Since 2012, Golden Dawn has received 6-7% of the total votes in national elections. Lessons for the United States? The 50,000-plus refugees in Greece can no longer legally travel deeper into Europe; most will likely remain in the country.

The Greek refugee crisis offers several interesting points of comparison to current socioeconomic and political tensions in the U.S. Our views are developed in the context of our summer 2017 research in Greece, including interviews with staff and volunteers working with refugees, and displaced populations..

Media accounts from the last few years showcase many examples of Greek islanders welcoming refugees, especially those working in the hotel and hospitality industry. The IRC provides refugees in Greecewhether they are on the move, in camps, or living in urban settingswith credible, up-to-date information about available services, legal rights, and options for asylum, relocation and family reunification. Unaccompanied children, many waiting to reunite with families relocated in other countries in Europe, fall victim to exploitation. Kids then stay up late and sleep in, so their daily cycle is out of sync with the school schedule. The IRC has created Safe Zones for unaccompanied and separated children in two refugees camps on the Greek mainland. Refugees also need reliable information about their prospects for asylum and available services. Many are forced to live in overcrowded and dangerous conditions as they wait months for their asylum cases to be heard.. Mohammed*, a 26-year-old from Togo, has been on Samos since November 2019. Under legislation implemented last year recognised refugees are quickly left to fend for themselves, with benefits they once enjoyed, including cash assistance and food, suspended after 30 days. The IRC provides much-needed water, sanitation and hygiene at two refugee sites in Greece: Eleonas, just outside of Athens, and Kara Tepe on Lesbos. Many refugees feel trapped in Greece. Migrants walk in the early morning dawn on Lesvos, in September 2020. Were documenting the threats to humanitarian response in the country and providing a platform for those bearing the brunt of the invasion. There are now 100 million people displaced worldwide as a result of the Ukraine war and new waves of conflict and violence in other countries. In Greece this agenda is promoted by the Golden Dawn party. About 90,000 refugees currently live in Greece and arrivals are much reduced from the height of the migrant crisis when close to 1 million Syrians crossed the country en route to the EU. He is currently living with NGO volunteers in a rented apartment in the main town on the island, but hes not sure how much longer they plan on staying., Mohammed is hoping his appeal will come through and hell be able to go to the mainland. Recently, however, the European Union adopted border restrictions and other edicts that have prevented people seeking sanctuary from entering Europe, putting the worlds most vulnerable increasingly at risk. This number pushes the total number of refugees and migrants without travel documents entering Greece by sea to more than 1 million people since 2015. With a lack of international support, the pressure of the global refugee crisis has been disproportionately borne out by Greek government and Greek private citizens. He says he encounters people on a daily basis who have been granted refugee status in Greece and have now come to Germany to re-apply for asylum although sometimes people are sent back if they dont have adequate legal support., According to an EU law known as the Dublin Regulation, asylum seekers are required to apply for protection in the first EU country they enter. Our goal is to bring you the truth at a time when disinformation is rampant., But while much of the worlds focus may be on Ukraine, we are continuing our reporting on myriad other humanitarian disasters from Haiti to the Sahel to Afghanistan to Myanmar. The IRC is collaborating with Greeces ministry of migration policy and local and international humanitarian organizations to address violence against women and girls and to meet the mental health and psychosocial needs of all refugees and asylum seekers. But it is also surrounded by barbed wire fences, watched over by police, and entry and exit is limited to daylight hours and controlled by fingerprint scanners and electric cards. The refugee crisis has been bad for tourism, and Greeks are eager to return to normalcy. EIN number 13-5660870. When authorities enacted the EU-Turkey Deal in March 2016, refugee organizations estimated 50,000 displaced people were trapped in Greece. Concern One: Human rights It falls upon all of us to reject the suggestion that refugees fleeing conflict in their homelands are a threat to the cultural or racial identity of a nation. Kyriakos Mitsotakis administration has taken a much tougher approach. There is little question that Trump won the election with white nationalists as a core part of his constituency. Edited by Eric Reidy. Refugee.Info content is also available on Facebook. Part of the agreement was that all irregular refugees and migrants that land in Greece will be returned to Turkey. Decisions aimed at deterring migrant flows had, they said, created an intolerable situation in which refugees have been left struggling to feed themselves for months. Concern Two: Individual Citizens Filling the International Aid Void First, we should never forget that we play a role in conflicts that drive the flow of refugees and migrants into Greece, especially in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.

