#samos

AYS Daily Digest 30/04/20

FINLAND

Finland has agreed to accept one hundred unaccompanied refugee children from camps in Greece and another 30 adult asylum seekersunder the framework of family reunification. A Wednesday telephone conversation between Deputy Minister of Migration Giorgos Koumoutsakos and Finnish Interior Minister Olly-Poika Parviainen sealed the deal.
Finland is the latest of a number of EU countries who have offered their assistance to Greece. Germany and Luxembourg accepted 47 and 12 unaccompanied children last week, respectively.
Whilst this move by Finland is clearly welcome, it fails to systemically address the suffering of the tens of thousands of people being forced to live in squalor and inhumane conditions in the overcrowded refugee camps of Greece.

GREECE

Aegean Boat Report has broken the news that a boat carrying approximately 30 people landed on north-west Samos on Thursday morning. The NGO reports that the boat’s occupants managed to walk to a nearby village and asked the residents to call the police to let them know they had arrived. A number of village residents witnessed the arriving asylum seekers, but after the port police arrived and transported the people out of the area, there has been no further knowledge of their whereabouts.
When port police in Karlovasi were confronted with questions about these new arrivals, they stated that there had been no arrivals on Samos in the area of Drakaioi.
Aegean Boat Report on Facebook Watch
Tuesday morning a boat landed on Samos north west, the boat was carrying approximately 30 people. They managed to walk…

An open letter to the European Commission has been published by a collection of NGOs, asking the commission to “urgently assist Greece in evacuating the 38,700 people living in the camps of the Aegean Islands.”
The letter:
“Severe overcrowding and a lack of adequate accommodation and services have led to incidents of violence before. This is the second time in less than a year that a large area of the camp has burned down. On 14 October 2019, the tents and belongings of more than 700 people were lost. We voiced our outrage, and yet, little has been done to decongest the camp. This week, these same factors, combined with tension due to restrictive measures against COVID-19, resulted in the fires….
“These fires are not unique to Samos. Regrettably, there have been similar incidents since September 2019 on both Chios and Lesvos, in which three people have lost their lives…These incidents and fatalities are the direct consequence of deficient European solidarity. The EU must move beyond the “hotspot approach” and revise the EU-Turkey Statement, which has proven itself to be not only inefficient but also inhumane.”

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

The European Commission announced today that it is making €4.5 million accessible to Bosnia and Herzegovina to help provide immediate humanitarian assistance to vulnerable refugees and migrants. This money shall be used to access comprehensive health and protection assistance. This will bring the amount of humanitarian assistance provided by to Bosnia and Herzegovina to €10.3 million since 2018.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said: “We have a special responsibility to assist in this pandemic our partners in the Western Balkans, as their future clearly lies in European Union. The EU is mobilising a substantial financial package, confirming the strong solidarity. Together we will overcome this crisis and recover. And beyond that, we will continue to support the region, including with the reforms needed on their EU path, as the recovery will only work effectively if the countries keep delivering on their commitments.”
Janez Lenarčič, Commissioner for Crisis Management, said: “The EU continues to support the most vulnerable refugees and migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We announce today €4.5 million to help meet the humanitarian needs that are especially high now due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. We will not leave our neighbours in the Western Balkans alone.”
This massive support package provided by the EU was announced just as the security minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced their plans to forcibly deport migrants out of the country in the midst of the Coronavirus outbreak. The initiative follows a decision on April 16 by the Council of Ministers of BiH on the Restriction of Movement and Stay of Foreigners.

NETHERLANDS
The European Council on Refugee and Exiles shared an interview with Femke de Vries, a policy officer for Asylum Dutch Council for Refugees, who is currently campaigning to ensure that the Dutch government joins the efforts of 11 other European countries in relocating unaccompanied children from the Greek island camps. Currently, Femke de Vries’s campaign has resulted in a published manifesto in a prominent newspaper with more than 100 sound signatories; among these are prominent former politicians — including from the political parties CDA (Christian democrats) and VVD (liberals), which voted against the relocation.
To read the interview and hear more about their work, please follow the link below.

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-30-04-20-maltese-government-official-admits-to-coordinating

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Finlande #transfert #mineursnonaccompagnés #Camp #Samos #Arrivées #Ilesgrecques #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Pays-Bas

AYS Daily Digest 29/04/2020

Moria Residents Protest Conditions in Camp
Early Wednesday morning, a group of Moria residents protested in front of the gates of the camp. The protest is part of a series of weekly demonstrations against the conditions in the camps, which have always been unsanitary but now become even more potentially deadly in the face of the global coronavirus pandemic. The organizers and participants are international — last week the demonstration was made up mostly of Afghan residents, while this week it was mostly residents from Africa who turned out.

People are protesting against unsanitary conditions in the camp and overcrowding that could easily be solved if the rest of the European Union did its duty and accepted asylum seekers.

The Greek government is claiming that 400 asylum seekers will be relocated from Moria to the mainland next Sunday, at a ceremony that will even be attended by Notis Mitarakis, the Minister for Asylum and Immigration. Residents and media are not trusting this announcement, because last weekend a different planned transport for 1500 people was cancelled. Even if several hundred “lucky” people are allowed to leave Moria, the camp will still be thousands over capacity and the conditions for those who remain will still be terrible.
Instead of improving conditions in the camps or addressing the concerns of residents when they rightfully pointed out how deadly an outbreak would be, Mitarakis said on Wednesday that there are no cases so far in island hotspots and implied that the government’s response should be praised because … they carry out daily checks. Never mind that most residents of island camps don’t have access to running water, basic hygienic supplies, or enough space to social distance properly! 130 people who were detained on beach camps in the North of Lesvos and were finally transferred to Moria recently don’t even have any kind of shelter within the camp. In an interview with Mission Lifeline, a mother stuck in Moria talks about the dangerous, unhygienic conditions her and her children are forced to live in.
There are many examples of International organizations and NGOs are trying to help, such as by donating medical equipment to the hospital on Lesvos, but it is not enough.

Even if the Greek government is ignoring the protests of people in Moria, we must not! Something must be done to fix the situation in island camps.

Government Uses COVID-19 As an Excuse to Deport, Another Crack Down on People on the Move
Following yesterday’s report by AYS of a potential illegal pushback from Diavata camp, Greek news broke the story that another group of 30 people “disappeared” from Samos. Witnesses from the village of Drakakia saw a group of people land on the island’s shore. The group later came in the village and as is customary, asked residents to notify the police. A vehicle arrived to pick them up but their arrival was never registered and the police are denying the incident occurred.

Aegean Boat Report published video footage of another incident where a boat was captured by the Turkish Coast Guard. However, the Greek Coast Guard was at the ready to push back the boat if it crossed into Greek waters, showing that despite the pandemic, the government is continuing its illegal border violence campaign. Either people are pushed back in the sea and left to drown or if they are able to reach land, they are pushed back without being registered or allowed to apply for asylum.
In the same statement where he talked about coronavirus, Minister Mitarakis claimed that there have been no arrivals in April. This is clearly untrue — people are still arriving in Greece, the Greek government is just pushing them back, breaking international law by refusing to register them, and lying to the media.
Journalists, NGOs, and people on the move have already exposed the Greek government’s illegal pushbacks, which are often done in unsafe liferafts that have a high risk of capsizing at sea. To deport people during a pandemic, when international travel is mostly banned and most countries have stopped repatriations, is even more dangerous and immoral.
In addition to illegal deportations, the Greek government is using emergency coronavirus response measures as an excuse to target the most vulnerable, including people on the move. Mitarakis said the government might deny asylum to people found violating coronavirus emergency measures. While a Greek citizen flouting government regulations will only have to pay a fine, a non-citizen could lose their entire future and be deported to an unsafe country for the same violation. It’s also much harder for asylum seekers living in crowded camps to follow government regulations about social distancing in the first place. In addition to penalties being harsher for people on the move than for Greeks, police are targeting the most vulnerable with tickets and fines. 81 homeless asylum seekers in Thessaloniki reported being fined for leaving their home — which they don’t even have. The police specifically target the homeless by waiting outside a camp people use to shower and distributing tickets. If the government actually cared about stopping the spread, they would find homes or at least temporary housing for these people. The only outcome of their current actions is abuse of power.

SLOVENIA
Slovenia To Accept Unaccompanied Minors
Slovenia has finally agreed to step up and accept unaccompanied minors from Greece — but they will only accept four children. They also said that the children must be younger than ten — because eleven-year-olds are dangerous and do not deserve a safe home. The children are expected to arrive at the end of May.
While Slovenia is a small country, to accept less than five children and to publicize that fact is absurd. Luxembourg, which has about a quarter of Slovenia’s population, has taken three times as many children (which is still low, considering the thousands that are held in Greek camps).

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/protests-in-moria-camp-again-12638f897e6f

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Moria #Lesbos #Protestation #Manifestation #Transfert #Camp #Diavata #Samos #Drakakia #Slovénie #Mineursnonaccompagnés

AYS Daily Digest 28/04/20

Camp residents from Diavata camp near Thessaloniki sent AYS footage of a police raid

They took over 30 people to an unknown location, after entering the camp in riot gear and forcing people into vans. They targeted the people who were camping in tents and improvised shelters in the grounds of the centre.
There is serious concern that new legislation for the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the recent asylum suspension, has resulted in an increase of people being removed from camps in Greece in April, and more pushbacks being conducted to Turkey. It is expected that this is the probable fate for 30 people from Tuesday morning.
Eye witnesses inside Diavata camp report the use of violence to arrest those 30 people. Many others in the camp fled fearing capture and possible removal. Volunteers spoke to one man who alleges his friend was taken and had still not heard from him.

Update on fires in Samos

On Sunday, fires broke out in Samos’s Vathy camp. Frances, a volunteer for Action for Education, documented what happened:
“Tensions peaked at 6pm, it was then the first fire began to blaze. After dark, a second fire started, it burned 6 containers. The next morning a third fire began. Estimations suggest 500 people lost everything, they now have no place to stay. MSF went outside the camp to set up a medical first response with psychosocial support. NGOs started distributing blankets before being stopped by police.
The next day (Monday), police prevented camp residents from entering town. Authorities continue to have limited communication with NGOs but tent distributions have been able to take place. Displaced people have been left to sleep on the ‘football pitch’ outside the camp. This is really just a gravel square. There are rumours that people escaped to the beaches to sleep. Tensions continue to be high in the camp, there are rumours that the ‘war’ is not over. This ‘war’ refers to community in-fighting as people struggle for supplies. Limited resources result in a power imbalance that fuels tensions.
The atmosphere has calmed now, but many camp residents still live in fear. We have heard reports from NGOs that minors in camp are pleading for shelter as they are worried they will be ‘mixed up in the war’…”
In an update from Samos Volunteers, they say the causes of the fires are still unclear, but tensions between various communities living in the camp have risen due to overcrowding conditions on top of Covid-19 fears. More here.

