Blows of blows and fist blows, devastating hygienic conditions in hopelessly overcrowded collective housing, lack of drinking water, food and medicines – the Council of Europe has again expressed alarmed the situation of refugees in Greece. Many migrants, including pregnant women, mothers with small children and unaccompanied minors, are crammed under „inhumane and degrading conditions,“ the Council of Europe’s Anti-Torture Committee (CPT) said in a report released today.
A delegation of the committee, including a doctor, visited several first-reception and deportation camps in April of last year – in the Evros region along the land border with Turkey, on islands in the Aegean and in Athens. The Council of Europe’s experts found particularly alarming conditions in the Fylakio camp near the Turkish border – one of the „hotspots“ set up with the help of the EU, where refugees are identified and registered.
Overcrowded dorms
At the time of the visit, the camp housed 319 people, some over several weeks. Among them were 128 minors, about half of whom were on the run without adults. The dormitories were so crowded that there was hardly more than one square meter per person.
According to the report, similar conditions prevailed at the stations of the Greek border police of Isaacio and Tychero as well as in the deportation camp Moria on the island of Lesbos – dirty mattresses and blankets, extremely dirty sanitary facilities full of rubbish, clogged toilets and lack of washing facilities. Due to the devastating hygienic conditions, many migrants suffered from scabies.