With reporting support from Aymen Alkhawlani. Given that the entire of population of Greece is just over 10 million, Greece is dealing with what would be the equivalent of 32 million refugees entering and traveling through the US. Asylum claims from Iraqis also increased from 580 in 2015 to 4,800 in 2016. Refugees ending up on the mainland shortly after getting protection have no means to overcome the chronic barriers to obtaining documents such as a residence permit or a tax number, which are necessary for accessing their rights to housing and to social welfare. explained Minos Mouzourakis, legal officer at the NGO Refugee Support Aegean. It took more than two years for the family to receive a decision in their asylum case. Rights groups said excessive expectations of successful asylum seekers are partly to blame. Refugees also sail across the Aegean Sea into Greece from Turkey using smuggler-provided (rubber inflatable) boats. Humanitarian groups have accused the Greek government of fomenting a hunger crisis in refugee camps with conscious policy choices that have left thousands unable to access food. The pushbacks have been thoroughly documented by human rights watchdogs and journalists, but Greece denies it is engaging in such practices, which are illegal under international law., Read more Greeces new tactic of migrant expulsion from deep inside its land borders. The number of asylum seekers on the Greek islands has fallen to just over 4,500, down from around 40,000 in April 2020.

Critics have likened it to a prison, and the NGO Mdecins Sans Frontires has said it will only further dehumanise and marginalise people seeking protection. According to volunteers we spoke with last summer, the refugee camps only come to life in the evenings when the sun sets. (Iliana Papangeli/TNH), Still, tired of living in the isolated camp, the family boarded a ferry to the mainland in May to try their luck with the asylum service in Athens.

How can human beings like you or me be sleeping in the camp? Most of his friends in Togo are now in prison, and hes afraid that if he returns to the country he will be imprisoned too, or killed. Possibly topping the list of inadequate approaches to very complex global inequalities, the EU recently proposed a rubber-boat ban! At the same time, a series of government policies have made it: more difficult for people who do manage to enter the country to receive refugee status; easier for rejected asylum seekers to be deported; and harder for people who are granted protection to access accommodation, financial support, and services such as healthcare and education. Turkeys refusal to readmit rejected asylum seekers has not helped either. She earned her PhD in Environmental Anthropology from the University of Washington, and also has an MA in International Development, Community & Environment from Clark University. Mohammeds first asylum claim was rejected earlier this year, and he is waiting for the outcome of the appeals process, but theres no clear timeline for how long that will take. Overall, the number of asylum seekers housed in facilities throughout Greece managed or supported by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum has fallen by around 50 percent from more than 82,000 in August last year to around 42,000 and new arrivals to the Greek islands are down by 78 percent compared to last year. On Lesvos, 3,000 people are still living in a temporary camp set up in the wake of the Moria fire. The party almost reached the 10% mark in the European parliamentary elections of 2014. Greece and Italy cannot be expected to bear this responsibility on their own. We also teach basic hygiene techniques that help prevent the spread of disease, and we ensure that trash and recyclable items are collected regularly. Some Greeks have protested the decision to allow migrants and refugees in schools, arguing that this pulls already limited resources away from their children.

The European Union was founded on a commitment to international law and human rights that has driven policies for 60 years. But he also doesnt want to go to the new facility. EU officials and many aid groups are urging Greek authorities to distribute food to everyone who needs it, regardless of status. Kyriakos Mitsotakis administration has taken a much tougher approach to the issue than that of Alexis Tsipras, his leftist predecessor.

Michail Fragkias, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics at Boise State University. For those who survive the journey to Greece, their struggles are not over. Subscribe. Even animals cannot live in that kind of condition, he said. They have their own economic woes, and are increasingly frustrated with the failure of international institutions to provide adequate support. Here, we provide access to drinking water, toilets, hot showers, laundry facilities and supplies like soap, shampoo and toothpaste. Everything is bad, he said of conditions in the camp on Kos. While the children living in the camps or in dispersed squatter settlements are technically allowed to attend public school, many families choose to keep their kids at home. The International Rescue Committee ensures these refugees understand their rights and provides them with job training, and psychosocial support so that they can rebuild their lives. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) has reported that in 2010, Greece accounted for 90% of all detections of illegal border crossings to the EU. Current policy decisions do not offer long-term solutions to the global refugee crisis, but they do help to cement ideas about who belongs (and who doesnt belong) in each country. However, Greek people are also overwhelmed with the enormity of the situation. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide. In the U.S., the number of hate groups and the level of hate speech are also on the rise. Mismanagement, lack of coordination and unintended consequences are dominant themes after every humanitarian catastrophe. Most refugees living in urban settings are unable to find work to support their families as Greece continues to struggle economically in the aftermath of the 2015 financial crisis. Furthermore, both the Greek and U.S. governments have provided flimsy responses to refugee crises. The chaotic transition further exacerbated the food crisis and handouts for refugees who were eligible for cash disbursements in camps and private housing were frozen for three months. Under this plan, nearly 100,000 asylum seekers would be relocated to various EU member states (66,400 from Greece and 39,600 from Italy). Children need support to heal from trauma. Today, Greece has become something like a holding pen for people seeking asylum. Weve been covering humanitarian crises for more than 25 years, and our journalism has always been free, accessible for all, and most importantly balanced., You can support our journalism from just $5 a month, and every contribution will go towards our mission..