Greek asylum policy creating a refugee hunger crisis: Support groups Refugee News

Ritsona, Greece – The government’s restrictive decisions have left thousands of refugees out of protection services and are creating a hunger crisis, aid groups say.

Less than 18,000 refugees live in camps Greek continent. More than half – 60% according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) – do not have access to food services or access to cash. Almost half are children.

That’s because last September the government restricted services to those in the process of applying for asylum. Most camp residents do not agree with this description.

Some have been granted asylum and are entitled to benefits only 30 days after the decision.

Benefits were extended for six months to help navigate job opportunities and premises. The government reduced that period in March last year.

In this category are Asadullah Sadighi and his 16-year-old daughter, who live in the Ritsona camp, in the former air force radar base 90 kilometers north of Athens.

Sadighi told Al Jazeera: “When they give us asylum, they don’t give us any more food or money, and they let us fix it on our own. They completely take away our protection. ”

He asked the relatives who returned home to send the money.

Those who have been expelled and exhausted from the appeal process have been told to leave the country, even if the authorities do not forcibly remove them from the camps because they cannot return to Turkey.

In theory, the 2016 agreement forces the two sides to re-admit asylum seekers rejected by the European Union and Turkey agreement, but Turkey abandoned it in March last year.

And there is a third category that cannot even apply for asylum because they are considered unacceptable.

Last June, a ministerial decision declared Turkey a safe third country for Afghans, Syrians, Somalis, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.

These citizens no longer apply for asylum, support groups say, but they told him to ask next door, in Turkey.

“Turkey does not allow return from Greece, so these people are in a legal limbo, and one of the consequences of that limbo is the lack of food and other basic rights,” says Melina Spathari, head of Terre des Hommes. Greece.

Hers was one of 33 aid organizations that wrote a warning to the government about the humanitarian crisis in late October.

According to them, Greece’s refusal to consider the asylum applications of these five nationalities on the merits is contrary to EU Directive 2013/23, “If a third country refuses to return a person, the State must examine its own asylum application.” .

‘Legal limbo’

People who did not register as asylum seekers upon entering Greece are among those who cannot be admitted to an asylum process.

Al Jazeera recently described the dire situation hundreds of Cubans in this category, which crossed the border with Greece to Northern Macedonia, where there is no registration center. The IOM measured 3,268 unregistered refugees living in camps in Greece in October, but many live in urban areas.

They had only one legal way to register once in the country, and that was through a Skype conversation with the Greek Asylum Service. But the Mobile Info Team, a support group that informs asylum seekers of their rights, says GAS has now cut this path due to a 14-month delay.

Unregistered refugees and those who consider Turkey a safe third country have no legal choice, says Martha Roussou of the International Rescue Commission, one of the 33 signatories of the October letter to the government.

“They don’t have a legal document to stay here, so they can’t work, they can’t open a bank account, they’re in a legal limbo. And no provision has been made for these people, and that is a complete oversight, “he said.

Support groups say Greek refugee camps are facing a famine crisis [John Psaropoulos/Al Jazeera]

Greece has rescued thousands of refugees in the Aegean, enrolled children in public refugee schools, and the European Commission has managed to fund some 20,000 homes.

But its policies have become increasingly restrictive since March 2020 Turkey encouraged refugees To attack the borders of Greece. Greece has accused Turkey of “making weapons” and “instrumentalizing” them.

Instead of easing the restrictions, the government is relying on refugee management.

This year he took over the management of 26 camps on the mainland from IOM. On October 26, he further sidelined the UN, assuming responsibility for EU funding.

As a result of the transition period, those eligible for cash have not received it for two months, further contributing to the food crisis. Refugee food and restaurants operating inside the camps are subject to these money offers, as well as to foreign remittances.

Apostolos Veizis, head of INTERSOS in Greece, believes that this is part of a broader strategy to discourage such treatment of refugees.

“After five years on these mainland camps, we are discussing it as if it were an emergency in 2015 or 2016,” he says, referring to the years of large refugee flows to the EU. “It’s an emergency that wasn’t created due to lack of resources. This is probably because politics is ahead of the people and beyond. ”

“The goal is for those people not to stay in the camp,” Veizis says.

The Greek government is tightening its grip on refugee management in its territory [John Psaropoulos/Al Jazeera]

Last July, the government took thousands of needy refugees off the streets and encouraged them to live in camps.

“Thousands of recognized refugees, including mothers with young children, pregnant women, the elderly and the chronically ill, were found without shelter, living in public squares for a long time,” Spathari said. “Because they had no viable alternative, they were forced to return to the camps to have a minimum of water, food, shelter and primary health care.”

Support groups like IRC represent another possible future.

“We have seen asylum seekers, assisted by an NGO or a municipality, not the state, who do not even need that financial support,” Roussou said. “Looking for a job, they can rent an apartment and live independently. People are very capable of holding on to their feet with a little help. ”