 5.5 percent of the
vote in Florina, a heavily Slavophone province in northern Greece,
and a total of over 7,000 votes nationwide.  The Supreme Court
invalidated the list of Rainbow Coalition candidates but then
reversed its decision 2 weeks before the election.  Rainbow
candidates had little time to campaign officially, and were not
allowed to take part in government-sponsored television and radio
programs which included all other candidates.  In addition, some
polling stations did not receive lists needed for supporters to vote
for Rainbow candidates.  One of the same activists ran without
incident for governor of Florina prefecture in the local elections in
October; he won 3.3 percent of the vote.

In October Greece held elections at the local level, including, for
the first time (as a result of a new election law), elections for
governors and prefectural councils.  One month prior to the
elections, Parliament passed legislation combining electoral
districts in Athens and Thrace.  The prefecture of Rodopi, about half
of whose citizens are ethnic Turks or Pomaks, was united with Evros,
which is approximately 5-percent Muslim.  Xanthi prefecture, which is
approximately 40-percent ethnic Turkish and Pomak, was united with
two other prefectures which had virtually no Muslim population.
Ethnic Turks complained correctly that the law as it was applied to
Thrace was intended to eliminate any possibility that an ethnic Turk
could be elected governor of either of the prefectures.

In June unknown persons fired shots at Anastassios Boulis, a
Macedonian activist who was a candidate for the European Parliament.
Boulis charged that, although local police knew who the perpetrators
were, they never investigated.  The Government claimed a police
investigation produced no corroborating evidence or witnesses.

Although there are no legal restrictions on the participation of
women or minorities in government or politics, women's representation
at the higher levels of political life remain low.  The head of the
Communist Party is a woman.  Women hold no ministerial positions in
the Government and only 3 of 26 deputy ministerial positions.  Eleven
of the 300 members of Parliament are women.  Women are
underrepresented in the leadership of the two largest parties.

Section 4       Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights

The Government allows domestic human rights organizations to operate
but may or may not cooperate with them.  In principle, it respects
the right of foreign diplomats to meet with officials and other
citizens, including critics of official policy, though it is clear
that the security services observe contacts of human rights monitors,
including listening in on conversations held between those monitors
and human rights investigators and diplomats.  The security services'
surveillance of such meetings is often blatant, and some such
meetings are treated tendentiously in the press.  Monitors view this
activity as a form of intimidation and say that it deters others from
meeting with investigators.

Section 5       Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
Disability, Language, or Social Status

The Constitution provides for equality before the law and the full
protection of individual life, honor, and freedom irrespective of
nationality, race, language, or religious or political belief.

Violence against homosexuals is not common in Greece.  However,
police occasionally harass gay bar owners and gay men, including
detaining them at police stations overnight and sometimes physically
mistreating them.  Homosexuals discovered in the military service are
dismissed for reasons of "mental illness," and would-be draftees are
exempted from compulsory military service for the same reason.
Declared homosexuals exempted from military service for that reason
are ineligible for public sector jobs.

        Women

There are broad constitutional and legal protections for women,
including equal pay for equal work, but the General Secretariat for
Equality of the Sexes (GSES), an independent government agency,
maintains that these laws are not consistently enforced, and as a
consequence women generally receive lower salaries than men for
similar jobs.  A GSES report states that in 1993 average women's
salaries in retail trade were 79.4 percent of those of men in
comparable positions.

Although there are still relatively few women in senior positions, in
recent years women have entered traditionally male-dominated
occupations in large numbers.

The incidence of reported physical violence against women is low;
however, the GSES asserts that police tend to discourage women from
pursuing domestic violence charges and instead undertake
reconciliation efforts, though they are neither qualified for nor
charged with this task.  The GSES also claims that the courts are
lenient when dealing with domestic violence cases; it hopes that
attitude will change as more women enter the judiciary.

As a result of pressure from women's groups, a center for battered
women was established in Athens in 1988, and a residential facility
for battered women and their children opened in 1993.  These centers
provide legal advice, psychological counseling, information on social
services, and temporary residence for battered women and their
children.  They received approximately 250 women in 1994.

The Government lists progress on women's issues as a high priority
and established a new position of Deputy Minister for Women's Affairs
in the Office of the Prime Minister.  This Office and the GSES
coordinate efforts to remove barriers.

