Refugee Detention: A Greek Tragedy

Greece is the worst place to be a refugee in Europe. By far. The Greek government shows so little regard for the welfare of the thousands of refugees — most of them from Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia — who cross its borders by land and sea each year that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees recommends other countries not return refugees to Greece — a stinging indictment for any country to receive from the UN Refugee Agency.

That hasn’t stopped the Greek government from continuing abusive policies. In fact, treatment of refugees in Greece is only getting worse.

On 23 October, a UNHCR delegation, escorted by Greek government officials, visited the Pagani refugee detention center on the island of Lesvos. What the monitors found at the center shocked them.

Seven hundred women, men and children were crammed into a facility built to only hold between 250 and 300 people. In one ward, 200 people shared a single shower and toilets leaked, soiling and dampening mattresses refugees slept on.

“Freedom! Freedom!” the refugees chanted, stretching their arms between metal bars as the humanitarian delegation toured the detention center.

Deputy Citizens’ Protection Minister, Spyros Vougias, to his credit, did not mince words. “What I have seen today is a human tragedy, with conditions in which no human being should be kept,” he told reporters.

The UNHCR is now recommending that the Pagani center be closed immediately. Given the inhumane conditions, it should be closed. But Greece will have to enact policy reforms to ensure the rights of refugees are respected. According to Human Rights Watch:

Greece effectively has no asylum system. It recognizes as few as 0.05 percent of asylum seekers as refugees at their first interview. A law adopted in July abolished a meaningful appeals procedure. The effect of the new law is that a person who is in need of international protection as a refugee in Greece is almost certain to be refused asylum at the first instance, and having been refused has little chance of obtaining it on appeal.

The Greek government’s asylum policies are particularly problematic for people seeking refuge in Europe, because refugees who enter the European Union undocumented must seek asylum in the country they reach first.

For thousands of refugees fleeing the cruelties of war and persecution, capture by immigration authorities in Greece represents the end of a life-sustaining dream and beginning of yet another tragedy.

[Photo: A group of young detainees stare at visitors to the crowded centre at Pagani. UNHCR/L.Boldrini/23 Sept. 2009 ]