AYS Daily Digest 17/04/20
GREECE
An article has been published in the German newspaper DER SPIEGEL that gives insight into the Greek government’s plans to handle an outbreak of COVID-19 in the camps on the mainland and the islands. The plan is called Agnodike and comprises three levels:
1. Preventive measures: Lockdown and partial curfew, controlled by police. A special area will be assigned in which new arrivals can be tested and cases of infection can be isolated.
2. First cases inside the camp: complete curfew. NGOs are only allowed in with special permission. Health stations will be erected with space for 30 people.
3. The virus spreads, evacuation: complete separation of healthy and infected people. The smaller of the two groups will be evacuated and accommodated in hotels, ships or gyms.
A total of 2,300 most vulnerable people will be transferred from the islands to the mainland. These people are above 60 years of age or have chronic diseases. They will be transferred together with their families. The transfers are supposed to take place after the Orthodox Easter celebrations on April 19th. The people will be housed in camps, apartments, and hotels.
The Moria Corona Awarness Team and the Moria White Helmets, two volunteer refugee groups, wrote a dramatic appeal to the European Union.
“While Corona spread in Greece and here in Lesvos, we expected the worst, because this virus in the camp would be like a death sentence for old, sick and other vulnerable individuals”
Three groups of people are still camping rough on the northern coast of Lesvos, without any substantial aid or support. They have been there for some 25 days now. The people told Mare Liberum: “different people tell us different things, and that changes day by day”. Apparently it is clear now that they will stay on the island and will eventually be able to apply for asylum. The local authorities are apparently fighting about who should take care of them. According to a new law, the communes in which the people are should take care of them, but they seem to be lacking the political will.
IOM is proud to present a video of the distribution of food baskets and hygiene kits in the Malakasa camp in central Greece. The camp is run by IOM and hosts 1,600 people, including 620 children. The camp has been under quarantine since April 5th. If people have been without hygiene kits since that time, there is nothing to be proud of. “Immediate response” to a contagious disease for people who are not allowed to leave a facility and take care for themselves should not take almost two weeks.
The journalist Mortaza Behboudi, who is an indispensable source on the ground who covers the living conditions in Moria for the French /German TV channel ARTE, has been attacked and exposed to threats of physical violence on Twitter by the Greek right wing politician Thanos Tzimeros. Reporters without borders is concerned about Mortaza’s security and calls on the politician to refrain from smearing journalists.
Movement on the Ground donated 8,000 pieces of essential soap to the Vathy camp management on Samos. About 6,900 people live in and around the camp. The soap was distributed to all of them during the week.
Recognized refugees in Greece face big challenges after their asylum process is completed. The UNHCR ESTIA program (Emergency Support to Integration and Accomodation) is not designed for recognized refugees. Since it is very difficult for them to find a job or receive state benefits, many of them become homeless. This is especially problematic for families, as homeless shelters do not accept them at all.
The US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt announced that US will support Greece with 500,000 $ to support COVID-19 response efforts for migrants and refugees.
This February 2020 Factsheet from UNHR gives a good overview on what UNHCR is doing in Greece.
About 50 minors who are being transferred to Germany from the Greek islands will arrive in Germany today, on April 18th. We falsely reported that they had already arrived yesterday.
CROATIA
Violent push-backs from Croatia to Bosnia continue in the time of the pandemic, as No Name Kitchen reports:
“Over the last several weeks, we have continued to receive reports and news updates of the violent push-back of people-on-the-move by Croatian authorities to the borderlands surrounding Velika Kladusa, Bosnia (the men in the pictures above experienced this brutality within the last week). These testimonies of violence include stories of individuals being beaten with batons, thrown into cold rivers, and having their clothing stolen.”
BH
The Red Cross in Bihac and the Civil Protection Headquarters of Bosnia’s Federation have set up a new camp, consisting of 50 tents with 200 beds in total. The camp is supposed to accommodate the people on the move who are currently in the northwestern Una-Sana Canton.
About 7,000 people are currently stranded in the Bihac region. About 3,300 are accommodated in closed camps, the rest live in abandoned buildings and shelters. During the corona pandemic resentment against the people is rising; at the same time their life is getting even harder, as they are not allowed to use public transport, cannot be seen in groups, some shops won’t let them in to buy groceries and the police gets more violent towards them every day.
#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Croatie #Confinement #Isolation #Couvrefeu #Transfert #Grècecontinentale #Hotel #Bateau #Gymnase #Lesbos #Malakasa #Quarantaine #Allemagne #mineursnonaccompagnés #Enfants #Bihac #Unasanacanton
▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-17-04-20-at-least-some-of-the-people-who-have-been-rescued-