Mission Lifeline has raised 55,000 euros in donations in order to fly 150 refugees currently in Lesvos to Germany. Lifeline’s spokesperson Axel Steier said:
“With this sum, one could finance two Boeing 747–300 flights and get around 150 people from the Moria refugee camp in Lesbos…The association has a total of 110,000 euros available for the planned construction of a civil airlift between Lesbos and Berlin.”
All they are waiting for is permission from the Interior Minister since negotiations with the Greek service provider have concluded well. More here.

In an update from Legal Centre Lesvos on the gunman’s trial who shot two people living in Moria last week:

“At the gunman’s two pre-trial hearings, yesterday and last Friday, tens of people — including known members of the far-right, one of whom had been convicted in February 2020 for making online threats against a Lesvos Solidarity — Pikpa coordinator — stood outside the court to support him. The police made no effort to disperse the group, despite Covid-19 measures which prohibit leaving one’s house except for state-sanctioned reasons such as for essential shopping, exercise, and doctor visits, and prohibit any public gatherings. When journalists arrived to the scene and were harrassed by the gunman’s supporters, police instructed them — but not those insulting them — to leave for their own safety.
At his pretrial hearing, the gunman, who admitted to having shot at the two migrants, was released from detention on pre-trial bail and was charged with attempted premeditated murder. Migrants who have been charged with lesser and non-violent crimes — such as alleged stealing of sheep — have been ordered by the same court to wait in pre-trial detention, which is sometimes up to a year of imprisonment, demonstrating the discriminatory use of pre-trial detention to punish and further criminalize migrants.
The authorities’ open tolerance of fascist violence in Lesvos and the discriminatory application of the law to target migrants — by the police, the municipal government, and the court — now means that members of the far-right act with impunity, while migrants face punishment for the legitimate exercise of their rights.”

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-28-04-20-police-raid-in-diavata-camp-near-thessaloniki-fear

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Diavata #Thessalonique #Arrestation #Camp #Samos #incendie #Vathi #Lesbos #Allemagne #Transfert #Moria #Incident

AYS Weekend Digest 25–26/4/2020

FIRES AT VATHI, SAMOS
Many reports confirm that at least two separate fires broke out within Vathi camp on Samos on Sunday evening and one more this morning (Monday).
As Samos Volunteers report, the first fire, which started around 7pm, “was located in the area directly behind the medical facilities at the lower end of the unofficial jungle, which function as temporary shelters for potential Corona patients. An unknown number of tents were burnt before the local fire brigade managed to control and finally extinguish the fire.”
After that, it seems that there were other repeated fires at 8pm and 10pm. A fire “reached the centre of the official camp. Several containers have caught fire. Besides housing most of the camp’s facilities, including the asylum service, the containers provide shelter for many camp residents, who share a container with as many as sixty people”.
As MSF report, at least 100 people are left without shelter:
Throughout the night, evacuation operations have been going on. It is not yet clear the extent of the damage. Most people left the camp and gathered on a empty plot of land. While solidarians and organisations on the ground tried to assist residents providing shelter, tents, medical assistance, food and water, fights and moments of tensions broke out and riot police entered the camp multiple times. In the night police stopped any kind of assistance or distribution.

Evacuation at Vathi (Samos) — Photo by AYS
A new fire broke out this morning.
Despite the fires, we have confirmed reports that police continue to stop every kind of distribution, and are not letting anybody get into town.
Around 700 people are being held in a bit of empty land in front of the camp, without adequate access to food or water, women and children included.
This fire followed the ones in Moria (Lesvos) and Vial (Chios) in the last weeks. As of April 23, 6869 people were recorded living in Vathi camp, with a capacity of 648 people. The population density is the highest in the centre of the camp, where the fire burned most intense.
These fires are nothing other than the natural consequence of Greek and European policies: keeping people crammed in overcrowded spaces, using the fear of the pandemic to implement widespread detention for all people on the move, stripping them even more of their basic rights, and barring them from participating in society.

LESVOS: Updates from Moria
In Moria, the situation is not getting any better. After the halt to the plan to transfer the most vulnerable residents to empty hotels, no other solution has been proposed to decongest the camp. 18293 is the official population (as of April 23rd). Food lines take hours, at least 1000 people don’t get food because there is not enough. There is also not enough water.
With the limitations of movement outside the camp and the racist policies of supermarkets around Moria which are now prohibiting camp residents from going in, people can only shop in the one supermarket inside the camp, with waiting times of up to three days:
Team Humanity is crowdfunding to distribute 3,500 food packs. They are doing food distribution for those who cannot stay in the food lines. Support hem HERE.
Residents are doing what they can to improve the situation, the Moria Corona Awareness Team are starting to recycle water bottles to reduce the amount of waste in the camp.

MAINLAND: Suicide in police detention
A young man, who was detained in Komotini police station (Northeastern Greece) hanged himself over the weekend. He had been reportedly sentenced to several years in prison for people smuggling. According to the report authored by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) on conditions of detention in Greece: “ill-treatment by the police.. against foreign nationals.. remains a frequent practice”. Around 6,000 people on the move, including minors, are under arrest in the country.

From the Mothers of Malakasa
There are reports of frequent water cuts in Malakasa camp (in Attica), which worsen the conditions during quarantine. Refugees report additional sanitary infrastructure for the more than 400 newcomers living in tents was installed but has not yet been connected.
“How should we wash our hands without water,” a mother asks.
Read the call for help from mothers in the quarantined Malakasa refugee camp HERE.

BiH
Local media has published a further update on the Bosnian Government’s aim to deport all people on the move. They wish to compile a list of 9000–10,000 people to be deported and are once again framing this as a security crisis rather than a humanitarian one. They have also made it clear that they are struggling to identify the people currently in Bosnian territory meaning that they can not have gone through a proper asylum process. As we know, everybody has the right to claim asylum regardless of where they come from or the recognition rate of their country.
Meanwhile, as usual it is local people and grass roots groups, not the government, who are actually supporting people on the move.

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-weekend-digest-25-26-4-2020-fires-at-vathi-samos-c7535d761c51

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Camp #Samos #Vathi #Incendie #Evacuation #Lesbos #Moria #Transfert #Hôtel #Komotini #Suicide #Malakasa #Expulsion

Grèce : le camp de migrants sur l’île grecque de Samos doit fermer

Le camp de migrants surpeuplé de Vathy, situé sur l’île grecque de Samos, fermera avant la fin de l’année, a annoncé mardi le ministre grec de l’Immigration, Notis Mitarakis, après une inspection des lieux. « La situation est très grave, le camp doit fermer ses portes », a déclaré le ministre à la chaîne télévisée ERT. Les migrants seront transférés dans un autre camp, situé à sept kilomètres de là.

Des incendies ont été déclenchés par des résidents du camp pendant deux jours. Des tentes, huttes et maisons en préfabriqués ont ainsi été détruites. La police a interpellé 22 migrants, ce qui peut mener au rejet de leur demande d’asile.

Selon la police, les migrants ont bouté le feu dans l’intention de forcer le gouvernement à les ramener sur le continent. Selon des sources auprès d’organisations humanitaires, les incendies ont plutôt été déclenchés lors de disputes entre migrants africains et demandeurs d’asile afghans.

Le camp abrite 6800 migrants, soit 10 fois plus que sa capacité maximale.

▻https://www.rtbf.be/info/monde/detail_grece-le-camp-de-migrants-sur-l-ile-grecque-de-samos-doit-fermer?id=1049

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Grèce #Camp #Vathy #Samos #Incendie #Révolte

#Incendies dans les #camps_de_réfugiés (ou autres lieux d’hébergement de demandeurs d’asile et réfugiés) en #Grèce. Tentative de #métaliste, non exhaustive...

Les incendies sont rassemblés ici en ordre chronologique, mais attention à faire la distinction entre ceux qui ont lieu :
– par accident
– comme geste de #protestation de la part des réfugiés entassés dans ces camps surpeuplés et insalubres
– par main de l’#extrême_droite

#réfugiés #asile #migrations #feu #incendie #anti-réfugiés #racisme #xénophobie #révolte #résistance

–-> + un incendie qui a eu lieu en décembre 2020 en #Bosnie (#route_des_Balkans / #Balkans)

ping @isskein

GCR and Oxfam bulletin on Lesvos-2
The Greek Council for Refugees and Oxfam publish their second news bulletin regarding the situation in Lesvos, amidst the coronavirus pandemic, in the framework of a joint program.

On this note, GCR recalls its long-standing positions that Greece needs to:

– Respect the principle of non-refoulement

– Urgently transfer asylum seekers from the islands to suitable accommodation on the mainland

– Refrain from further undermining the safeguards of the asylum procedure and the right to effective remedies.

You can find the bulletin attached in English and Greek herewith.

Download attachments: Lesbos_COVID19_210420-GR.pdf Lesbos_COVID19_update_210420-EN.pdf

▻https://www.gcr.gr/en/news/press-releases-announcements/item/1431-gcr-and-oxfam-bulletin-on-lesvos-2

#Covid-19 #Migrants #Migrations #camp #Grèce #ilesgrecques #Samos #chios #refoulement #relocalisation #enfants #mineurs #asile #violence

[Via Vicky Soumbi, Migreurop]

Suite à plusieurs incendies l’évacuation du hot-spot de Samos est en cours

Une opération d’évacuation de la structure de réfugiés à Vathy, Samons tard dimanche soir. Elle a été précédée par plusieurs départs d’incendies au hotspot de Vathy, mais aussi par des tensions entre les réfugiés et les forces de police, qui ont initialement empêché les réfugiés de quitter la zone en feu.

Vers 22 h 30 aujourd’hui (dimanche) dans la nuit, l’évacuation de la structure de réfugiés (Centre d’accueil et d’identification) de Vathi de Samos a commencé, les résidents étant actuellement dirigés vers la place centrale de Samos.

