Aid agencies have failed in Greece – your responses
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Version 0 of 1. ‘Aid agencies have taken an out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach to housing refugees’ I travelled to Greece in February to distribute supplies in Lesbos and Athens. I commend the writer for this article. However, one thing the article failed to mention is that the crisis environment we have today is a result of poor policy decisions made by the local authority and NGOs in the early days of the crisis – and it is these same aid organisations that are now getting paid to fix the situation. Instead of taking advantage of all the existing Greek residential infrastructure, the government and NGOs consciously chose to locate refugees in old abandoned industrial buildings and remote rural areas, which directly limited their access to potable water, sanitation, electricity and food. Rather than trying to integrate refugees into life in Greece, it seems that they have taken an out of sight, out of mind approach. There’s a lot of strain on an already broken system and accountability is absent at every level I see the strategy as a missed opportunity to revitalise the Greek economy too. If refugees had been given cash vouchers to buy food from local markets and farmers, it would have helped residents financially and would also have helped change perceptions about refugees. There is a lot of empty real estate in the country that could have been used at the start but wasn’t. Now these places, like the City Plaza hotel in Athens, are being turned into refugee squats. Anna Segur, volunteer ‘The biggest hurdle is lack of support from the local government’ Great article on Greek systemic failures to support refugees. UNHCR rarely answer emails these days, MSF [Médecins Sans Frontières] are invisible, and it is virtually impossible for smaller NGOs to access the vast resources that should be supporting these desperate people. The biggest hurdle is lack of support at local government level – who undoubtedly face other immense challenges day to day. There is little appetite to support refugees – there are not enough resources to support Greek people in need, let alone refugees. In the Greek islands nearest to Turkey, the impact of the refugee crisis has also been harsh on tourism – coupled with the events in Turkey this year many businesses are down 40% to 50% on revenue. Greek people are the most hospitable people I know but there’s a lot of strain on an already broken system and accountability is absent at every level. We have had fires, riots, a hepatitis breakout, and attempted suicides. The camp is an accident waiting to happen Things got worse after the EU-Turkey deal, when major agencies pulled out, as there’s no longer the capacity to help the many asylum seekers who now need longer term support to establish themselves and start a new life. Hot spots are full. Asylum processing is hugely under resourced, with it taking months to get an interview appointment. Informal detention camps, like the one in Rhodes are not recognised or resourced. The refugee crisis is a global problem – not just a Greek problem – but it seems as if the global community has hidden the issue. Anonymous ‘We’ve had riots in the camp where the police did nothing, and have had Human Rights Watch in twice to report on the situation’ As a long term volunteer based on the ground on the Greek island of Samos for the last year, last week’s secret aid worker really rang true for me in highlighting what I see on a daily basis. Some NGOs have been great at coordinating with small grassroots groups (MSF in particular) but I am also disturbed by the total lack of compassion and humanity demonstrated by many of the EU appointed partners tasked with running the camp I’m based in. We’ve already had two riots, one of which resulted in a big fire that destroyed many people’s possessions. The police failed to intervene to break it up or help innocent people caught up in it. Instead, they locked themselves in their compound and watched people’s tents burning. It’s also been nearly five months since the EU-Turkey deal came into effect but people are still stuck in hazardous unsanitary camps that are not fit for purpose and do not have enough staff to run them. We have had fires, riots, a hepatitis breakout, and attempted suicides. There’s a complete lack of child protection services and there’s been no preventative action taken to make the camp safer, despite sexual assaults occurring. The camp is an accident waiting to happen. I have reports of all this stuff and I’ve had Human Rights Watch in twice to report on the situation, but after one year of engaging with UNHCR, NGOs and the local authority over these issues and seeing nothing change I have had enough. Pru Waldorf, Calais Action ‘The companies that provide food to the camps are taking advantage of the crisis’ For the last three months I have been working in Greece outside a refugee camp. We have set up a community kitchen, school, women’s space, play space and library. By contrast, inside the camp, all of these projects are “underway” but nothing is being done, despite UNHCR currently sitting on €9m [£7.7m]. I’ve also been shocked by the quality of food I’ve seen and tasted that’s provided in camps by multiple external catering companies. It’s relatable to the worst kind of hospital food and bearing no nutritional values whatsoever. These companies receive €6 [£5] per day per person, but some only spend around €2 [£1.70] of that on the food. Meanwhile, in our community kitchen which we run alongside residents from the camp, we are able to spend 30-50 cents [20-40p] per meal per person depending on if we include meat but the food we create is traditional Syrian food and very nutritious. Of course, the people from the camp ideally want to be cooking for themselves. However, in the camp there’s a maximum of 10 electric cookers, which are shared between 1,200 people. Anonymous Are you an aid worker, volunteer, or otherwise involved in the refugee response in Greece? We’re monitoring the situation in refugee camps and trying to build a bigger picture of the issues. Share your experiences with us by emailing globaldevpros@theguardian.com with ‘Refugee response in Greece’ in the subject line. Join our community of development professionals and humanitarians. Follow @GuardianGDP on Twitter. |