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LONDON: Thousands of refugees and migrants currently in Greece are at risk of homelessness as an EU plan to provide temporary shelter and cash assistance is nearing completion.
Aid groups and international bodies have called for action as up to 2,000 men, women and children in Greece face homelessness as the EU-funded Filoxenia program comes to an end.
The program worked with hotels to provide shelter for refugees and migrants, but has been reaching its planned end since December.
Many hotels have already stopped hosting refugees and in the coming days up to 750 more people are at risk of being expelled from their accommodation.
Many of those who lost access to hotel accommodation have resorted to sleeping outside in public parks and squares.
Christine Nikolaidou, a public information officer for the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), told Arab News that she is working closely with the Greek authorities to provide adequate accommodation for some 800 people and help them establish a life in the country.
“Integration can benefit refugees and local communities,” he said. “Steps have been taken towards integration, but significant challenges remain for refugees, such as learning the Greek language or finding a job in Greece.”
IOM, he said, has been trying to facilitate this process for refugees by providing accommodation and employment workshops.
The organization, together with the Greek and EU authorities, has also carried out “targeted interventions” to protect unaccompanied refugee children on the Greek islands.
But despite the work of international bodies like the IOM, some remain concerned for the safety of the hundreds of refugees facing potential homelessness, a danger compounded by the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is extremely worrying that recognized refugees in Greece are being taken to the streets in the midst of a global pandemic,” said Imogen Sudbery, director of policy and advocacy for the International Rescue Committee in Europe.
“Without the necessary documentation, access to information, language skills or other essential means to become self-sufficient, they run a serious risk of being homeless and unemployed.”
The Mediterranean country has been on the front line of the migratory wave of the last decade to Europe from Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Currently, there are an estimated 80,000 refugees living in Greece, the majority from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Pakistan.
Under EU rules, refugees arriving in the bloc must apply for asylum in the first safe country they land in, which, for many, was Greece.
This has put pressure on the country’s economy after the crisis, and integrating the thousands of refugees living in Greece is now seen as its biggest challenge.
“What we are seeing reflects the complete lack of a national integration policy which, incredibly, remains a problem many years after this crisis began,” said Lefteris Papagiannakis, head of advocacy, policy and research at the charity Solidarity Now. .
“They are images that we have seen before and that we will see again, unless real efforts are made to include these people in our society.”