L’évacuation a été précédée par des incendies successifs au hotspot , mais aussi des tensions avec les forces de police, qui ont initialement empêché les réfugiés de quitter l’enfer de feu, en application ( !!!) les mesures restrictives mises en place en raison d’une pandémie.

En particulier, le premier incendie s’est déclaré vers 19h30, brûlant de nombreuses tentes. Selon Médecins Sans Frontières, une centaine de personnes se sont retrouvées sans abri à cause de l’incendie.
msfgreece

@MSFgreece

Un incendie s’est déclaré il y a une heure à KYT # Vathi # Samos, faisant une centaine de sans-abri. Nos équipes sont proches du point, prêtes à offrir des soins médicaux et un soutien psychologique aux victimes.

Vers 20 h 30, alors que l’incendie était en cours, les forces de police ont empêché les réfugiés de quitter les lieux. Puis un deuxième incendie s’est déclaré vers 21 heures, suivi d’un troisième peu avant 22 heures. De fortes forces des pompiers se sont précipitées sur les lieux pour tenter d’éteindre les incendies, tandis qu’un nombre important de résidents ont commencé à quitter le camp.

Le feu a atteint les conteneurs et se dirigeait vers le quartier général, au moment où les réfugiés se réfugiaient sur la place de Samos. Il faudrait rappeler que ce hotspot abrite quelques 6 500 réfugiés et migrants bloqués sur l’île.

Regardez ICI les vidéos des incendies.

▻https://www.efsyn.gr/ellada/koinonia/240743_diadohikes-foties-kai-ekkenosi-toy-kyt-tis-samoy

#Covid-19 #Migrants #Migrations #ilegrecque #camp #hotspot #Grèce #samos #Vathi #Incendie #Révolte #Evacuation

#Hotspot de #Samos : l’enfer à la frontière gréco-turque. Rapport de missions Gisti - Migreurop 2019

https://i.imgur.com/QB74kvF.png

Le vendredi 28 février 2020, le président turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan décidait unilatéralement de suspendre l’accord UE-Turquie de 2016, qui, en quatre ans, a transformé cinq îles grecques de la mer Égée en prisons à ciel ouvert pour les exilé·es, les fameux « hotspots ». A de nombreuses reprises déjà, la Turquie s’était servie de cet accord comme instrument de chantage auprès de l’Union européenne, en menaçant de rouvrir ses frontières. Les critiques des gouvernants européens face à l’offensive turque en Syrie et la perte d’une trentaine de soldats turcs dans un bombardement russe ont été le prétexte pour mettre à exécution cette menace. Dans la foulée, des milliers d’exilé·es, la plupart se déplaçant dans des bus affrétés par les autorités turques, se sont précipité·es aux frontières terrestres et maritimes, se heurtant à la violence de la police et de l’armée grecque aussitôt déployées pour leur en interdire le franchissement.

Au nom de la « protection des frontières de l’Europe » [1], la frontière gréco-turque est le théâtre de nombreuses violations flagrantes des droits humains : atteinte à la dignité des personnes, atteinte à leur intégrité physique, atteinte à leur vie. La violence aux frontières terrestres et maritimes est à son paroxysme [2]. En refusant l’entrée des exilé·es sur le territoire européen, en suspendant l’enregistrement des demandes d’asile, la Grèce, avec le soutien de l’UE qui a envoyé l’agence européenne Frontex en renfort, piétine le principe de non-refoulement, pierre angulaire de la convention de Genève. Comme le relève la Rapporteure spéciale des Nations unies sur les exécutions extra judiciaires, qui dénonce « une situation de non-droit absolu », « la Grèce joue un rôle tout aussi cruel que celui joué par la Turquie ou le reste des États européens, car la crise est (…) ancrée dans le manque de vision et de courage des dirigeants européens » [3].

Depuis le mois de mars 2020, une nouvelle catastrophe plane sur les hotspots grecs. A l’intolérable surpopulation, au manque d’infrastructures sanitaires (eau potable, douches, toilettes) et de nourriture, à l’hébergement sous tentes qui se solde chaque année par des morts par hypothermie, aux incendies à répétition, s’ajoute aujourd’hui le Covid-19. Le 22 mars 2020, les autorités grecques ont annoncé le confinement forcé des exilé·es dans les camps grecs, y compris les hotspots. La surpopulation rendant la prévention de la propagation du virus pratiquement impossible, ces mesures exposent délibérément ces personnes à un risque grave et imminent de contamination [4].

Ce rapport décrit la catastrophe humanitaire et la situation de non-droit qui caractérisaient déjà la condition des exilé·es à la fin de l’année 2019 sur l’île de Samos, l’un des cinq hotspots grecs, avant l’enterrement de l’accord UE-Turquie et l’irruption de la pandémie du COVID 19. Au moment de sa publication, l’actualité confirme que « l’approche hotspots », vantée par la Commission européenne comme une solution pour mettre fin à la « crise migratoire », a bien « engendré un monstre » [5].

A l’heure où nous diffusons ce rapport, nous apprenons qu’une série d’incendies s’est déclenchée au camp de #Vathy, dans le hotspot de l’île de Samos, créant de vives tensions entre les réfugié·es qui tentaient de fuir les flammes et les forces de police, qui prétendaient les en empêcher au nom des mesures restrictives en vigueur dans les hotspots grecs du fait de la pandémie du COVID 19. Le 26 avril au soir, une évacuation du camp a finalement été organisée. Mais les réfugié·es, dont certain·es sont blessé·es à la suite des affrontements avec la police, sont désormais sans abri, et les associations se sont vu interdire de les héberger en raison du COVID 19.

▻https://www.gisti.org/spip.php?article6378
#Mer_Egée #Grèce #île #asile #migrations #réfugiés #frontières #hotspots #Turquie #rapport #Migreurop #Gisti

Pour télécharger le rapport :
▻https://www.gisti.org/IMG/pdf/rapport_samos_2020.pdf

Sur les incendies à Samos, voir :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/848111

Διαδοχικές φωτιές και εκκένωση του ΚΥΤ της Σάμου

https://i.imgur.com/mOY9g6S.png

Πυρκαγιά ξέσπασε στο ΚΥΤ #Βαθύ #Σάμος πριν από μια ώρα αφήνοντας περίπου 100 άτομα χωρίς καταφύγιο. Οι ομάδες μας είναι κοντά στο σημείο, σε ετοιμότητα να προσφέρουν ιατρική περίθαλψη & ψυχολογική υποστήριξη στους πληγέντες.

▻https://twitter.com/MSFgreece/status/1254465295021936640

#feu #migrations #réfugiés #Grèce #îles

Commentaire/traduction de Vicky Skoumbi via la mailing-list Migreurop :

Une opération d’#évacuation de la structure de réfugiés à #Vathy, Samons tard dimanche soir. Elle a été précédée par plusieurs départs d’incendies au hotspot de Vathy, mais aussi par des tensions entre les réfugiés et les forces de police, qui ont initialement empêché les réfugiés de quitter la zone en feu.

Vers 22 h 30 aujourd’hui (dimanche) dans la nuit, l’évacuation de la structure de réfugiés (Centre d’accueil et d’identification) de Vathi de Samos a commencé, les résidents étant actuellement dirigés vers la place centrale de Samos.

L’évacuation a été précédée par des incendies successifs au hotspot , mais aussi des tensions avec les forces de #police, qui ont initialement empêché les réfugiés de quitter l’enfer de feu, en application ( !!!) les mesures restrictives mises en place en raison d’une #pandémie.

En particulier, le premier incendie s’est déclaré vers 19h30, brûlant de nombreuses tentes. Selon Médecins Sans Frontières, une centaine de personnes se sont retrouvées sans abri à cause de l’incendie.

#coronavirus #confinement #SDF #sans-abri

–---------

Autres incendies dans les #hotspots ces derniers temps...
►https://seenthis.net/messages/827607

ping @luciebacon

Greece: Island Camps Not Prepared for Covid-19 | Human Rights Watch
▻https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/22/greece-island-camps-not-prepared-covid-19
▻https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/styles/open_graph/public/multimedia_images_2020/202004eca_greece_moria.jpg?itok=tq3Xd6Qj

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#Grèce#camps#Chios#Leros#Lesbos#Samos
#conditions-sanitaires#femmes-enceintes#abus-sexuels#accès-soins

AYS Daily Digest 21/04/20

GREECE
ECtHR requests that Greece provide appropriate accommodation and medical treatment to refugees contained in Lesvos hotspot

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic highlights yet again the extreme risks facing refugees contained under squalid conditions on the Eastern Aegean islands. The Reception and Identification Centres (RIC) on Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos host over 35,000 persons, more than five times above their reception capacity. Severe overcrowding under abhorrent living conditions in the RIC is a persisting reality, in sharp contrast to social distancing measures enforced throughout Greece and to recent European Commission guidance to transfer asylum seekers to facilities with lower occupancy.
This backdrop renders evacuation out of Moria and other sites a public health imperative to prevent loss of life. Beyond unaccompanied children, whose plight has led to welcome relocation initiatives to other EU countries, many more people face acute health risks, not least due to particular circumstances including age, medical conditions and trauma.

150people tested positive for the coronavirus at a quarantined seaside hotel housing 470 people, including many children, but none of those infected displayed symptoms of COVID-19, media report.
Located 170 kilometres southwest of Athens, this hotel has been quarantined since April 16 after an employee tested positive.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
L’ ALTRA VOCE published a letter co-signed by 70 people staying at one of the official camps in Una Sana canton, run by IOM. From the Miral camp in Velika Kladuša, they wrote that there is not a sufficient amount of food for everyone, and people are not allowed to buy and bring inside their own food to eat at their chosing, thus selectively applying their own standards.

According to the people whose photos and statements made it to the Letter, there is always someone going to sleep hungry. Also, there are frequent references to violent measures and unprofessionally harsh treatment by the outsourced security companies working in camps. Among others, the letter states:
“If we ask for the market they always say IOM will open market for you inside the camp and provide you a western union inside the camp but until this opportunity, you cannot buy anything from the market.
We are all worried because very soon our Ramzan month is coming how we will survive during the Ramzan because they don’t have any good management or their staff is also acting like racist people we are afraid might be they will also beat us in future.”

