NGOs criticize Athens' "inhumane" move

The new fence around asylum seekers' detention centers looks like a detention center

  • A group of refugees in detention centers on the Greek islands.

    Getty

  • Greek police distribute food to new asylum seekers.

    AFP

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Critics say that the 38 million euro center for asylum seekers on the Greek islands of Samos, the first of its kind among five, includes restaurants and air conditioning, but it resembles a prison.

It has eight restaurants, seven basketball courts, three sports fields, a soccer field, and special rooms for people at risk.

But this new "closed" migrant camp, which accommodates 3,000 asylum-seekers, is also surrounded by a military-grade fence, monitored by police, and located in a remote valley.

The EU's message seems clear: If asylum seekers destined for Europe arrive here, they will be subject to detention and strict control.

“Barbed wire may be shiny and new, but it cannot be marketed as an improvement in the refugee situation,” says Patrick Welland, MSF official.

The person responsible for receiving refugees at the Greek Migration Ministry, Manos Logothetis, sees it differently.

"For the first time in the history of immigration, asylum seekers will be able to sit in an air-conditioned and safe restaurant," he says, referring to "decent living conditions" in the new facility, which costs 38 million euros.

"This is a big change from the long lines of food, the mud and the filth that were here before," he says.

This EU-funded facility is one of five multi-purpose centers for the reception and identification of refugees.

Both Brussels are keen to end an era of poorly overcrowded camps linked to corruption and decay on the EU's external borders, and the center's sprawling structure aims to break down the shameful images that have emerged in Greece since the refugee crisis.

Six years after a million Syrians fleeing the country's civil war crossed on their way to Europe, Samos is being presented as a marketing for Europe's "faster and fairer" immigration policies and as a solution to one of the continent's greatest challenges.

The European Union has allocated a total of 250 million euros for similar reception centers, which will be built in Kos, Leros, Lesbos and Chios, Greece.

A new camp is expected to be operational by mid-2022 on Lesbos, the island which has taken in more refugees than any other camp so far.

Opponents say the danger lies behind these shiny wires, citing the dramatic restrictions that will be imposed on the movement of people inside the facilities.

When Samos camp receives its first residents, new arrivals will be required to spend up to 25 days inside to have their documents checked, while deportees whose asylum claims have been rejected will be held in a "closed" area before being detained.

Médecins Sans Frontières described these measures as a disgrace, as well as a miserable nightmare.

"How bold such a step is, as we are witnessing what is happening in countries like Afghanistan, the European Union and Greece are rushing to open a new prison for asylum seekers on Samos," says Welland.

"This is a blatant example of how criminal the EU's immigration policy is to detain people who flee violence and punish them for wanting to be safe.

It is a disgrace.”

At the height of the crisis, the old camp housed about 9,000 people, although it was designed to accommodate no more than 680 people, and this overcrowding sparked indignation and anger among the islanders.

Refugee numbers have fallen sharply on the islands, with the Greek Migration Ministry this week reporting an 81% drop over a one-year period from August 2020, after a concerted effort to move people to the mainland.

But while those numbers are no longer large, aid workers are concerned that for asylum seekers already suffering from depression and PTSD, a camp under such strict measures is likely to make matters worse for those suffering from depression.

"It's normal for their mental health to be affected," said Simon Iniko, a relief worker with Samos Volunteers. "These people were suffering in prison like criminals, and when they reach Europe looking for refuge and sanctuary, and find the same conditions here, this situation is counterproductive."

Logothetis recognizes these negative aspects. He said the European Union itself didn't like the idea of ​​the multi-layered fence surrounding the Samos facility, but the goal was to follow the law, and the law says we have to check and register them to make sure they don't have fake papers, that they're not terrorists, they don't pose a danger, and that it's going to take a long time. Lugothetis also said that the European police (Europol), usually need five days to examine the applicant. Commenting on the decision to detain asylum seekers, he said, "It was a step that we had overlooked before."

Long before the fall of Kabul, there were fears of a resurgence in the refugee crisis of 2015 as the frantic situation on Greece's easternmost islands caused headaches for successive governments. An agreement reached with Turkey in 2016 played a key role in turning outposts into overcrowded buffer zones. Although the agreement aims to stem the flows of migrants, it stipulates that asylum seekers who reach Europe via perilous sea voyages from the Turkish coast must remain on the islands until their asylum claims are processed.

After Europe was alarmed by Ankara's actions last year, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he would open the gates to Europe, sending thousands of migrants to the Greek border, the administration of center-right Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hardened its position, seeking to strengthen border patrols and complete a length of steel wall. 40 km along the land border it shares with Turkey.

Human rights groups claim that there are "pullbacks" of people trying to reach Greek territory, which Athens has vehemently denied.

The new Greek "closed" migrant camp, which accommodates 3,000 asylum-seekers on Samos, is also surrounded by military-grade fencing, monitored by police, and located in a remote valley, and critics have likened it to a prison or a miserable nightmare.

Europe was alarmed by Ankara's actions last year, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he would open the gates to Europe, sending thousands of migrants to the Greek border.

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