Displaying items by tag: Greece

Arash Hampay arrived in Greece in 2016, escaping persecution in Iran and crossing the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast. After spending 18 months on the island of Lesbos, he now lives in Athens, where he works with homeless asylum-seekers. ‘It is two different hells’, Hampay, now a registered refugee and activist, said, referring to the struggles people face in both places. Greece promised to move 20,000 asylum seekers from overcrowded island reception centres to the mainland by early 2020, following a surge in refugee arrivals this summer. Since October 9,500 asylum-seekers have been moved, sparking anti-refugee protests in affected areas. Meanwhile, some 17,500 people have arrived from Turkey, and overcrowding is now worse on the islands, where 38,800 asylum seekers now reside.

13,000 people are crammed into a facility designed for 3,000. The UN has called for migrants to be transferred immediately from the squalid Moria camp on Lesbos to the mainland after a fire killed a mother and child. Lesbos lies in sight of Turkey’s coastline. As quickly as people are transferred to Greece’s mainland, more asylum-seekers arrive from Turkey. On 29 September a blaze consumed shipping containers where families are housed. A woman and child died in the fire, and 17 people were hurt. Clashes erupted between migrants and police, who fired tear gas to control the chaos. Humanitarian organisations condemn the conditions at the camp, where many are sleeping in tents in olive groves. Pray for the police and authorities to respect and care for migrants who have covered dangerous terrain to get as far as Greece, and then been made to live in conditions described as ‘critical’.

The Republic of Cyprus is in the EU, but the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is recognised only by Turkey, and is internationally isolated. Ankara's latest move to increase drilling for oil off the coast of Cyprus by sending a third ship to the eastern Mediterranean, despite EU warnings, comes on the eve of talks between the president of Cyprus and the Turkish Cypriot leader. At the time of writing, Cyprus president Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci are expected to discuss ways of resuming negotiations aimed at reuniting the divided island after talks failed two years ago. In 1974 Cyprus split, 165,000 Greek Cypriots fled or were expelled from the north, and 45,000 Turkish Cypriots from the south took their place. In the years since then there have been failed talks to re-unite the island of Cyprus as Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot communities stand by their right to take their old homes back, or be compensated.

Macedonia has launched a renaming of the country’s institutions after a deal with Greece that changed its name to North Macedonia. The deal came into effect on 12 February, after ratification by Greece’s parliament. Following the name change of this former Yugoslav republic, voters will elect a new president. Political rancour and ethnic division among political forces remain rife, yet many hope that offers of accession talks by the EU will end political dissension and stalemate. North Macedonia’s main opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE, nominated law professor Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova as its candidate. He is a harsh opponent of the deal with Greece and of the adoption of the law that made Albanian the second official language in the country. The first round of the election will be on 21 April. The governing SDSM party still has to decide on its candidate. See

In some European territories sharia law is applied, challenging human rights. Greek Muslims in Western Thrace use sharia judicial power to rule on disputes concerning inheritance. Muslims can choose between a mufti or Greek courts. In the UK, the ‘Islamic Sharia Council’ is an independent arbitration tribunal issuing private law decisions and able to grant Islamic divorces. These divorces may also be included in a civil procedure. There are believed to be some thirty sharia councils, affiliated to local mosques. In Russia’s Northern Caucasus: family and property matters are usually judged under sharia law under the guise of ‘tradition’. Women and girls are victims of violence and discriminatory practices such as early marriage, abduction for forced marriage, ‘honour’ killings, female genital mutilation and polygamy, despite the provisions of Russian federal law. In Turkey Muslim religious education is compulsory in schools. The government publicly favours a Muslim viewpoint, linking Turkish nationality with Sunni Islam.

Winter makes life in an improvised refugee camp even harder than it already is for asylum seekers - especially for the most vulnerable. Pregnant women, new-born babies, and the elderly, sleeping in tents without heating, are among hundreds exposed to worsening weather. Hours after a 24-year-old man from Cameroon was found dead at Moria refugee camp in Lesbos, an Oxfam report stated that hundreds of vulnerable people, including survivors of torture, ‘are being abandoned’ in substandard conditions. Oxfam said its concern is that there could be more deaths with the recent freezing weather and the poor preparations for winter in the camps. Every year conditions in and around the camps deteriorate further with the onset of winter because they are not equipped for cold temperatures, heavy rain or snowfall. Pray for those living in muddy bogs, burning anything they can find to keep warm to receive suitable accommodation, and medical support. See also

Brutal winter weather is battering Europe, with ‘significant and disruptive’ snow forecast to continue for up to two weeks. Snow trapped hundreds in Alpine regions, caused avalanches and flight delays, and worst of all hit dozens of refugees housed in tents in northern Greece as temperatures sank to -20C. There have been at least 13 deaths so far in Greece's islands. Poor visibility halted Norway’s attempts to find the bodies of four skiers presumed dead after a huge avalanche hit a valley. Romanian police found the frozen body of a 67-year-old man in a car park where temperatures were -24C. Austrian residents were housebound due to blocked roads, and some regions experienced power outages, closed schools, and buildings collapsing from snow-laden roofs. Many are bracing themselves for more snow, while others prepare for subsequent floods. See

Up to 9,000 asylum-seekers strive to survive both inside and outside Camp Moria in tents exposed to cold and rain. 23-year-old Maryam Parsa from Afghanistan said that Moria is not what she expected. There were not enough doctors for the children, not enough medicine, or blankets, or food. ‘Our sons all become sick. This is not a good situation for us. If they don’t let us go to Europe, then make this situation good.’ Muhammad Raza, at 18, has won medals in karate and wishes to become a professional after relocating to France, but is disappointed with living conditions in camp Moria. Activists and NGOs call Moria the ‘shame of Europe’ and ask authorities to move children and other vulnerable refugees away from there. The government said that it has moved around 4,000 since June, but more refugees keep landing in Lesbos.

Gale-force winds tore through seaside communities close to Athens, fanning the flames which have left a trail of death and destruction. Coastguards saved 700+ people who fled to the sea during the night of 23/24 July. The region is popular with tourists, particularly pensioners and children at holiday camps. By 26 July the death toll from Greece’s forest fires had reached 83, expected to rise as rescuers search the disaster zone where dozens are still missing. ‘We all have pain’, sighed 67-year-old Maria who had lost her six-month-old grandson, two cousins, their children and all of her worldly possessions. Her daughter Margarita is fighting for her life. ‘My grandson hadn’t even been baptised. He died in Margarita’s arms, and now she is in intensive care.’ ‘God doesn’t give us the words to describe such things’, said one woman who survived the disaster because she was visiting doctors in Athens with her husband.

Greece’s parliament passed a bill on 15 May aimed at making asylum procedures simpler and faster and easing overcrowding in its refugee camps. Five camps on islands close to the Turkish coast hold more than double their capacity, and have been mired in violence over living conditions and delays in asylum claims that often take months to process. Human rights groups and the European Commission, which has offered Greece millions of euros in emergency aid, have criticised the government for not doing enough to manage the situation. Migration minister Dimitris Vitsas acknowledged that the bill ‘will not magically solve the refugee and migration issue’, but said the government wanted to reduce the wait for thousands of asylum seekers. Human rights groups criticised the bill, which foresees a shortened appeals procedure for rejected asylum seekers, saying it would lead to slapdash procedures violating refugees’ rights.