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Camp #Lesvos #Chios #Samos #Leros #Kos #Hotspot #Athènes #Hotel #Quarantaine #Bosnie-Herzégovine

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-21-04-20-transparency-ignored-when-it-serves-ulterior-motiv

AYS Daily Digest 15/04/20

GREECE

Luxembourg welcomed 12 children from Greece camps on Wednesday.
Nine of the children were from Lesvos, two from Chios, and one from Samos who was transferred to the Grand Duchy. Fifty other children are expected to fly from Athens to Germany on Saturday the 18th, in an effort to move the 1,600 people EU countries have promised to relocate from Greece’s camps. France, Portugal, Finland, Lithuania, Croatia and Ireland have also said that they will participate.

As Sea-Watch reminds us, the number of children who have been evacuated so far still only represents about 0.1% of the people trapped on the Greek islands.

Almost 1000 vulnerable people will be transferred to hotels in Greece.
This is in an effort to ease the camps, Ylva Johansson, the EU commissioner for home affairs, announced on Tuesday. AYS will continue to follow closely.

Authorities in Greece are very worried that potentially 2,000 people are entering coastal Turkish towns and are going to try and cross over to the islands. During the quarantine, the Turkish government closed the camps along the northern Greek border and transferred a lot of people to coastal cities like Izmir. Many were transferred beyond their control. L

Katie Emm provides a comprehensive Lesvos update:
“GOOD NEWS!
1) People are generally respecting the movement restrictions…and some transfers have been made.
2) According to data released yesterday, there have been no new confirmed cases for two weeks on Lesvos. This is a major milestone, as it suggests that there are no new infections here and Lesvos has contained COVID-19. Of course, there are still possibilities of infection emerging, and we still have to remain vigilant, but it sure feels nice to have hit this point. According to public data, there have been eight cases, and one death. In Greece overall, there are approximately 100 deaths, and about 2200 cases (as of today). There have been no confirmed cases in Moria, Kara Tepe, or Pikpa.
3) No new fascist attacks — there have so far been no recent reports of attacks on NGO workers or refugees or locals.

HARD NEWS!
1) There are reports of Turkey planning to send refugees en masse to the Aegean Islands. This falls somewhere on the spectrum between propaganda and something legitimate. There’s no way to know what will happen, but it does raise some major questions, notably: Where will people go if they reach the shores, especially with a mandatory 14-day quarantine? Will there be a repeat of what happened the last time Turkey sent people en masse? Will rights be respected? Will lives be put in (further) danger?
2) Greece voted to extend the lock down. While originally things were going to open back up on 6 April (maybe), the government extended the restriction of movement until at least 27 April. (Perspective: that is less than two weeks away, and we’ve already successfully navigated this for three weeks).
3) Most NGOs remain working with a bare-bones team, as they are unable to get new volunteers to the island. (This is also likely a major reason why Lesvos has been able to keep numbers of infections down though, so while difficult, there is definitely an upside to this!)”

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

In an update from No Name Kitchen on their current food services in Velika Kladuša:
“No Name Kitchen continues to be present daily in Velika Kladuša. Our main objectives are to give people food and clean clothes….In order to meet the needs of many people with the few available hands, we have been working on a new plan that is already paying off.
We started last week, associating NNK to a bakery. Money is given to this bakery and people who live in the abandoned houses are given vouchers. Each of these squats has a representative and is also connected, thanks to social networks, to an international volunteer who has previously been in Velika Kladuša. Twelve volunteers are currently involved in this task, being the ones who send the vouchers to the squats. On those vouchers, there is a code that is also registered at the bakery so that the workers know how many breads and bureks they have to give. This also allows us to have a better view of the situation and the needs to be covered.
One day a week, the representative of each squat must go to the bakery to collect food for everyone. This project covers, from Monday to Saturday, 70 people with a large piece of bread and a burek (typical Bosnian food with meat or cheese). This project is more expensive than what we did before when we used to only give food for people to cook (something that also continues), but evaluating the options with the local volunteers, we found that this solution is the most convenient. We are working on getting more financial support so that each person can receive this meal twice a week.”

BALKANS
Transbalkan Solidarity Group provide this update on the Balkan route and need for solidarity:
“Tens of thousands of refugees and other migrants in the Balkans are only partially accommodated in official collective centers, while a large number of people fall outside the system, surviving through the help of the local population. With the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the already difficult situation is becoming detrimental and demands urgent action of local and international actors — and solidarity from all of us.
The state of emergency now in force in many countries of the region reinforces social inequalities…
We, therefore, call for an end to all official and unofficial discriminatory and dehumanizing practices, for the legalization of everyone’s existence, for the closure of all forms of detention and collective centers that restrict freedom of movement and fail to secure humane and hygienic conditions…
More, we demand of the member governments of the European Union, the states of the region, and all relevant institutions and international organizations…that all people be equally afforded critical information on pandemic and unrestricted access to the health care system, that refugees and migrants are treated without discrimination, and that concrete measures for their protection are made part of all measures for the protection of the population as a whole.”

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-15-04-20-controversy-when-italy-orders-people-rescued-at-se

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Camp #Velikakladusa #Chios #Samos #Lesbos #Transfert #Mineursnonaccompagnés #Enfant #Luxembourg #Hôtel

AYS Daily Digest 14/04/20

GREECE
#Kos
Two days ago, people finally received their cash card top up. Normally, they receive financial assistance at the beginning of the month, as do most people in Greece, but due to the Corona restrictions, it was late this month. A lot of people needed to go shopping as they were running out of food, but only 65 people are currently allowed to go out at one time. There are currently over a thousand people in the camp, which has become more crowded since they moved the people camping outside to within the walls of the hotspot. As a result the situation escalated and the police beat both the women and the men to separate the groups.

#Ritsona
With 14 more days of quarantine, the people in Ritsona have no way to protect themselves. Seven out of ninety have already tested positive in the community.

#Thessaloniki
Mobile Info Team has recorded information from 30 homeless people on the move in Thessaloniki who were fined by the police under the “movement restrictions.” One person has been fined as often as 5 times, another two people, 4 times each. These people have nowhere to live, nowhere to go and the government who refuses to assist them sends its law enforcement officers to fine them?

#Lesbos
Fascist violence has been escalating over the past few weeks and on April 8th they burned down the home of refugees living outside Moria. Mare Liberum spoke with two of the men who were living there.
The latest fire in #Moria caused a lot of devastating destruction.
Luckily, the White Helmets have begun cleaning up the area, trying to make conditions better and cleaner for residents.
Seawatch is working to send 1000 masks to Lesvos to try to curb the outbreak.
#Incendie #Xenophobie

#Chios
The Ministry of Immigration and Asylum signed a contract today to lease a property in the ALITHEIA complex, in #Lefkonia-Kontari area of ​​Chios, for the creation of a space for the stay of the newcomers.
The rent for a period of seven months amounts to 46,200 EURO, with the possibility of extending the lease, and the property will operate as a place of residence for newly arrived immigrants. This is supposedly all done in an effort to disperse the impact of the Corona pandemic. The impetus for the decision was stated as:
“For reasons of urgency and unpredictability that are not the fault of the Greek State, as well as for reasons of security, public order and public interest, with attention to the need to take the necessary measures to protect public health and society as a whole.”

#Samos
Some good news out of Samos today. A young Syrian boy’s family reunification case was accepted! Hassan* will be able to join his older brother in the UK. The pictures below were taken by Hassan himself and demonstrate the dire conditions in the camps.

#Transfert #Mineurs #Enfants
This afternoon 20 minors were taken from Moria Camp to the harbor of Piraeus (Athens). They should reach Germany by the 18th.

Human Rights Watch is calling for hundreds of migrant children who are in Greece without parents or relatives and in immigration detention to be moved to child friendly housing. HRW say they are currently at a heightened risk for contracting COVID-19.

Human rights violations including illegal pushbacks continue occurring at the Greece-Turkey border. Read MIT’s report co-authored with No Name Kitchen and Border Violence Monitoring Network for more information on the update situation.

BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA

The changing weather has just added to the number of difficulties people on the move face while stuck in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As there is no public transport at their disposal and no freedom of movement for them, getting from one place to another is extremely difficult. Most of the people are left out on their own (if they are not forced into provisional campsite like #Lipa near #Bihac), only some have managed to stay in private accommodation under different conditions and circumstances, while many are stuck in different hardships of the official camps run by international organisations, and German Civil Protection (Technisches Hilfswerk) in the case of recently infamous #Blazuj camp. Those who bother to go the extra step and show humane treatment to these people in transit through Bosnia and Herzegovina more than often see images of despair among these people who now also often carry the stigma of potential health risk in the context of coronavirus, although no infected people have been reported among all those people throughout the country.

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-14-04-2020-left-to-fend-for-themselves-europes-unspoken-migration-policy

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Camp

AYS Weekend Digest 11–12/04/20

GREECE

Coast guard ordered to prevent any crossing from Turkey
Following news from Turkey (see above), Greek media went into a frenzy on a possible second wave of what they like to call “the Turkish invasion”. According to these racist and colonial rhetorics, people on the move are nothing more than pawns used by Turkey to destroy Greek and European civilisation. The Greek coastguard has received orders to stay alert, “prevent any vessel carrying migrants from entering Greek territorial waters” and avoid any crossing from Turkey “on grounds of national security and public health”, Giorgos Christides reports.
Since early February, Greek media have embraced war-like rhetoric and fake news in their coverage of people on the move in the country. Not only have they been described as ‘biological weapons’ armed by Turkey, but the number of positive Covid-19 tests are constantly given in separate figures for “citizens” and “non-citizens”. A racist attitude that is expanding to other groups:

Criminal complaint filed against Greek coast guard for push-backs from Samos coast

Greece: CHIOS
No running water in Vial camp, Chios
From Jenny Zinovia Kali, in the Solidarity in Chios group:
Μessages keep coming from the residents of Vial about the unacceptable conditions they are experiencing in the camp despite the pandemic.
As of yesterday, VIAL does not have running water. People can neither shower nor wash their hands. The mothers have no water to clean the little ones.
Even worse, the administration has also banned the distribution of basic necessities to voluntary groups outside Vial, but no distributions have taken place since the pandemic started from Vial’s first reception. So the residents do not have any sanitary ware, diapers, sanitary napkins, etc.
How do you ask 6000 people — roughly — to follow the protection measures when they don’t provide them with the basics ??????

