Humanitarian crisis in Greece amid EU paralysis
Thousands of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants are trapped in Greece in dire conditions, with no access to protection due to arbitrary and discriminatory border closures on the Western Balkans route. As thousands are arriving, the humanitarian situation will deteriorate unless EU states urgently start accepting refugees from Greece.
UA: 48/16 Index: EUR 25/3574/2016 Greece Date: 4 March 2016
URGENT ACTION
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN GREECE AMID EU PARALYSIS
Thousands of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants are trapped in Greece in dire
conditions, with no access to protection due to arbitrary and discriminatory border
closures on the Western Balkans route. As thousands are arriving, the humanitarian
situation will deteriorate unless EU states urgently start accepting refugees from Greece.
An estimated 10,000 refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, including scores of families with small children,
people with disabilities and pregnant women, are currently stranded at the Greek border with the “former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia” (Macedonia). Intermittent border closures and discriminatory border practices introduced in
order to slow down the flow and limit the number of people taking the Western Balkans route, is trapping people in
dire conditions. Since 19 February Macedonia and Serbia have closed their borders to Afghan nationals, who
represent 30 per cent of arrivals in Greece. People are left without regular access to sanitation and facing water
and food shortages. Many are sleeping rough, exposed to hostile weather conditions. This situation is having a
negative impact on their health and access to medical care is limited.
The humanitarian situation is also rapidly deteriorating in the rest of Greece as the authorities are trying to slow
down people travelling to the border. Greece’s reception capacity in Athens and elsewhere is stretched to the limit.
Amnesty International has witnessed women, men and children sleeping out in the open in central Athens and at
the Piraeus port. On the Greek islands, as thousands arrive every week fleeing violence and conflict, reception
conditions are critical. According to UNHCR around 1,900 arrived to the Greek islands on a daily basis in February
and more than 2,700 during the first two days in March. Of those arrivals, 57 per cent are women and children.
According to Greek authorities, a total of 32,000 people are currently stranded in Greece, while UNHCR expects
numbers to reach 70,000 in the coming days. This is dramatically increasing the number of people trapped in
Greece and in need of international protection. As Greek authorities struggle with the extremely high number of
arrivals, refugees’ current lack of viable options to access an effective asylum procedure in Greece, has been
aggravated by a failing EU relocation scheme: out of 160,000 people that EU member states have committed to
accept, only 295 have been able to leave Greece so far.
Please write immediately in English or your own language calling on the President of the European Council
and the members of the EU Council (heads of state or government of the EU Member States) to:
Use all available means to urgently accept asylum-seekers from Greece - including relocating a large number of
persons without applying restrictive selection criteria, easing family reunification and allowing asylum-seekers to
obtain visas from member states’ representations in Greece for onward legal travel;
Support an effective relief programme to ease the pressure on Greece to respond to the humanitarian crisis;
End discriminatory border practices and support countries along the Western Balkans route, to ensure refugees
and asylum sekeers can access asylum procedures and adequate reception conditions;
Open up more safe and legal routes for people in need of international protection to ensure refugees do not
need to embark on dangerous sea crossings to reach protection in Europe.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 15 APRIL 2016 TO:
President of the European Council
Donald Tusk
European Council
Rue de la Loi 175, 1048, Brussels
Fax: +32 22816934
Email:
EC.President-Petitions@european-
council.europa.eu
Members of the EU Council
Please check contact details here for
faxes:
http://europa.eu/whoiswho/public/index.cf
m?fuseaction=idea.hierarchy&nodeID=2
64075&lang=en
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN GREECE AMID EU PARALYSIS
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
“former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”
Name: Thousands of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants trapped in Greece.
Gender m/f: all
UA: 48/16 Index: EUR 25/3574/2016 Issue Date: 4 March 2016