Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Greece: refugees and asylum-seekers face hellish conditions on islands - URGENT ACTION

Amnesty International
     Thousands of refugees and asylum-seekers, including many children, are being forced to wait for days to be registered by the Greek police with limited or no access to shelter, food, sanitation and medical treatment. They have arrived to the Aegean islands following a dangerous and life threatening journey. As weather worsens, they find themselves sleeping outside before they can continue the journey to the Greek mainland and beyond.

     Overloaded and under-resourced coastguard, police, and local authorities are failing to cope with the dramatic increase in the numbers arriving on the Greek islands (more than 619,101 since the beginning of 2015). A general lack of coordination and occasionally uncooperative local authorities have worsened the situation. Islanders, volunteers, NGOs and aid agencies struggle to cover the enormous gap in humanitarian provision for refugees and asylum-seekers.
Click here for more information about this URGENT ACTION.