Greece: LESVOS
Hunger strike in Moria’s PRO.KE.KA carries on
As reported by Deportation Monitoring Aegean, the prisoners detained in Moria pre-removal detention centre (PRO.KE.K.A) in Lesvos have been on hunger strike since 5th April 2020. The PRO.KE.K.A hunger strikers demand their immediate release to avoid the disastrous consequences of a virus outbreak in the prison.

As we previously reported, this week one boy was killed in Moria camp. Violence and fights erupted in the following hours. Nonetheless, the self-organised Moria White Helmets and the Moria Corona Awareness team are continuing to do what they can to improve the conditions in the camp. People are reportedly scared to line in queues for food and water and on Friday they held a large peaceful protest demanding safety, protection and the evacuation of everybody.

While UNHCR is reportedly looking for hotels and ships on the eastern Greek islands to house vulnerable people from RICs, it is also reported that West Lesvos Municipality “grudgingly” accepted to restore and reopen the “old” Stage-2 transit camp in Skala Sykamnias as a quarantine facility to house new arrivals. This was used until the beginning of the year, but it was closed following a decision of the same municipality. It was later attacked by arsonists in March.

GREECE: Samos
Med’EqualiTeam is looking for doctors and nurses on Samos
We need your help!
Med’EqualiTeam is the only medical NGO on the Greek island of Samos offering primary healthcare to the 7000+ refugee population. Focusing on triage, treatment and wound care, the team sees currently up to 100 patients per day.
The team are urgently looking for doctors and nurses who can stay 1 month or more.
(All new team members must self-isolate for 2 weeks upon arrival to ensure safety of patients.)
Please apply on ▻https://www.medequali.team/de/volunteer/application

GREECE: Athens
More reports of racial profiling and police violence during so-called Covid-19 checks
One young man was stopped, beaten, humiliated and had his papers destroyed in Athens. Read the full report (in Greek and English) HERE

SERBIA
People are once again being placed in Miratovac and Krnjača camps.

A local solidarity group reports that the situation in Serbia is increasingly tense. Corona virus has allowed the Government to close the camps, turning them into jails. The army is stationed outside while inside there are the Comisariat, a department of the police. There are reports that a child was hit by one of the workers this week, which was followed by the presence of armed police using tear gas as we reported last week. Local activists are calling on people to spread the news of what is happening.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Violence Continues in camps and at borders
Local groups report that workers from the private security agency that is involved in the camp Blažuj have physically attacked people staying at the camp. When they stood up against this violence, the police were brought in.
When people try to leave these conditions and cross over into Croatia, further violence awaits for them.

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-weekend-digest-11-12-04-2020-how-many-have-to-die-for-europe-sins-7157f1

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Xénophobie #Chios #Vial #Camp #Lesbos #Moria #Grèvedelafaim #Révolte #Violence #Quarantaine #Skalasykamnias #Samos #Athènes #Miratovac #Krnjaca #Serbie #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Blažuj

Grèce : violent incendie dans un camp de migrants après des violences

Un incendie a détruit, samedi soir, une partie d’un camp de demandeurs d’asile sur une île de la mer Égée. Les dégâts sont importants. Avec notre correspondant à Athènes, Joël Bronner

Le camp de Vial, sur l’île de Chios, est l’un des cinq centres d’accueil surpeuplés des îles grecques de la mer Égée, voisines de la Turquie.

Les autorités grecques ont annoncé que des tentes, des conteneurs et une grande partie des services administratifs du camp avaient été détruits dans l’incendie qui s’est déclaré ce samedi.

Trois personnes ont aussi été arrêtées en relation avec les violences qui ont éclaté après la mort, peu avant, dans le camp, d’une demandeuse d’asile irakienne de 47 ans, rapporte l’AFP.

Des camps surpeuplés

Aucun des centres répartis sur les îles de la mer Égée n’est adapté au nombre de demandeurs d’asile qui frappent à la porte de l’Europe. Ni à Lesbos où se trouve Moria, le plus grand camp du continent, ni à Samos, Kos, Levros ou Chios, où s’est donc déclaré l’incendie de ce week-end.

À Chios justement, ils sont près de 5 000 à s’entasser dans un espace prévu pour environ 1 000 personnes. Sur l’ensemble des cinq îles, on dénombre pas moins de 36 000 demandeurs d’asile. Six fois plus, en moyenne, que le nombre de places disponibles.

Alors à Lesbos, à Samos, à Chios, régulièrement, les flammes s’attaquent aux structures de lieux, qu’habitants et ONG décrivent bien souvent comme un enfer. Sur ces trois îles, Athènes envisage la mise en place prochaine d’un nouveau camp, suscitant ces derniers mois l’hostilité de la population locale.

Ces camps, aux conditions de vie et d’hygiène misérables, sont le symbole des limites de la politique européenne des « hotspots », ces centres administratifs qui enregistrent les demandeurs d’asile et les maintiennent sur place, souvent pendant des mois ou des années.

▻http://www.rfi.fr/fr/europe/20200419-gr%C3%A8ce-violent-incendie-camp-migrants-apr%C3%A8s-violences

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Camp #îlesgrecques #hotspot #Chios #Vial #incendie #incident #révolte #Lesbos #Moria #Samos #Kos

Forty-seven unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors were relocated from Greece to Germany Saturday.

Germany’s interior minister, Horst Seehofer, said the evacuation was “the result of months of preparation and intense talks with our European partners" and expressed hope that other countries would also begin taking in refugee children soon.
The children come from Afghanistan, Syria and Eritrea. Four are girls and there are several siblings among the group.
“The Greek government has been trying to sensitize other EU countries to (the plight) of the young children, which have fled war and persecution, to find new families and start a new life. I’m glad this program is finally being implemented,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotsakis told reporters at the Athens airport, where he met the departing children, alongside Germany’s Ambassador to Greece, Ernst Reichel.
Mitsotakis added that he hopes that over 1,500 minors will be relocated over the next months.
“Greece will continue to treat all persecuted people that arrive in our country with great sensitivity. But, at the same time, it has the obligation to guard and protect its borders. We have proven, as a country, that we can do both,” Mitsotakis said.
This was the second flight taking unaccompanied minor refugees to another European country. On Wednesday, 12 children travelled to Luxembourg.
According to the United Nations Secretary-General’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, there were over 5,200 unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors in Greece in early April “in urgent need of durable solutions, including expedited registration, family reunification and relocation” Dujarric said earlier this week.
Eight EU countries have agreed to take up 1,600 of those children, ages 5-16, who now live in migrant camps on the islands of Chios, Lesvos and Samos. Germany pledged last month to take in at least 350 children, but the plan has stalled in some countries due to the coronavirus pandemic.
[AP]
►https://www.ekathimerini.com/251827/article/ekathimerini/news/47-asylum-seeking-minors-fly-to-germany

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Camp #Ilesgrecques #Transfert #Mineursnonaccompagnés #Enfant #Chios #Lesbos #Samos #Allemagne

Athènes doit cesser la détention « abusive » de centaines d’enfants migrants
14 AVRIL 2020 PAR AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
La Grèce doit libérer les centaines d’enfants migrants non accompagnés qu’elle détient dans des conditions « abusives » et leur trouver un hébergement pour les protéger du coronavirus, a demandé mardi l’ONG Human Rights Watch (HRW).
La Grèce doit libérer les centaines d’enfants migrants non accompagnés qu’elle détient dans des conditions « abusives » et leur trouver un hébergement pour les protéger du coronavirus, a demandé mardi l’ONG Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Selon les données citées par l’organisation, 331 enfants étaient en détention au 31 mars, « dans les cellules de postes de police et des centres de détention insalubres en Grèce ».
« Libérés de leurs conditions de détention abusives, ils seraient mieux protégés de l’infection dans le contexte de la pandémie de coronavirus », a écrit HRW, dans un communiqué qui appelle le Premier ministre Kyriakos Mitsotakis à organiser leur « transfert vers des lieux d’hébergement sûrs et adaptés aux enfants ».
« Garder des enfants enfermés dans des cellules crasseuses des postes de police a toujours été une erreur, mais désormais cela les expose de surcroît au risque d’infection au Covid-19 », a souligné Eva Cossé, chercheuse sur la Grèce à Human Rights Watch.
L’ONG déplore en particulier « l’hygiène défaillante » dans les centres de détention, rendant « impossible » la mise en place des « mesures basiques » de lutte contre le coronavirus, ainsi que les « détentions arbitraires et prolongées » : « Souvent, ils n’ont pas accès aux soins médicaux, au soutien psychologique (ni) à l’aide juridique, et peu d’entre eux connaissent les raisons de leur détention ».
Si elle rappelle le plan mis en place par Athènes le 24 novembre 2019 pour protéger les enfants non accompagnés, notamment par la création de refuges, elle en note également l’insuffisance au regard du droit international.
La Cour européenne des droits de l’homme (CEDH) a encore demandé à la Grèce, la semaine dernière, de protéger trois migrants dont deux mineurs non accompagnés, qui avaient saisi l’instance sur les conditions de vie dans les camps de réfugiés insalubres et surpeuplés, sur fond de pandémie.
La CEDH a appelé les autorités grecques à « transférer les requérants, ou du moins leur garantir un hébergement compatible » avec la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme, qui interdit « les traitements inhumains ou dégradants ».
Le total des enfants non accompagnés en Grèce s’élève à environ 5.200, selon les autorités grecques.
Dans le cadre d’un programme européen de relocalisation de 1.600 mineurs non accompagnés vers d’autres pays européens, le premier groupe de 12 enfants, vivant jusqu’à présent dans des camps sur des îles de la mer Egée, doit quitter mercredi la Grèce pour le Luxembourg. Parmi ce groupe figurent neuf enfants de Lesbos, un de Samos et deux de Chios, a indiqué mardi le ministre des Migrations et de l’Asile, Notis Mitarachi, à la radio municipale d’Athènes.
Prochainement, 50 mineurs non accompagnés seront transférés en Allemagne, a-t-il ajouté.
Parmi les autres pays candidats à ce programme figurent la Belgique, la Bulgarie, la Croatie, la Finlande, la France, l’Irlande, la Lituanie, la Serbie et la Suisse, selon Athènes.
Les trois derniers mois 19.254 demandeurs d’asile sont arrivés en Grèce dont la majorité dans les camps surpeuplés des îles, en particulier à Lesbos où se trouve le camp de Moria, surnommé « la jungle ».
Afin de désengorger les camps sordides sur ces îles, le gouvernement a graduellement transféré les trois derniers mois 10.687 personnes en Grèce continentale, selon les chiffres ministériels.
Environ 100.000 demandeurs d’asile vivent actuellement en Grèce dont 70.000 dans les 38 camps installés sur son territoire. Plus de la moitié, soit environ 40.000 personnes s’entassent dans les camps des îles dont la capacité initiale n’est que pour 6.200 personnes.
En Grèce continentale, deux camps ont récemment été placés en quarantaine après l’apparition d’une trentaine de cas de Covid-19.

