Immigration of refugees to Greece

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The illegal immigration to Greece is part of the migration to the EU . Due to its location on the EU's external border , its long coastline and islands, Greece was very heavily frequented by refugees from 2014 onwards with the increasing flow of refugees from Africa and the Middle East towards Northern Europe (see transit migration ). Since then, several boats with refugees land on the Greek coast every day. Of all the countries in Europe, the humanitarian situation of refugees in Greece and Italy is the most tense. Observers see the reasons for this in the large number of migrants arriving in the country, in the economic crisis and the asylum policy of the Greek government.

In July 2015, between 50,000 and 55,000 people landed in Greece.

According to UNHCR , a total of 362,753 people arrived in Greece in 2016, compared to 70,877 by May 30th in 2017.

location

With over 15,000 km, the country in the Schengen area has the second largest coastline in Europe after Norway and the eleventh largest in the world. This is due to the thousands of islands , many of which have little infrastructure due to the small number of inhabitants. The EU's external border is particularly at risk here. Almost 1,000 people are expected to arrive every day on the islands of Kos and Rhodes in 2015. In addition, the Greek state was forced to make savings in the course of the crisis, for example in the area of ​​the coast guard or medical care.

There were no obstacles on the part of Turkey to wander through the country and get to the coast off Greece. However, that changed initially with the entry into force of the EU-Turkey Agreement on March 20, 2016.

A deterrent effect from the refugee agreement broke away in April 2018 when the highest administrative court in Greece, the State Council , ruled on the basis of a complaint by the Greek Refugee Council that there were no serious reasons for the internment of refugees in miserable and overcrowded camps on the Greek islands . Newly arriving people are no longer allowed to be detained on the islands and are allowed to travel on to mainland Greece. The 15,000 people already interned on the islands were initially excluded from the decision.

Routes

Refugees near Skala Sykamineas ( Lesbos )
The Greek coast guard brings refugees ashore from a damaged sailing yacht. Gerolimenas, October 2016

Many of the migrants arriving in Greece take the sea ​​route and start in Turkey . As of 2014, these were mostly civil war refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries. The islands and the coast of the Aegean Sea are the destination of many smugglers. Many currently important smuggling routes to Europe lead across the Aegean Sea ( border between Greece and Turkey ) . The islands of Lesbos , Chios , Kos and Samos are main destinations.

The land route over the Evros River between Turkey and Greece is also used.

Humanitarian aid and refugee camps

The Greek Coast Guard carries the brunt of the refugee rescue. In addition, many citizens in the coastal communities help.

Large and often wildly laid out refugee camps formed on the islands of the East Aegean. The medical, nutritional and security situation in the camps is almost all inadequate and does not meet UN or European standards. At the end of 2019, 36,000 migrants were living on the islands of Lesbos, Samos and Chios. The official capacity on all islands together is almost 6200 places for refugees. An orderly asylum procedure is usually not possible on the islands. The Greek government planned to gradually close the three largest camps on Lesvos, Samos and Chios in autumn 2019. Only migrants who, from the Greek point of view, have a prospect of asylum should be brought to mainland Greece; all others, on the other hand, should be brought to new "identification and departure centers" to be set up. According to Greek law, these people can be detained for up to 18 months.

Greek asylum policy

Most immigrants want to continue to a country in Central Europe. The Dublin Agreement is of little importance for the Greek authorities , as it has been suspended for Greece since 2011.

EU policy

In August 2015, the Greek government asked the EU for help with refugee aid. The EU Commission then emphasized that Greece already had an assurance that it would receive around 260 million euros from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) by 2020 . However, the country still has to meet conditions for the payment of the first tranche.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ tagesschau.de: EU refugee policy: The willing and the unwilling. Retrieved May 30, 2017 .
  2. ^ Greece: In the center of the crises . In: Zeit Online . ( zeit.de [accessed on May 30, 2017]).
  3. ↑ Greece Archives - Face2Face. Retrieved May 30, 2017 .
  4. ^ Situation Mediterranean situation. Retrieved May 30, 2017 (English).
  5. ↑ "Greek court rules migrants must no longer be detained on Aegean islands in 'big worry' for EU" The Telegraph of April 19, 2018, accessed January 10, 2019.
  6. ↑ npr.org
  7. ↑ Desperate on Lesbos - Children in the refugee camp. Retrieved on March 18, 2020 (German).
  8. ↑ Greece wants to close refugee camps on Lesbos, Chios and Samos. Retrieved March 18, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Michael Martens, Julian Staib: Deportation of Refugees: Dublin Lives! In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . January 13, 2017, ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed May 30, 2017]).
  10. ↑ tagesschau.de ( Memento from August 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive )