May 19, 2023
FEATURED, Politics, Refugees
Greece Says It Doesn’t Ditch Migrants at Sea. It Was Caught in the Act. Video evidence shows asylum seekers, among them young children, being rounded up, taken to sea and abandoned on a raft by the Greek Coast Guard. According to an exclusive report by New York Times: On the …
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October 1, 2021
Greece
The Greek government will take over the management of the cash assistance programme for asylum seekers in Greece as of October 1, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Thursday. Since the Spring of 2017, cash assistance has been provided to more than 200,000 vulnerable asylum seekers …
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June 16, 2021
Politics, Refugees
Departures of asylum seekers and migrants from Greece were double the total number of arrivals in the first five months of 2021, according to migration and asylum ministry figures on Wednesday. 4,951 persons left either for European countries or were sent to non-EU countries via the deportation and return mechanisms …
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June 7, 2021
Refugees
With a joint ministerial decision, Greece designated Turkey a “safe country” for asylum seekers from specific countries such as from Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Somalia. The decision was issued by the Ministry of Migration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is noted that the Joint Ministerial Decision has …
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June 4, 2021
CORONAVIRUS
The vaccination of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants in the camps on the islands and the mainland was launched on Thursday.Vaccinations are scheduled to take place twice a week. The vaccinations at the reception facilities at Kara Tepe on the island of Lesvos, VIAL on Chios and Vathy on Samos …
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May 28, 2021
Greece, Politics
Greece has launched a European Union-wide tender to build two closed-type facilities replacing migrant camps on its islands, a move that has been criticised by a leading human rights advocate. The conservative government first announced in late 2019 its plan to move asylum-seekers to closed holding centres as part of …
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May 10, 2021
Politics, Refugees
What is going on in VIAL refugee and asylum seekers camp on the island of Chios? One Iranian asylum seeker died in his tent on Sunday night and a woman from Somalia gave birth on the side of the road waiting for an ambulance. Together with her newborn the 25-year-old …
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March 30, 2021
CORONAVIRUS, FEATURED
The visit of EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson on the island of Lesvos and Samos was met with protests by both locals and refugees. As the Commissioner visited the camps to discuss the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and funding to Greece, charities warned that the …
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January 9, 2021
Refugees
“Filoxenia”, the program to house asylum seekers at hotels throughout Greece, has concluded and contracts will not be renewed, the Migration & Asylum Ministry said on Thursday. Currently there are only 130 asylum seekers housed at a total of three hotels in Greece and they will be transferred to existing …
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December 12, 2020
Greece, Refugees
Three border guards and one policeman have been suspended from service after a video showed them beating two refugees outside a supermarket of the island of Lesvos, the Chief of the Greek Police announced on Saturday morning. An internal investigation has been launched against the four, the statement added. Police …
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May 26, 2020
CORONAVIRUS
Health teams of the National Health Organization (EODY) conducting COVID-19 tests in a migrants’ structure in Kranidi, West Peloponnese, have detected 3 infections among 125 samples. The Ministries of Migration & Asylum, Civil and Health Protection are strictly restricting the movement of residents for a period of 15 days. According …
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May 16, 2020
Refugees
Asylum Service of Greece will resume full operation as of Monday, May 18, 2020, the Ministry of Migration & Asylum said on Friday. In order to keep social distancing, half of staff will come to work and the rest will work from home. All measures of hygiene will be in …
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May 12, 2020
Refugees
Young asylum-seekers rioted on Tuesday morning in the Reception and Identification Center of Fylakio in northern Evros. They set mattresses in the ward for unaccompanied minors on fire and it needed the intervention of the fire service extinguish the blaze. The riots started short before 10 o’ clock. Police forces …
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April 21, 2020
CORONAVIRUS
Head of Greek Civil Protection Nikos Hardalias rushed to Kranidi in eastern Peloponnese on Tuesday morning, after over 100 asylum-seekers were tested positive to coronavirus. 148 people out of 475 in the accommodation structure were tested positive, and so did one hotel worker and an employee at the Migration organization. …
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March 28, 2020
Refugees
The First Aid infirmary opened on Saturday outside the migrants and refugees reception center in Moria, Lesvos. The medical center facility is for first assessment of possible coronavirus incidents among the population of the asylum seekers hosted in the hotspot. According to north Aegean regional governor Kostas Moutzouris the medical …
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February 10, 2020
Refugees
A health bomb is about to explode on the island of Chios where 6,700 refugees and migrants live in despicable living conditions in a reception and accommodation center with capacity for just one thousand people. Humans and mice live close next to each other with garbage piling up next to …
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February 4, 2020
Refugees
Locals are angry, asylum seekers are exhausted. Both groups have reached the limits of their patience. Residents of the village Moria symbolically occupied the building of the General Secretariat of the Aegean & Islands Policy on Tuesday morning as a response to the unprecedented incidents and protest by asylum seekers …
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February 3, 2020
Refugees
Clashes between Moria asylum seekers and police erupted outside the town of Mytilini on the island of Lesvos on Monday morning, when approximately 2,000 people set to march to the port. Police fired teargas and sound flares against the men, women and children protesters. On their part, the asylum seekers …
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January 15, 2020
Refugees
In December 2019, 90,537 eligible refugees and asylum-seekers (45,451 families) received cash assistance in Greece, in 116 locations. UNHCR provides cash assistance in Greece, as part of the ESTIA programme, funded by the European Commission. Cash assistance restores dignity and empowers asylum-seekers and refugees who can now choose how to …
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December 15, 2019
Greece, Politics
Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called on Germany and other EU states to take in migrants and asylum seekers directly from the island of Lesvos. “The idea is that a portion of the asylum application process be carried out in other countries,” Mitsotakis said in an interview with the German …
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