▻https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/fil-dactualites/140420/athenes-doit-cesser-la-detention-abusive-de-centaines-d-enfants-migrants

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Camp #Lesbos #Chios #Samos #Enfant #Transfert #Relocalisation

Via Migreurop

Grèce, le 10 avril 2020
Mouvement de protection des réfugiés et par l’Agence des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés

L’Agence des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés a proclamé hier la location d’hôtels pour l’accommodation de demandeurs d’asile et de réfugiés qui se trouvent dans des îles grecques. Le but est l’accommodation immédiate de tous ceux qui vivent à ce moment dans des camps et qui appartiennent aux groupes vulnérables, lesquels seront affectés directement par la pandémie de covid 19 dans le cas de son expansion dans les camps.
L’appel d’offres s’adresse aux propriétaires des entreprises d’hébergement qui sont fermées aujourd’hui (hôtels, auberges, chambres d’hôtes etc), se trouvant dans les îles de Lesvos, de Chios, de Samos, de Kos et de Leros, ainsi qu’en Crète et Rhodes. La disponibilité des lieux offerts doit être IMMEDIATE et la durée de la location sera de trois mois.

L’appel d’offres en détail à lire sur :
►https://www.unhcr.org/gr-tenders/entry/17409

Source (en grec) : ►https://www.stonisi.gr/post/8276/kinhsh-prostasias-ntopiwn-kai-prosfygwn-apo-thn-ypath-armosteia-toy-ohe

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Camp #Hébergement #UNHCR #appeldoffre #transfert #ilegrecques #entreprises #Lesbos #Chios #Samos #Kos #Leros #Crète #Rhodes

AYS Daily Digest 08/04/20

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-08-04-20-will-working-restraints-now-be-lifted-so-that-refu

Police violence against asylum seekers is on the rise amidst the corona lock-down and often occurs in the context of patrols for movement restrictions. Three recent cases have been collected by anti-fascist groups in Greece. Two of them took place in Athens, another on Samos. On Samos, a man from Cameroon who was waiting with other people in a queue outside of a super market was checked for his documents of movement based on racial profiling. The police reacted brutally when it turned out he did not have all the required documents. They started to beat him, tried to push him into a police car and later forced him to sign a document in Greek, which he did not understand. No copy has been given to to him.
In all three cases a criminal complaint has been filed against the police officers.

*

According to eyewitnesses, four people tried to set an abandoned building on Lesvos on fire in which refugees are living. The building is near a LIDL supermarket in the area of Kara Tepe. The aggressors halted their plans when they realized that people were in the building, but threatened to come back.

*

A sixteen-year-old Afghan boy has been stabbed to death in Moria by a young adult. The boy lived with members of his family in a tent outside the main camp of the Moria Identification Centre. After his death became known, fights broke out amongst teenagers, leading to the injury of four youngsters.
This event is tragic. But if we consider the circumstances the people and especially the kids live under in Moria, it is a wonder that there aren’t more escalations of violence. Every death in Moria is Europe’s responsibility. Europe is responsible for the overcrowding, the fact that unaccompanied minors stay with no protection, and that mental health issues are not being properly treated

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Lesbos #Moria #Samos #Violence #Xenophobie

▻https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/coronavirus-la-cedh-demande-a-la-grece-de-prendre-des-mesures-pour-proteger

La Cour européenne des droits de l’homme (CEDH), saisie en urgence par trois migrants hébergés dans un camp en Grèce et qui s’estiment menacés par le Covid-19, a demandé à Athènes de prendre les mesures nécessaires à leur protection, a-t-on appris jeudi auprès de la Cour. Les requérants, deux mineurs non accompagnés et un homme âgé de 80 ans, ont fait valoir les conditions d’accueil médiocres dans les camps de réfugiés insalubres et surpeuplés ouverts en Grèce, soulignant le risque d’être atteints par le Covid-19.

À lire aussi : L’infectiologue Sotirios Tsiodras, nouvelle coqueluche des Grecs
Dans cette affaire, la Cour paneuropéenne qui siège à Strasbourg a demandé mardi aux autorités grecques « de transférer les requérants, ou du moins de leur garantir un hébergement compatible » avec la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme, qui interdit « les traitements inhumains ou dégradants ». Elle leur a également demandé de prodiguer des soins ainsi qu’une assistance conforme à leur état de santé à ces trois migrants, hébergés dans un camp de l’île de Samos.

Environ 100.000 demandeurs d’asile vivent actuellement en Grèce, dont 70.000 dans les 38 camps installés sur son territoire, selon les autorités grecques. Deux de ces camps, situés en Grèce continentale, ont été placés la semaine dernière en quarantaine après l’apparition de 28 cas de Covid-19.

Dans une affaire distincte, la Cour a suspendu provisoirement fin mars l’extradition d’un homme de 60 ans arrêté à Londres à l’été 2017. Les Etats-Unis réclament au Royaume-Uni son extradition pour le juger dans une affaire de trafic de stupéfiants. Relevant que cet homme, dont la nationalité n’a pas été précisée, souffrait de diabète et d’asthme, la CEDH a interrogé les parties sur le risque « qu’il soit soumis à des peines inhumaines et dégradantes » s’il était condamné à une réclusion à perpétuité « irréductible » aux Etats-Unis.

Mais, avant de statuer sur le fond de cette affaire, elle les a également interrogées sur une possible violation de la Convention européenne en raison des conditions de détention auxquelles il serait soumis aux Etats-Unis dans le contexte de la pandémie de Covid-19.

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Camp #CEDH #Samos

Are You Syrious (AYS)
AYS Daily Digest 07/04/20

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-07-04-20-luxembourg-and-germany-agree-to-take-in-small-numb

AYS Daily Digest 07/04/20

FEATURE Luxembourg and Germany are finally going to take in some children suffering in Greece’s island camps.
Germany is going to take in 50 and Luxembourg will take in…12. There are at least 5,500 unaccompanied minors currently in Greece. A group of countries decided last week to collectively bring in 1,600 of these unaccompanied children, but COVID-19 has slowed this process.
Luxembourg is the first country escort any these children; their 12 being on Lesvos and Chios currently. Their relocation will happen sometime next week. At least 5,488 unaccompanied children will remain living in horrid conditions afterwards.

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Camp #Luxembourg #Allemagne #Enfant #mineursnonaccompagnés #Lesbos #Chios #transfert

*

3rd day of hunger strike in Moria Prison
On April 5th, the prisoners in Moria’s pre-removal detention centre went on strike for their immediate removal. No Border Kitchen Lesvos explains:
“These days governments across the world have been releasing people with short sentences from prison, while the Greek state continues to insist that no migrant detainees will be released. The men here in the prison are held in administrative detention and have committed no crime. They are detained only because of their status. Some because of their nationality, some because their asylum claim was rejected, some because they tried to leave the islands, some even because they signed up for supposed “voluntary return”. Many of those with rejected claims haven’t even had the opportunity to apply for asylum, because of recent legal changes discriminating against people who don’t speak the colonialist language of the country they fled from. They are awaiting deportation to Turkey, despite there being no deportations scheduled for the foreseeable future.”

#Moria #Camp #Expulsion #Turquie #Grèvedelafaim #Asile #Retourvolontaire

*

Migration Minister’s page says medical staff is recruited for detention centres:

“today began(…) recruitment of emergency staff(…), lasting three (3) months to meet the extraordinary needs of the Reception and Identification Centers and Temporary Supply and Supply Structures for Hosting Services. A total of 150 people will be hired at the KYT of #Lesvos, #Chios, #Samos, #Leros and #Kos, as well as at the Structures of #Malakassa and #Sintiki” and #Evros #prison #outpost.”
“new arrivals from March 1 have not been taken to the Reception and Identification Centers of the Islands but in separate quarantine areas, however there are difficulties to do so(…). So far, the Ministry has not received a positive response from the municipalities for hotel rentals for the removal of vulnerable groups from the KYT to the islands. “The European Commission has offered to cover hotels for the most vulnerable for a short time now due to the crisis, we have a written response from the local municipality that it refuses to use hotels to get the most vulnerable out of #Moria. What some are calling for a mass decongestion of Moria, that is, for 15,000 people to come from Moria to mainland Greece amid the crisis of the corona (…).there are no 15,000 vacancies in the hinterland and if there were they would be in structures like Ritsona. And in the end, it is not a given which place is safer “, the Minister stressed.

**

#Ritsona #camp has been in lock down for 5 days now
…no asylum seeker in or out since at least 23 out of 2,700 people living in the camp have tested positive for COVID-19.
The 23 people who tested positive for the virus continue to live with their families, who most likely will contact it soon, and none of them show any symptoms of the virus as of yet. Therefore, they are said to feel discriminated by the tests and are refusing to move to the camp’s designated quarantine areas.
All 23 persons are from African nations, which is unfortunately increasing acts of #racism in the camp. One of the residents said that the other refugees are avoiding African nationals.
Testing has stalled in the camp because the medical professionals can only go in to conduct the tests with police, but fewer police are willing to enter now.

Les réfugiés abandonnés à leur sort alors que la COVID-19 se répand en Grèce

▻https://www.wsws.org/fr/articles/2020/04/08/rltd-a08.html

Près de 42.000 réfugiés entassés dans des camps de détention surpeuplés et exposés aux maladies restent coincés dans les îles grecques alors que la pandémie de COVID-19 se propage dans toute la Grèce. Les réfugiés qui n’ont accès ni à de l’eau et du savon – en raison du manque de soins de santé de base – sont entassés dans des quartiers d’habitation surpeuplés dans les camps des îles de Lesbos, Chios, Kos, Samos et Leros, des lieux de propagation parfaits pour le virus.

Pourtant, le gouvernement de droite du parti Nouvelle Démocratie (Néa Dimokratía – ND) continue de bloquer le transfert des réfugiés des îles vers la Grèce continentale, permettant ainsi au virus de potentiellement infecter – sinon même tuer – des milliers de personnes.

