Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) had an exchange on Monday 19 April with Commission Vice-President for the Promotion of the European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas, on the subject of the mental health of migrants in reception centres, including the camps on the Greek islands.
Psychological distress and suicidal ideation, including among the youngest age groups, are observations regularly reported by NGOs in migrant and asylum seeker camps. MEPs on Monday added to this the “deplorable” reception conditions that reinforce “post-traumatic stress”, commented Spanish Renew Europe MEP Maite Pagazaurtundúa.
However, according to the Vice-President, the situation on the Greek islands has improved significantly and the actions already implemented under the Syriza government have borne fruit, with a programme to recruit 1,000 health professionals and the existence of a programme for psychological support.
The Vice-President cited the PHILOS (Emergency health response to refugee crisis) programme with a budget of €25 million that was spent on mobile clinics, local hospitals and medical waste incinerators. These efforts have helped to curb migrants’ exposure to Covid-19, according to Mr Schinas.
“There are currently no cases in the reception centres” in Chios and Lesbos and “27 cases have been recorded in Samos”.
The Vice-President assured MEPs, based on a visit to Greece last month, that efforts to improve the lives of migrants in Greek camps “are starting to bear fruit”: at this time, there are no longer any unaccompanied minors on the Greek islands, and the most vulnerable asylum seekers are being transferred to the mainland. In addition, 3,654 people have been relocated to date, including 700 minors.
As for mental health, the Vice-President met with associations that provide a range of relevant services; in Chios, the number of psychologists and psychiatrists is sufficient, he said, but there is a more general problem of space.
The Vice-President recalled that the EU Reception Conditions Directive obliges Member States to ensure the health—including mental health—of persons seeking asylum in the EU. But Greece is in breach of this, Mr Schinas also indicated, with one case that has been open since 2009 and not yet closed.
For the Vice-President, the new pre-screening at the external borders introduced in the Migration and Asylum Pact will also take greater account of the general state of health of migrants. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)