        Children

Legislation enacted in 1992 prohibits and provides penalties for all
forms of maltreatment of children perpetrated by parents or others.
The State provides preventive and treatment programs for abused
children and for children deprived of their family environment,
seeking to ensure that alternative family care or institutional
placement is made available to them.

However, children's rights advocacy groups claim that protection
of high-risk children in state residential care centers is inadequate
and of low quality.  They cite lack of coordination between welfare
services and the courts, inadequate funding of the welfare system,
and poor manning of residential care centers as systemic weaknesses
in child abuse prevention and treatment efforts.  Societal abuse of
children in the form of prostitution, pornography, and child labor is
rare in Greece.

In recent years, Greece has experienced a dramatic rise in the
population of street children, mainly from Albania, who panhandle or
peddle at city intersections on behalf of adult family members or for
organized crime.  Police occasionally take these children into
custody and bring them to state or charitable institutions which care
for wayward children.  Parents can reclaim their children from these
institutions, but risk deportation if they are illegal immigrants.
The number of Albanian street children has been greatly diminished
since the expulsion of illegal Albanians in August-September 1994.
Roma children are still in evidence on Athens streets, however.
         Few children are available for adoption by childless
couples.  As a result, occasional cases of prosecution against the
selling of Greek babies to childless couples are reported.

Usage of public health facilities by Roma is low because of the low
rate of integration of Roma communities within Greek society and
social security systems.  Ninety percent of Roma are not insured by
any of the government social security systems because they are
self-employed or work in off-the-books jobs that do not make
contributions to the social security system.  The fact that health
facilities are not located close to the camps in which the Roma live
also contributes to their low rate of access.

        National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

There are communities in Greece which identify themselves as Turks,
Pomaks, Vlachs, Roma, and Macedonians.  Many are fully integrated
into Greek society.  The only minority Greece formally recognizes is
a "Muslim minority," which is referred to in the 1923 Treaty of
Lausanne.  The Government insists on the use of this rubric to refer
to several different ethnic communities, most of which adhere to the
Muslim faith.  The Muslim minority is comprised primarily of ethnic
Turks or Turkish speakers in western Thrace, which the Government
estimates at roughly 120,000 persons.  In addition to people of
Turkish origin, it includes Pomaks (Muslims who speak a language akin
to Bulgarian) and Roma.  Many Greek Muslims, including Pomaks,
identify themselves as Turks and say that the Muslim minority as a
whole has a Turkish cultural consciousness.
The use of the word "tourkos" ("Turk") is prohibited in titles of
organizations, though individuals may legally call themselves
"tourkos."  To most Greeks, the word "tourkos" connotes Turkish
identity or loyalties, and many object to its use by Greek citizens
of Turkish origin.  Use of a similar adjective, "tourkoyennis" (of
Turkish descent/affiliation/
ethnicity), however, is allowed (see also Section 2.b.).

Northern Greece is home to an indeterminate number (estimates range
from under 10,000 to 50,000 or more) of Greek citizens who are
descended from Slavs or Slavophones.  Some still speak a Slavic
dialect, particularly in the Florina district.  A small number of
them consider themselves to be members of a distinct ethnic group
which they identify as Macedonian and assert their right to minority
status.  The Government continues to harass and intimidate some of
these people, including putting one person on trial for asserting the
existence of a Macedonian minority (see Section 2.a.), denying their
right to association (see Section 2.b.), monitoring activists'
meetings with human rights investigators (see Section 2.d.), and
accusing activists publicly of being agents of a foreign government.
These activists say that, as a result, some Greeks who consider
themselves Macedonian do not declare themselves openly for fear of
losing their jobs or other sanctions.

A 1994 report by Human Rights Watch/Helsinki entitled "Denying Ethnic
Identity--the Macedonians of Greece" charged, inter alia, that an
ethnic Macedonian minority with its own language and culture exists
in northern Greece and that the Greek Government's denial of that
minority is in violation of international human rights laws and
agreements.  They also state that the Greek Government discriminates
against this minority in violation of international law or agreements
to which it is a party.  In responding to these charges, the
Government says that it recognizes, under the Copenhagen CSCE
document, the right of people to identify themselves as members of
ethnic minorities.  However, it states that such self-identification
does not require government recognition of such a minority or entitle
its members to any privileges under CSCE or other instruments.  As
noted , however, the Government continues to deny the rights of free
speech and association to some who have tried peacefully to assert
what they consider to be their minority rights.