Le nombre de décès dus à la COVID-19 en Grèce est passé à 73 lundi, avec un total de 1735 cas confirmés. Selon le quotidien Kathimerini, la pression économique causée par la pandémie pourrait entraîner des réductions de salaire pour les travailleurs du secteur public, et peut-être un chômage massif dans les semaines ou les mois à venir, tandis que le ministre des Finances Christos Staikouras a récemment déclaré qu’« aucune question de ce genre n’est en cours de discussion, étant donné que nous attendons un retour à la normale prochainement ».

Réfugiés syriens provenant de la Turquie à leur arrivée par bateau à Lesbos, en Grèce, en septembre 2015 (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Le système de santé grec peut à peine suivre le nombre de tests nécessaires pour contenir le virus, sans parler du traitement des personnes infectées. Les années d’austérité de l’Union européenne (UE), appliquées par le précédent gouvernement de pseudo-gauche de Syriza (Coalition de la gauche radicale), ont ravagé le système de santé publique grec.

Tentant de se laver les mains du désastre social grandissant, Alexis Charitsis, un représentant de Syriza, accuse le gouvernement ND de « concentrer sa rhétorique entièrement sur la responsabilité personnelle des citoyens » et que cela « ne peut et ne doit pas éclipser la responsabilité du gouvernement de soutenir immédiatement le système de santé ». Il ajoute : « le laisser-aller, l’inefficacité et les interventions sont clairement une question de volonté politique ».

Syriza a jeté les bases de la politique anti-réfugiés du gouvernement ND avec sa campagne brutale ponctuée d’attaques de la police antiémeute et d’évacuations forcées, ainsi qu’avec la création de camps de concentration. En 2016, le gouvernement de Syriza a négocié avec l’UE et la Turquie un accord établissant la Grèce comme le camp de prisonniers de l’UE pour les réfugiés à sa frontière sud. Il a ensuite contraint tous les réfugiés entrant en Grèce par des voies « irrégulières » – ceux qui effectuent le dangereux voyage en bateau de la Turquie à la Grèce – à être expulsés vers la Turquie. Autrement dit, la plupart des réfugiés.

Le gouvernement ND poursuit et renforce ces politiques anti-réfugiés. Des réfugiés sont abattus par la police grecque et sont victimes de violences fascistes, tandis que le gouvernement autorise la poursuite de la pratique des refoulements illégaux forçant les bateaux de réfugiés à rebrousser chemin lorsqu’ils approchent du littoral grec.

Le gouvernement utilise le nombre limité de tests de la COVID-19 disponibles ainsi que la menace croissante du virus sur la population grecque de souche comme raisons pour laisser les réfugiés piégés dans l’enfer des camps dans lesquels la pandémie peut se propager comme un feu de forêt. Des centaines, voire des milliers de réfugiés, y compris des enfants et des personnes âgées, risquent de mourir.

La pandémie s’est déjà propagée dans les îles grecques. À Lesbos, où vivent quelque 20.000 personnes dans le tristement célèbre camp de détention de Moria, conçu pour accueillir 3000 personnes, une femme de 40 ans revenant d’un séjour en Égypte et en Israël a été confirmée positive à la COVID-19 il y a plus de deux semaines et placée en quarantaine.

Le nombre limité de tests effectués en Grèce indique qu’il est très possible que la COVID-19 se répande sans avoir été détectée à Lesbos et sur d’autres îles. C’est là un cauchemar imminent pour les personnes entassées dans les camps de réfugiés. La COVID-19 pourrait facilement être propagée par les nouveaux arrivants qui pourraient également contracter le virus de réfugiés asymptomatiques. Le manque d’espace signifie que 120 personnes récemment arrivées à Lesbos n’ont pas encore trouvé d’abri sur l’île, toujours en attente d’être placées dans des cabanes séparées des autres.

La semaine dernière, il a été révélé que 20 réfugiés ont été déclarés positifs à la COVID-19 au camp de Ritsona sur le continent qui abrite 2300 réfugiés et se trouve à environ 70 kilomètres au nord d’Athènes. Le camp est maintenant fermé pour deux semaines, la police étant sur place pour faire respecter la loi et préparer le terrain pour d’éventuelles attaques contre les réfugiés.

Des tests sont effectués et l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM) s’occupe des réfugiés sur place. Dimanche, le gouvernement a été contraint de placer en quarantaine un deuxième camp de migrants sur le continent. Après qu’un homme de 53 ans ait été testé positif à la COVID-19, le camp de Malakasa, situé à 40 kilomètres au nord d’Athènes, a été fermé pour deux semaines et est également gardé par la police qui attend des renforts.

Ritsona et Malakasa ont l’avantage de se trouver sur le continent, ce qui les rapproche des ressources indispensables plus présentes dans les grandes villes comme Athènes, par opposition aux camps situés sur les îles grecques. Mais avec tant de réfugiés contraints de vivre dans des quartiers surpeuplés, les camps sont confrontés à la possibilité d’une épidémie rapide.

La commissaire européenne aux affaires intérieures, Ylva Johansson, a demandé au gouvernement ND de déplacer les réfugiés présentant le plus grand risque de contracter la COVID-19 – les personnes âgées et les enfants – des camps insulaires surpeuplés vers la Grèce continentale.

« Nous travaillons avec les autorités et le gouvernement grecs pour convenir d’un plan d’urgence afin de réduire autant que possible le risque dans les points chauds surpeuplés des îles, déclare Johansson. Cela pourrait inclure de déplacer les personnes les plus vulnérables des camps surpeuplés vers d’autres zones dans les îles. »

Mais comme le rapportent nombre d’ONG et groupes de réfugiés, il n’y a pratiquement pas de tests disponibles pour les réfugiés. Alors il est donc presque impossible de déterminer qui, dans les camps, peut être positif ou non.

En faisant du surplace, le gouvernement ND met en danger des milliers de réfugiés.

Au cours des dernières semaines, les groupes de défense des droits de l’homme ont demandé au gouvernement ND d’agir de toute urgence, un groupe déclarant : « Des milliers de personnes, y compris des personnes âgées, des malades chroniques, des enfants... des femmes enceintes, des nouvelles mères et des handicapés sont piégés dans des conditions déplorables et dangereusement surpeuplées sur les îles en pleine pandémie de COVID-19. »

Jan Egeland, secrétaire général du Conseil norvégien pour les réfugiés, déclarait il y a plus de trois semaines déjà : « Nous devons agir maintenant... Lorsque le virus frappera des zones surpeuplées dans des endroits comme l’Iran, le Bangladesh, l’Afghanistan et la Grèce, les conséquences seront dévastatrices. »

Les conditions dans les camps font qu’il est presque impossible pour les réfugiés de se protéger de la pandémie.

George Makris, médecin et coordinateur de Médecins sans Frontières en Grèce, a qualifié de « tragiques » les conditions sanitaires et en matière d’eau dans le camp de Moria à Lesbos et dans d’autres camps, ajoutant : « La transmission du virus ne peut pas y être contenue. Nous l’avons déjà dit à plusieurs reprises dans le passé dans le contexte d’autres épidémies de maladies infectieuses comme la méningite et la rougeole. Notre message est simple... de la même façon que les autorités sanitaires disent que tout rassemblement de masse doit être interdit, il faut également éviter tout confinement de masse. »

Gerald Knaus, l’un des principaux architectes de l’accord de 2016 conclu entre l’UE, la Grèce et la Turquie ayant entraîné le retour forcé de milliers de réfugiés en Turquie, a déclaré que les réfugiés pourraient être mis en sécurité dans quelques semaines.

Interviewé sur DW.com alors que le bilan humain dévastateur de ses politiques devient de plus en plus évident avec la pandémie, Knaus a déclaré : « Il faut évacuer des îles 35.000 réfugiés aussi vite que possible et les transporter en Grèce continentale. Vous pouvez également vite disposer de 15.000 lits supplémentaires dans des camps de tentes temporaires. L’Organisation internationale des migrations (OIM) est en mesure de construire de telles installations en quelques semaines.

« Un total de 10.000 personnes de plus peuvent être hébergées dans des hôtels en Grèce qui sont maintenant vides. Enfin, 10.000 autres personnes peuvent facilement être hébergées dans des endroits déjà pris en charge par l’UE – des endroits où les réfugiés reconnus sont actuellement hébergés. Si des pays comme l’Allemagne pouvaient accueillir rapidement ces réfugiés reconnus, ils créeraient immédiatement des places pour les familles venant des îles. Cela enverrait également un signal fort aux Grecs pour leur faire comprendre qu’ils ne sont pas seuls. »

La réalité est que l’Allemagne, première puissance de l’UE, a joué un rôle essentiel dans l’élaboration de la politique du bloc en matière de réfugiés et porte une responsabilité centrale dans la terrible situation des réfugiés et des immigrants emprisonnés dans les îles grecques.

Le rôle de l’UE, du gouvernement ND, de Syriza et des gouvernements capitalistes du monde entier dans la facilitation des attaques contre les réfugiés et dans la propagation incontrôlée de la COVID-19 montre clairement l’urgence pour la classe ouvrière d’intervenir et de faire passer la vie des gens avant les profits.

La propagation de la COVID-19 en Grèce est grossièrement exacerbée par les politiques socio-économiques de ND au gouvernement et de Syriza. La défense des réfugiés en Grèce doit être prise en charge par la classe ouvrière grecque et internationale, en opposition aux politiques de ND et de Syriza qui représentent les intérêts de la classe moyenne supérieure et de l’élite financière.

