Today, Wednesday the 26th of February 2020, in the offices of the Archbishopric of Athens a Cooperation Agreement was signed between the “Integration Centre for Migrant Workers-Ecumenical Refugee Program of the Church of Greece (KSPM-ERP)” and the International Organization for Migration. Archbishop of Athens Ieronimos II adressed the head of IOM Mr. Gianluca Rocco, by stating that “the will is strong to support the program of the accompanied minors’ shelters,...
Today, Wednesday the 19th of February 2020, the Most Reverend Metropolitan of Ilion, Acharnai and Petroupolis Athenagoras, President of the Governing Committee of KSPM-Ecumenical Refugee Program of the Church of Greece, presided over the Grand Opening of our organization’s new offices, in Athens, Greece. Those offices will house our Administration and the supervision officers of our new shelters for unaccompanied minors. Among others, the Most Reverend Metropolitan of Thessaly and Fanariofersala Timotheos, member of our organization’s Governing Committee, the Secretary General...
The Standing Holy Synod of the Church of Greece has unanimously approved the implementation of a program for the operation of accommodation facilities for unaccompanied minor refugees by our Center. KSPM-ERP, in cooperation with the Greek government, is currently concluding the necessary procedures so as to launch the operation of shelters for children aged 6-13 by mid-February. Competently staffed with specialized personnel, the shelters will be providing a bundle of services spanning the whole spectrum of child protection from covering basic needs...
A conference on “The local community as a model of welcoming and integrating into Europe” was held from 26 to 28 November 2019 in Athens under the auspices of the CCEE (Consilium Conferentiarum Episcoporum Europae). The Director of KSPM-ERP Archimandrite, Mr. Panteleimon Papassynefakis, attended the conference on behalf of the Church of Greece, where he read a message from His Beatitude Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, Mr. Ieronymos. During the conference, the...
The CCME (Churches Commission for Migration in Europe) members’ meeting took place on the 26th and the 27th of November 2019 in Diakonie Deutschland Headquarters at Berlin. Through the input provided by the members with regards to the European refugee- migration field updates and the members’ requests, ideas and proposals for future common action and networking, one the meeting’s objective was programme planning and setting of priorities toward the CCME general assembly 2020 and the CCME work program 2020-2023. KSPM-ERP was represented by...
Based on our multilateral cooperation with AEK BC, on Saturday 24 November 2019 refugee and migrant children along with our social workers, Mrs Elli Kouvari and Mrs Athanasia Kotsiatou, as well as practising social worker at the University of Copenhagen, Mrs Stephanie Von Scholten, visited AEK BC training centre. There, the children received gifts and free uniform kits and had the opportunity to participate in the training of AEK BC – DRAGAN SAKOTA Basketball Academy, following the planned scholarship entry...
A conference in Athens on “Europe’s Border Security Policy” was held by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Foundation (Vienna office) on Monday 18 November 2019 at the St George Lycabettus Hotel. Following an invitation, the conference was attended by the Director of KSPM-ERP Arch. Panteleimon Papasynefakis, who, along with other participants from all over Europe, experts on migration and refugees, developed a number of issues and presented proposals on border security, human trafficking, cooperation between European states. ...
Speech on “Refugee Crisis and the Church of Greece” was delivered by the Honorable President of our Center, His Eminence Metropolitan of Ilion, Acharnai and Petroupolis Mr. Athinagoras, at the International Conference on Religious Diplomacy organized by the “Foreign Affairs The Hellenic Edition” in collaboration with the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens under the auspices of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece. The conference took place in Athens on the 11th and...
As an example of good practice in promoting the social integration of immigrants and refugees, the action of KSPM-ERP is presented in the first joint publication of the European Network for Dialogue – with the support of KAICIID – following the 1st European Forum on Refugees and Migrants. The publication entitled “Booklet of Promising Practices for the Integration of Refugees and Migrants in Europe”, can be found in English at the following link: https://www.kaiciid.org/publications-resources/inclusion-through-dialogue ...
The President of KSPM-ERP, His Eminence Metropolitan of Ilion, Acharnai and Petroupolis Mr Athinagoras was invited as a guested speaker to the 1st Forum European Policy Dialogue Forum for Refugees and Migrants “Understanding Current Challenges of Refugees and Migrants in Europe: What Can We Do?, that was held on 20-21 of October 2019 in Athens, Greece by KAICIID. As an introduction, His Eminence made a general reference to the refugee issue and its management at both European and national level. Afterwards...
