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Athens' diverse cultures meet to campaign for right to citizenship

Xinhua, June 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

The first multicultural festival aimed to raise awareness for the rights and demands of the immigrants living in Greece for their inclusion to society was held in Athens on Monday.

Under the title "I have a dream: United second generation" the festival, organized by the cultural center ANASA in cooperation with the Heinrich-Boll-Foundation Greece, brought together the youth and human rights groups to promote the rights of second generation migrants, acceptance and equal opportunities.

In Greece, there are up to 200,000 children and young adults born to immigrant parents.

Young people are not recognized officially by the state, have no political rights, identity cards and access to the labor market, since they are not granted the Greek citizenship.

As a result, they have precarious lives which lead to social exclusion and discrimination.

Greece's ruling Radical Left SYRIZA party has set as priority to grant the Greek citizenship to all migrants' children born, raised and educated in Greece.

According to the Alternate Migration Policy Minister Tassia Christodoulopoulou, the legislative draft may soon be voted in Parliament. Endit