Greek centres used to house migrants are overflowing and can barely cope, a coalition of aid groups said Thursday as the country confronts a huge increase in new arrivals.
The thirty non-governmental organisations, which include the Greek Council on Refugees that works with the UN refugee agency, said Greece’s reception system was “malfunctioning”.
The state of conditions “deprives asylum seekers and refugees of access to rights and services, in violation of EU and national legislation,” the groups said.
“Overcrowding” was rife in many camps on Greek islands in the Mediterranean where many migrants without papers arrive, said a statement.
On Kos, “new arrivals are subject to an informal detention regime until their registration, without access to a doctor,” the groups said. Medical staff left the camp at the end of October.
At a camp on Samos there was one military doctor for 4,000 people. On the island of Lesbos, arrivals are sometimes “detained” for more than a month. There was no reception centre on Rhodes, even though 5,000 people have arrived this year, the groups said.
Greece’s migration ministry told AFP that “efforts” to improve conditions in the islands “are in place and will be accelerated in the days and weeks ahead.”
Greece is among the Mediterranean countries to have seen a surge in arrivals of migrants and refugees.
It says there were 38,448 people between January and early November, against 18,700 for all of 2022, according to figures collected by the Greek section of the UN refugee agency.
Since a major fire at the Moria reception centre on Lesbos in 2020, that left thousands homeless, Greece has had European Union aid to build new reception centres. Not all have yet been opened.
Source: AFP
