Greece suspends scrutiny of Syrian asylum requests
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
Greece on Wednesday suspended all decisions on asylum applications by Syrians after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the government announced, as NGOs criticised conditions in reception camps for migrants.
“We are temporarily freezing… all procedures (for Syrians) until we have evaluated the new data,” Migration Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos told Real FM radio.
Greece, the entry point for many of the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in Europe, is the latest to suspend asylum decisions after Assad’s ouster.
The announcement came as Save the Children and the Greek Council for Refugees urged the government to take immediate steps to improve living conditions in remote migrant reception camps.
Migrant and refugee arrivals to Greece surged to a five-year high in 2024, with more than 57,300 people entering the country in the first 11 months of the year, the charities said, quoting UN refugee agency (UNHCR) data.
Of those, more than 13,000 were children who arrived by sea — up about 50 percent on 2023, they added.
The NGOs said children and their families should be moved to reception centres in towns and cities from the moment they arrive and seek asylum because of conditions in the camps.
Children in the camps have reported “alarming” conditions, including poor-quality and out-of-date food. There has also been a lack of child-protection measures and access to schooling or mental health support, as well as violence.
One 13-year-old boy from the Democratic Republic of Congo said he found life in one camp about 70 kilometres (45 miles) from Athens “dangerous and isolating”. He also claimed frequent discrimination.
Save the Children Europe’s director and EU representative Willy Bergogne said: “The EU and Greek authorities have a moral and legal obligation to act urgently to improve the conditions in the camps and protect these children and ensure they have access to safety, adequate services, and dignity.”
The director of the Greek Council for Refugees, Lefteris Papagiannakis, said the situation at the reception camps was long-standing.
“But what is surprising is that, after almost 10 years of enhanced experience in managing the reception of asylum seekers in Greece, we’re witnessing an ongoing downgrading in essential service provision, including services for children,” he added.
Source: AFP
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