H.A.HU.R.-"pleiades" - WHO WE ARE

The Hellenic Action for Human Rights - “Pleiades” is an action-oriented NGO in the field of the protection of Human Rights. It involves in sensitization campaigns, strategic litigation and offers pro bono high quality legal, medical, social and psychological support as well as educational and cultural services to vulnerable social groups, whose rights are being threatened or violated and who do not have effective / unobstructed access to the said services.

The N.G.O. is involved in strategic litigation and is thus building and maintaining a network on human rights lawyers – experts in Greece and in other EU countries. Recently, it co organized with the Council of Europe a training for Lawyers in Greece, involving minority rights litigation issues.  Legal activity (pro bono litigation) has taken place (law suits, appeals, reports to authorities etc.) in favour of e.g. prisoners, refugees, victims of police brutality and trafficking, lgbtqi, minors etc., but also concerning children, mothers, pregnant women. Access to the media on these cases raises awareness in selected human rights issues.

H.A.HU.R.’s Prison Department has elaborated a specific “Prison Program” which aims to improve the quality of life of the inmates and simultaneously to prepare them for integration through e.g. educational/training programs, psychological support and social aid. Included in the “Prison Program” is psycho social support for prisoners’ families/relatives as well as training seminars for the correctional staff in e.g. handling crises situation and Human Rights in practice.

The organization’s volunteer pediatricians have exclusively covered the needs of the infants’ health care at the Women’s Penitentiary in Thiva realizing e.g. systematic medical treatments, advice on nutrition and generally the care of the infants, thus covering a major systemic deficiency.     

Lessons on Greek language, for a smoother integration, have been organized within the migrant and refugee communities by well-qualified educators, since April 2009.

Music and musical instruments’ classes have also taken place and Pleiades' multicultural children chorus, “The Chorus of Utopia”, is considered to be the most powerful and moving Art VS Racism project Greece has ever experienced (many associate it to the famous “El Sistema” of Venezuela, whose founder, Mr. Jose Abreu, is a member of our Chorus).

In our view, art, culture and education are the most important tools in “building bridges” between ethnicities and a great means to fight discrimination and racist mentalities. Sensitization on the promotion of these ideas is declared as one of the NGO’s primary statutory goals. 

Pleiades NGO, except from having legally publicized its Statute in February 2009, has been approved by the Greek Ministry of Culture and registered as a Cultural Organization, has been registered with the National General and National Special records of NGOs, and, in 2012, has parallely been -by a Presidential Decree- announced and certified as a structure offering pro bono social care (legal, medical, social, psychological, educational and cultural).