Published : 25-11-2019
The Greek government on Wednesday announced plans to set up five closed pre-departure centers for migrants on the Aegean islands of Samos, Chios, Lesvos, Kos and Leros.
According to the plan, which was announced on Wednesday by government spokesman Stelios Petsas and Deputy Minister of National Defense Alkiviadis Stefanis, the new centers will host between 1,000 and 5,000 people and they will replace the overcrowded camps such as Moria and Vathy.
The conservative government is seeking to manage a recent surge in migrant flows through a mix of measures, including tighter border controls and speeding up asylum procedures and returns.
The old camps, on five Aegean Islands, together hold some 34,000 people, many of them living in squalor. Over recent weeks, and with the cold winter months looming, migrants have protested by setting fires and rioting.
“There is a desperate lack of medical care and sanitation in the vastly overcrowded camps I have visited,” said Dunja Mijatovic, Europe’s top human rights official, last month, warning of impending “catastrophe.”
She said the facilities on Lesbos and Samos had turned life into a “struggle for survival.” Some families had chipped away at rocks to create makeshift shelters on steep hillsides.
Greece’s leaders argue that the blame for the conditions rests also with Europe.
At the summit of European Union leaders in Brussels last month, the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, called on the bloc to come up with a “Plan B” to deal with the possibility of a new refugee crisis, saying Greece could not handle the problem alone.
The Greek government on Wednesday announced plans to set up five closed pre-departure centers for migrants on the Aegean islands of Samos, Chios, Lesvos, Kos and Leros.
According to the plan, which was announced on Wednesday by government spokesman Stelios Petsas and Deputy Minister of National Defense Alkiviadis Stefanis, the new centers will host between 1,000 and 5,000 people and they will replace the overcrowded camps such as Moria and Vathy.
The conservative government is seeking to manage a recent surge in migrant flows through a mix of measures, including tighter border controls and speeding up asylum procedures and returns.
The old camps, on five Aegean Islands, together hold some 34,000 people, many of them living in squalor. Over recent weeks, and with the cold winter months looming, migrants have protested by setting fires and rioting.
“There is a desperate lack of medical care and sanitation in the vastly overcrowded camps I have visited,” said Dunja Mijatovic, Europe’s top human rights official, last month, warning of impending “catastrophe.”
She said the facilities on Lesbos and Samos had turned life into a “struggle for survival.” Some families had chipped away at rocks to create makeshift shelters on steep hillsides.
Greece’s leaders argue that the blame for the conditions rests also with Europe.
At the summit of European Union leaders in Brussels last month, the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, called on the bloc to come up with a “Plan B” to deal with the possibility of a new refugee crisis, saying Greece could not handle the problem alone.