(Article paru en anglais le 7 avril 2020)

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Camp #Lesbos #Chios #Kos #Samos #Leros #îlesgrecques #transfert #continent #Moria #Ritsona #Malakasa #confinementdemasse

Are You Syrious Daily Digest 6/4/20

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-6-4-20-riot-police-violently-raids-a-detention-centre-in-gr

70members of the riot police stormed a detention centre and were beating the confined people confined with batons. Reportedly, there are five people in a critical condition, many were injured and people had not been given food for a long time, according to the first reports that AYS and other groups received.
The most comprehensive report of the incident reads: The government and the Minister of Civil Protection are responsible for the barbaric crackdown on migrant protests over food in the midst of the corona pandemic. Not only are they cynically indifferent to the human lives of the 450 migrants held in the PRO.KE.K.A (Pre-removal Detention Centre), but they are endangering their health with bad food and that of poor nutrition quality.
On April 3, when the food arrived, they found that it was not eatable, and refused to eat it. This kind of food was simply “not for humans”.
Officials have promised that this will change, which did not happen, however.
Then, starting with a large group of Arab protesters came out of the cells, almost everybody went to the rooftop and started a hunger strike. This was followed by an attack of the police in full battle gear. The police took them out of the cells, hitting them with batons, while they also used electric tasers, as the people complained. Dozens of people were beaten for taking part while lying in the yard, it is reported.
They smashed the cameras on their phones so they can’t take pictures of the injuries. And they haven’t given them food since then. According to police sources, a man was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

Underlying racism in official reporting

There is underlying racism in the way Greece reports about COVID-19, separating the report on the general number of infected people and the number of infected people inside the camps. It is clear that if COVID-19 is present in the camps, it came from outside the camps. These types of reports leave room for interpretations, and all kinds of conclusions and conspiracy theories that connect people on the move currently trapped in the camps with COVID-19. In this way they spread a dehumanizing rhetoric very present in governmental reporting, but also within the bureaucratic reports of the big organisations following their lead.

Illegal Deportations and Pushbacks to Turkey, Ordered by the Greek Government, Executed by the Greek Coast Guard
Aegean Boat Report reports:
“While the eyes of the world are occupied with the COVID-19 pandemic, Greek government seems to be taking advantage of the situation, a new tactic to tackle flows towards the Greek Aegean islands has been implemented.
In the last weeks at least nine incidents of people being found drifting in the sea, in life rafts without propellant, has been reported by Turkish coast guard. This could easily have been disregarded as Turkish propaganda, if it hadn’t been for the evidence from Samos.
April 1th at 08.00 a boat landed on Mourtia Beach, Samos east, carrying approximately 25 people. There where several people on the beach this morning witnessing the landing, pictures, and videos was taken. Port police were called by a person on-site, later port police denied having received any information on such incident, and that no new arrivals had been reported on Samos.
Witnesses report that two boats from HCG arrived in Mourtia bay after the landing, the refugees were taken on one of the boats from port police, a boat took off heading southeast. A picture taken by a local journalist shows that two boats from HCG were in fact in Mourtia bay this morning, but port police deny that any of their vessels were in the area this morning.
The last boat that landed in Mourtia beach was February 19th, nevertheless, later this very day people who walk on this beach every day, found a rubber boat, engine, a fuel tank and clothes that weren’t there the day before. Port police told people who contacted them about this that there had been no arrivals, and that they should remember that it was April fools day.
Turkish Coast guard picked up 26 people 13.30 this same day, in a life raft that had drifted towards Aydin national park, 10 children, 6 women and 10 men. According to the statement from the passengers, obtained by TCG, they claimed that they had crossed to the island of Samos; were later rounded up by the Greek Coast guard, put on a life raft, and dragged to Turkish waters.
Pictures taken by locals from Mourtia Beach, compared to pictures taken by Turkish coast guard leaves no doubt, people photographed on Samos is the same that TCG found drifting in a raft outside Aydin national park. When we also take into account the statements from locals regarding this landing, the evidence is overwhelming.
If this had been an isolated incident, this could have been an HCG crew taking things in their own hands, but it’s not. Nine known cases in the last two weeks, from Simi in the south to Lesvos in the north, shows that this is not an isolated incident, this is boat crews acting on orders from the top.”

Due to a dispute between local government and the Greek Ministry of migration, 152 new arrivals on Lesvos are still stuck out in the open without any sufficient infrastructure which meets basic needs, such as electricity, toilets or other sanitary facilities, @f_grillmeier (Twitter) reported. 25 people of those 152 who also arrived after March 1 have been staying in a discarded bus at Mytilini Harbour close to an old swimming pool, but have now been tranferred to Kara Tepe.

56people are in tents and underneath broken boats close to Petra, 32 people are reportedly in staying tents at mountain-region of Agios Stefanos, 39 in a chapel close to Kliou, north. According to the media, the local government has not indicated a safe temporary place for those who have to quarantine for 14 days after arrival. The Ministry of Migration says that it is the responsibility of local authorities.

Anxiety and Despair Among People Confined in Camps Across the Country
As a consequence of the locked camps’ regime that seems to be unsustainable in the long run, as it is now, there is growing despair among the people held in the centres across Serbia, guarded by the army. The people staying in these camps are complaining that they are not allowed to provide their families and themselves with enough proper food for a healthier survival within the facilities in which they are held. They say that in the Krnjača camp there is a small shop with no clear pricing, and everything is much more expensive than in the other shops outside of the camp. They are forced to buy food in these shops which they claim are owned by some of the staff, and even there not everyone gets to have a chance to shop.

The SCRM introduced obligatory isolation for new arrivals sent to Preševo camp, which with a population of 1,501 making it the largest camp .
Growing mental health issues, gaps in service provision and supply, conflicts between different groups and the toxic influence of smugglers’ propaganda inspiring some to protest violently, these are some of the issues InfoPark documented from the testimonies of people held in these centres.

CROATIA
Pushbacks continue
Although the official sources claim the “pressure on the border” has reduced, and that there are not that many people trying to cross the green border into Croatia, the reports on pushbacks have not ceased. AYS has received information on several cases of pushbacks in the area close to Velika Kladuša in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, L’ ALTRA VOCE have recently shared an account of a pushback of a group of boys who tried to enter Croatia, but were beaten up and had their belongings taken away, they say. The images they sent them display heavily bruised arms and extremities on the boys’ bodies.
Sixteen cops beat them with great violence using steel bars. They insulted and beat them. Then they took everything away from him: cell phones, money, shoes, jackets. And they pushed them into the cold water of a river.

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Détention #Camp #Racisme #Refoulement #Merégée #Turquie #Samos #Mourtia #Mythilène #karatepe #Agiosstefanos #Petra #Kliou #Klidi #Sintiki #Privatisation #Serbie #Armée #Presevo #Krnjaca #Santémentale #Croatie #Refoulement #Velikakladusa #Bosnie-Herzégovine

FR : Communiqué de l’association "Refugee Law Clinic - Berlin " qui intervient au sein du Centre juridique du hotspot de Samos, suite à la demande de mesures provisoires auprès de la Cour Européenne des droits de l’Homme.

ENG : Press release of the association "Refugee Law Clinic - Berlin", which intervenes in the Legal Centre of Samos’ hotspot , following the application for interim measures to the European Court of Human Rights.

Attached are the Court’s decision and the association’s written report on the current situation in the hotspot, which has been transmitted to the Court and the Greek Government in this case.

[VERSION FRANCAISE] :
Concernant l’une de nos affaires pendantes devant la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme, la Cour a rejeté notre demande de mesures provisoires visant à évacuer une femme et son nouveau-né du Hotspot de Samos.

Malgré les avertissements clairs des ONG médicales telles que MSF ainsi que notre rapport sur la situation actuelle dans le Hotspot et l’insuffisance des quelques mesures prises par le gouvernement grec, la Cour semble être d’avis que ces mesures étaient suffisantes pour protéger les demandeurs d’asile dans les Hotspots contre l’apparition et la propagation de COVID-19.

Plus de 6500 personnes vivent actuellement dans le camp de Samos. Le gouvernement a installé deux conteneurs devant le camp avec de la place pour 4 personnes à isoler en cas d’infection par le virus. A cet égard, il convient de répéter que les experts ont souligné l’impossibilité de contenir une épidémie du virus, une fois qu’elle a atteint le camp.
Néanmoins, la Cour est d’avis qu’"une possibilité d’hospitalisation et d’isolement de tout cas éventuel de COVID-19 a été organisée" et considère que cela est suffisant.
La vitesse à laquelle le virus se propage dans un camp de réfugiés surpeuplé peut être observée à Ritsona où le camp entier a été mis en quarantaine après que 20 personnes aient été testées positives.

Bien que la Cour souligne que la disponibilité réelle de fournitures de protection telles que masques, gants et désinfectants "est essentielle" et que le gouvernement ait admis que les stocks à Samos étaient proches de zéro, il est jugé suffisant que des fournitures supplémentaires aient été demandées.

En outre, la Cour "compte que le gouvernement poursuivra ses efforts pour trouver des solutions visant à réduire la surpopulation dans les R.I.C.s et les camps". Nous rappelons que le camp a été surpeuplé de dix fois sa capacité officielle au moins depuis l’été 2019. Jusqu’à présent, le gouvernement n’a pris aucune mesure considérable pour réduire le nombre de personnes résidant dans le camp.

Nous continuons à demander l’évacuation immédiate de la population du hotspot de Samos, qui est extrêmement surpeuplé.

–----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ENGLISH VERSION] :
Concerning one of our cases pending at the European Court of Human Rights, the Court has rejected our request for interim measures to evacuate a woman and her new-born baby from the Hotspot on Samos.

Despite clear warnings from medical NGO’s such as MSF as well as our report on the current situation in the Hotspot and the inadequacy of the few measures taken by the Greek Government, the Court seems to be of the view that these measures were sufficient to protect the asylum seekers in the Hotspots against the appearance and spread of COVID-19.

There are currently more than 6500 people living in the camp on Samos. The government has installed two containers in front of the camp with space for 4 persons to be isolated in case of an infection with the virus. In this regard, it should be repeated that experts have stressed the impossibility of containing an outbreak of the virus, once it has reached the camp.
Nevertheless, the Court is of the view that “a possibility of hospitalization and isolation of any eventual COVID-19 case has been organized” and considers this to be enough.
How fast the virus spreads within an overcrowded refugee camp can be seen in Ritsona where the entire camp has been put in quarantine after 20 people were tested positive.

Although the Court stresses the actual availability of protection supplies such as masks, gloves and disinfectants “is essential” and although the Government had admitted that the stocks in Samos were close to zero, it is found sufficient that extra supplies have been requested.

Moreover, the Court “further trusts that the Government continue their efforts to find solutions to reduce overcrowding in the R.I.C.s and camps”. We recall that the camp has been overcrowded by 10 times of its official capacity at least since summer 2019. So far, the Government has not taken any considerable steps to reduce the amount of people residing in the camp.

We continue to call for an immediate evacuation of the people from the direly overpopulated hotspot on Samos.

▻https://en.rlc-berlin.org/statement

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Camp #Hotspot #Samos #CEDH