Government officials and Greek courts deny requests by individuals
and groups to identify themselves using the ancient term Macedonian,
since some 2.2 million ethnic (and linguistically) Greek citizens
already use the term to identify themselves.  The Greek Government
does not define the dialect spoken by some thousands of northern
Greeks as Macedonian, and government officials deny that it is a
language at all.  The officials also noted that Greece regulates the
establishment of all commercial language academies, and questioned
whether advocates of "Macedonian" language schools meet the relevant
requirements.  They added that the Government would not interfere
with the holding of informal language classes within the Slavophone
community.

The Secretariat for Adult Education (a government agency) in 1994
revised upward its estimate of the number of Roma in Greece to
approximately 300,000.  Almost half of the Roma population is
permanently settled, mainly in the Athens area.  The other half is
mobile, working mainly as agricultural workers, peddlers, and
musicians throughout the country.  Government policy is to encourage
assimilation of Roma.  Poverty, illiteracy, and social prejudice
continue to plague large parts of the Roma population.  The
Secretariat for Adult Education conducted education programs
targeting the Roma population, including the use of mobile schools.
Some 1,200 Roma children attended the mobile school program during
the last school year.

The rate of employment of Muslims in the public sector and in
state-owned industries and corporations is much lower than the Muslim
percentage of the population.  In Xanthi, where Muslims hold seats on
the town council, there are no Muslims among the approximately 130
regular employees of the prefecture.  Ethnic Turks and other Muslims
in Thrace claim they are hired only for lower level, part-time work.
The Government says lack of fluency in written and spoken Greek and
the need for university degrees for high-level positions limits the
number of Muslims eligible for government jobs.

Public offices in Thrace do their business in Greek; the courts
provided interpreters as needed.  In the Komotini district in Thrace,
where many ethnic Turks live, the office of the district
governor ("nomarch") has Turkish-language interpreters available.

While discriminatory treatment against Muslims regarding licenses to
operate a business, own a tractor, or construct property diminished
greatly in recent years, basic services provided to Muslim-populated
neighborhoods and villages (electricity, telephones, paved roads) in
many cases continue to lag far behind those provided to non-Muslim
neighborhoods.

The Treaty of Lausanne provides that the Muslim minority has the
right to Turkish-language education, with a reciprocal entitlement
for the Greek minority in Istanbul.  Western Thrace has both Koranic
and secular Turkish-language schools.  Government disputes with
Turkey over teachers and textbooks caused these secular schools
serious problems in obtaining sufficient numbers and quality of
faculty and teaching materials.  Over 9,000 Muslim children attended
Turkish-language primary schools.  Around 650 attended
Turkish-language secondary schools, and approximately 1,000 attended
Greek-language secondary schools.  Many Muslims reportedly went to
high school in Turkey due to the limited number of places in the
Turkish-language secondary schools, which are assigned by lottery.
In 1994 no Greek Muslims succeeded in passing the entrance
examinations to attend a Greek university.

Ethnic Turks found it difficult to obtain permission to bring in
teachers from Turkey or to hire Turkish-speaking teachers locally,
particularly for the secular Turkish-language middle schools in
Xanthi and Komotini.  Under a 1952 educational protocol, Greece and
Turkey may annually exchange 35 teachers on a reciprocal basis.  Each
group serves in Istanbul and western Thrace, respectively, but in
recent years the Greek side limited the exchanges to 16 teachers per
country due to the dwindling needs of the small and aging Greek
population in Turkey.  According to the Government, during the
1993-94 school year, Greece and Turkey did not exchange any teachers
due to an ongoing dispute over reductions of Greek instruction for
Greek students in Turkey, and the nonissuance of diplomas to some
Greek students there.  The teacher exchange was, however, effected
during the 1994-95 school year; 16 teachers were exchanged by each
country on November 1, 1994.

During the January 1994 visit of a group of Turkish parliamentarians
to western Thrace, a group of Christian extremists hurled stones at
the bus in which the delegation was traveling.  There were no
injuries, and no arrests were made.

