Greece's migration ministry has rejected claims from NGOs that refugees and migrants residing in camps across the country have been deprived of food. This comes after UNHCR handed over the cash assistance program to Greek authorities.
Hundreds of migrants in the Nea Kavala camp in northern Greece demonstrated on October 13 to protest the implementation of a new protocol that prevents them from accessing food. According to those contacted by InfoMigrants, nearly half of the 1,200 residents are no longer receiving food.
Greek coroner Pavlos Pavlidis autopsies all the bodies of migrants found in the Evros region, bordering Turkey. He tries to collect as much information as possible on each of them and keeps all their personal belongings to give them back their name and their dignity.
For a number of years, the bodies of unidentified migrants have lain in a small cemetery in Sidiro, a small Greek village a few miles from the Turkish border. Some of them drowned while trying to cross the Evros River, others died of hypothermia or were victims of road accidents. There are reportedly 200 bodies buried there, without names or dates.
In response to a large number of migrants attempting to cross the Evros River from Turkey in March 2020, Greece installed significant military force in the area. Migrants who still manage to cross the border cannot receive any help from NGOs as everyone is banned from this military zone.
In northern Greece, not far from the Greek-Macedonian border, the Nea Kavala migrant camp houses 1,200 people. It is one of the largest in the region. Isolated, not served by public transport, and now surrounded by a huge concrete wall, the camp is an "open-air prison" for its occupants.
The Greek government has announced that it will launch a campaign to prevent what it calls "illegal migration flows" from entering the country.
Greece is being urged to create an independent monitoring process to ensure that the human rights of migrants and refugees are respected at its borders. The call was issued by the UNHCR and other rights agencies.
On the Greek island of Lesbos, refugees and migrants still face harsh living conditions, a year after a fire destroyed the infamous Moria camp, according to a new report by Oxfam and the Greek Council for Refugees. The two organizations also criticized Greece's treatment of Afghan refugees.
The Greek migration ministry has said that fewer than 5,400 migrants are now living in the once overcrowded and unhygienic camps on the Greek Aegean Islands. In April 2020, around 40,000 people were in the camps.
Greece is pressing ahead with new legislation tabled in parliament by the migration ministry that will seek to accelerate deportations of migrants. In view of recent developments in Afghanistan, Europe is expecting a new wave of migration.
Frontex is resorting to cutting-edge technology to stop people smugglers from getting migrants into Greece. There are fears, however, that this will drive migrants into resorting to using the more dangerous Aegean Sea route.