Nineteen NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Danish Refugee Council wrote jointly to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday 23 October, calling for an end to the Greek government’s “containment policy” that confines asylum seekers to the Aegean islands.
“Thousands of people, including very young children, single or pregnant women, and people with physical disabilities, are trapped in abysmal conditions as winter sets in. Forcing asylum seekers to remain in conditions that violate their rights and are harmful to their well-being, health, and dignity, cannot be justified by the implementation of the EU-Turkey deal”, the organisations said.
Since the EU-Turkey statement was implemented in March 2016, the Greek islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros have become places of indefinite confinement, they say. Thousands of men, women and children are trapped in “deplorable and volatile conditions, with many denied access to adequate asylum procedures”. Asylum seekers who arrived on the islands in the first days of implementation of the EU-Turkey agreement have been stuck there for almost 19 months.
The situation is particularly serious on Samos and Lesbos where more than 8,300 asylum seekers and migrants are living in hotspot facilities designed for 3,000 people. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)