        Religious Minorities

Several religious denominations, including the Roman Catholic Church,
reported difficulties in dealing with Greek authorities on a variety
of administrative matters.  Privileges and legal prerogatives granted
the Greek Orthodox Church were not routinely extended to other
recognized religions.  Rather, the non-Orthodox must make separate
and lengthy applications to government authorities on such matters as
arranging appointments to meet with Ministry of Education and
Religion officials and gaining permission to move places of worship
to larger quarters.

Leaders of various non-Orthodox religious groups assert that their
members face discrimination in reaching the senior ranks in
government service; furthermore, it appears that only those of the
Orthodox faith can become officers in the Greek military.  They
allege that to avoid this restriction some members of their faiths
resort to declaring themselves Orthodox.  Senior government
officials, when questioned about such allegations of discrimination,
deny that it exists and point out certain persons not of the Orthodox
faith who have successful careers in government service.  There
appear to be no statistics to support either side.

Teachers who are Jehovah's Witnesses have faced difficulties in
gaining or keeping employment in recent years in public or private
schools.  As a result of such difficulties, six Jehovah's Witnesses
have appeals on employment discrimination pending with the Council of
State, some dating back as far as 1989.

Greek law requires that Greek citizens declare their religion on
their bilingual identity cards that, if and when issued, would allow
Greeks to travel freely within the EU instead of using passports.
The law has caused particular concern among the Catholic and Jewish
religious communities in Greece and abroad and has drawn strong
criticism from the European Parliament.  The Government declined in
1994 to act either to change the law mandating the declaration of
religion on the cards or to issue the new EU cards.  Instead, the old
Greek identity cards, which normally list religion but which allow
the bearer the option not to do so, are still being issued.

Leaders of the Jewish community in Greece have lobbied the Government
for several years to change five anti-Semitic references in Greek
public school textbooks.  In 1994 the Ministry of Education deleted
two of the five passages.

The Government allowed Turkish Prime Minister Ciller's counselor
Mustafa Kahramanyol to visit Thrace in early June, but denied a visa
to the Turkish Director General of Religious Affairs, who wanted to
visit a few weeks later.

        People with Disabilities

Legislation mandates the hiring of disabled persons in public and
private enterprises employing more than 50 persons.  However, the law
is poorly enforced, particularly in the private sector.  The law
states that disabled persons should comprise 3 percent of staff in
private enterprises.  In the civil service, 5 percent of
administrative staff and 80 percent of telephone operator positions
are reserved for disabled persons.  Persons with disabilities have
been appointed to important positions in the civil service, including
secretary general of the Ministry of Welfare.

The Construction Code mandates physical access for disabled persons
to private and public buildings, but again the law is poorly
enforced.  In the past 2 years, ramps and special curbs for the
disabled have been constructed on Athens streets and at public
buildings, and sound signals have been installed at some city street
crossings.  In 1993 the Government started replacing old city buses
with new ones with stairs specially designed for the disabled; the
accessible buses numbered 500 in 1994.  The new Athens subway lines
under construction will provide full access for the disabled.

Section 6       Worker Rights

        a.      The Right of Association

The Constitution and subsequent legislation provide for the right of
association.  All workers, with the exception of the military and the
police, have the right to form or join unions.

Approximately 30 percent of Greek workers (nearly 1 million persons)
were organized in unions in 1994.  Unions receive most of their
funding from a Ministry of Labor organization, the Workers' Hearth,
which distributes mandatory contributions from employees and
employers.  Only the five most powerful public sector unions have
dues-withholding provisions in their contracts, in addition to
receiving Workers' Hearth subsidies.  Following the recommendation of
the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Government in 1990
enacted a law ending its financial involvement in trade union affairs
and the collection of union dues.  Strong union reaction, however,
led to new legislation in 1994 which allowed unions to continue to
receive Workers' Hearth funds.

Over 4,000 unions are grouped into regional and sectoral federations
and two umbrella confederations, one for civil servants and one, the
General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), for private sector
employees.  Unions are highly politicized, and there are
party-affiliated factions within the labor confederations, but
day-to-day operations are not controlled by political parties or the
Government.  There are no restrictions on who may serve as a union
official.  Unions maintain a variety of international affiliations
and are free to join international associations.

