The country has recently become an emmigration destination. In the past, it was seen as a transit territory towards richer countries, but in the last ten years it has also become a land of permanent immigration. The early immigrants to Greece were people from Balkan countries, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The largest percentage of first-generation immigrants are Albanians (around 500,000 according to Albanian government data). In a second phase, immigrants from Asia and Africa arrived.
The immigrant population in Greece represents today about 10% of the total population. Even the intercultural mediation in Greece is a recent idea and there is still no clear vision about it. It dates back to 2007, the first experiment in training for intercultural mediators, organised by the Greek Council for refugees and entered into the framework of the joint community initiative program. The 100 hour course has trained 16 intercultural mediators. There were five training units about legislation, interpretation and linguistical mediation, communication and relationships, personal abilities and intercultural education.
