Greece has rushed to reinforce its land border with Turkey as fears mount over a sharp rise in the number of refugees and migrants crossing the frontier. Police patrols were augmented as local authorities said the increase in arrivals had become reminiscent of the influx of migrants on the Aegean islands close to the Turkish coast. About 2,900 people crossed the land border in April, by far surpassing the number who arrived by sea, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said. The figure represents half of the total number of crossings during the whole of 2017.
Speaking from the frontier town of Orestiada, the local mayor, Dimitris Mavrides, told the Guardian: “Our reception facilities are overwhelmed and things are on the verge of spinning out of control. Far more are coming than are actually being registered.
“The government has just sent 120 extra police, but they are temporary and simply not enough. Frontex also has to intervene,” he added, referring to Europe’s border and coastguard agency.
The area’s sole reception centre has capacity to process 240 people. In the absence of accommodation, authorities are placing newcomers, including children, in inappropriate police detention facilities where access to interpreters and other services are severely restricted.
In a statement issued last week, the UNHCR said that some 2,900 mostly Syrian and Iraqi families have arrived in Evros this month, with eight others losing their lives trying to cross the Evros River from Turkey. The United Nations refugee agency to call on the Greek Government to improve the conditions at its reception area.
Located in the north-eastern part of Greece, the increase in new arrivals is placing a strain on the Fylakio Reception and Identification Centre, the only one in Evros, which is filled beyond its 240-person capacity – including 120 unaccompanied and separated children.
“With the Reception and Identification Centre overwhelmed, and struggling to conduct timely registration and identification, or to provide services such as medical and psycho-social care and interpretation, the authorities initially place people, including many children, in inappropriate police detention facilities in the area while they wait for places at the centre to open up,” Charlie Yaxley, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office told a regular press briefing in Geneva on Friday.
He went on to inform the press that some have been held in police detention for more than three months with dismal conditions are dismal and limited services.
“A UNHCR visit found families in one facility sleeping on the floor beside a row of cells,” he elaborated, adding that in a separate police facility, only one doctor and four nurses were available for more than 500 people – including pregnant women, very young children and people in need of medical and psycho-social care.
While welcoming the recent release of more than 2,500 people from detention, UNHCR expressed concern that they are being done without vulnerability screening and information on asylum and other options.
“Their situation must be urgently addressed to enable access to care and asylum procedures,” stressed Yaxley.