Legislation passed in 1994 mandates a skeleton staff during strikes
affecting public services, such as electricity, transportation,
communications, and banking.  During strikes in June and July,
skeleton staffs did not ensure that essential services continued
uninterrupted; however, there were no legal repercussions for the
unions.

Legal restrictions on strikes include a mandatory period of notice,
which is 4 days for public utilities and 24 hours for the private
sector.  Public utility companies, state-owned banks, the postal
service, Olympic Airways, and the railroads are also required to
maintain a skeleton staff during strikes.

The courts have the power to declare strikes illegal, although such
decisions are seldom enforced.  Unions complain, however, that this
judicial power serves as a deterrent to some of their membership from
participating in strikes.  In 1994 the courts declared a majority of
strikes illegal for a variety of reasons, but no striking workers
were prosecuted.  The Government may also declare "civil
mobilization" of workers in the event of danger to national security,
life, property, or the social and economic life of the country.  It
threatened to do so when air traffic controllers staged a work
slowdown in August-September.  The ILO Committee of Experts has
criticized this power as violating the standards of ILO Convention 29
on forced labor.  The Government resorted to civil mobilization in
December 1993 to resolve a bus owners' strike in opposition to
government efforts to deprivatize the Athens bus system.

        b.      The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

Legislation passed in 1955 and amended in 1990 ensured the right to
organize and bargain collectively in the private sector and in public
corporations.  These rights were respected in practice.  There were
no restrictions on collective bargaining for private sector
employees.  The Union of Civil Servants negotiates with the Office of
the Minister to the Prime Minister.

In 1993 the Government passed a decree setting limits to wage and
salary increases for public enterprises employees.  A complaint to
the ILO by the General Confederation of Greek Workers led the ILO
Committee of Experts to request that the Government stop intervening
in the collective bargaining process by setting maximum wage levels.

In response to union complaints that most labor disputes ended in
compulsory arbitration, legislative remedies were enacted in 1989
providing for mediation procedures, with compulsory arbitration as a
last resort.  The legislation establishing a national mediation,
reconciliation, and arbitration organization went into effect in
January 1992 and applies to the public sector and public corporations
(the military and civil service excluded).

Antiunion discrimination is prohibited.  The Labor Inspectorate or
the courts investigates complaints of discrimination against union
members or organizers.  Court rulings have mandated the reinstatement
of improperly fired union organizers.

Greece has no export processing zones.
        c.      Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

The Constitution prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and the
Ministry of Justice enforces this prohibition.

        d.      Minimum Age for Employment of Children

The minimum age for employment in the industrial sector is 15, with
higher limits for certain activities.  The minimum age is 12 in
family businesses, theaters, and the cinema.  These age limits are
enforced by occasional Labor Inspectorate spot checks and are
generally respected.  However, families engaged in agriculture, food
service, or merchandising often have younger family members assisting
them, at least part-time.  Education is free and compulsory for all
children through the ninth grade.
        e.      Acceptable Conditions of Work

Collective bargaining between the GSEE and the Employers' Association
determines a nationwide minimum wage.  The Ministry of Labor
routinely ratifies this minimum wage, which has the force of law and
applies to all Greek workers.  The minimum wage ($21 daily and $463
monthly) was sufficient for a decent standard of living for a worker
and family.

The maximum legal workweek is 40 hours in the private sector and 37
1/2 hours in the public sector.  A law that took effect in 1992
significantly extended legal operating hours for retail
establishments, provided that the average workweek did not exceed the
legal maximum over a period of time.  The law provides for at least
one 24-hour rest period per week, mandates paid vacation of 1 month
per year, and sets limits on overtime.

Legislation provides for minimum standards of occupational health and
safety.  Although the GSEE characterized health and safety
legislation as satisfactory, it charged that enforcement, the
responsibility of the Labor Inspectorate, was inadequate.  In 1992
the GSEE cited statistics indicating a high number of job-related
accidents over the past two decades.  Inadequate inspection, failure
to enforce regulations, outdated industrial plant and equipment, and
poor safety training of employees contributed to the accident rate.
Workers did not have the legal right to remove themselves from
situations they believed endangered their health.  They did have the
right, however, to lodge a confidential complaint with the Labor
Inspectorate.  Inspectors had the right to close down machinery or a
process for a period of up to 5 days if they saw safety or health
hazards which they believe represented an imminent danger to the
workers.
