By Magda Panoutsopoulou
ATHENS
Gavriil Sakellaridis, the spokesman for the Greek government, said in a statement on Tuesday that "the recent report of the Council of Europe is a reminder of the serious problems of racism and xenophobia faced by our country, which have become acute during the crisis."
The Council of Europe issued a report on Tuesday stating that xenophobia was on the rise in the country and urged the government to take actions in order to fight this phenomenon. It advised Greece to work with NGOs in order to “develop a comprehensive strategy.”
Sakellaridis expressed his concern and noted that there is a problem, saying "as a society, we have to look at the problems in the eye and stop turning a blind eye to the dead ends of hatred."
Blaming previous governments, he said that they not only "refrained from taking action against such phenomena, but on the contrary, through their policies, contributed to the dead end."
Sakellaridis noted that the government is willing to work towards the creation of a society of tolerance.
The current government's first step towards accomplishing this goal is the shutdown of the inhumane immigrant detention centers, which was also one of the basic recommendations by the Council of Europe.
He stated, however, that “we still have a long way to go.”
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