AYS Special: Hello, I need food - What the media isn’t telling you about Greece

(Photo Credit: I Have Rights)

From the Aegean islands to the Evros border to the streets of Greek cities, throughout the fires and the floods, both new arrivals and people who have been in the country for years are struggling to find enough to eat and drink, are being unlawfully detained and are worried about the health of themselves and their families. The new camps built with millions of Euros from the EU are over or nearing capacity. Families are again sleeping on city streets. And the government and the media are stone cold silent.

Islands

(Photo Credit: RSA)

We are on the island on Samos, there is no food, no water, and we are starving — message received by Refugee Biryani and Bananas this week

Throughout the Aegean basic needs are not being met and the number of people on the islands is rising daily.

The refugee camp in Lesvos, is reaching capacity, with over 200 new arrivals arriving each day. The population of the camp is now approaching 5,000 refugees.

In response to the influx of new arrivals, the camp is working to build more tents to accommodate everyone. However, the camp is still struggling to meet the basic needs of the refugees, such as food and water. — Stand by me Lesvos

(Photo Credit: Moria White Helmets. “These days every day new refugees arrive. Today camp is full with more than 4500 peoples and they need place to stay. So we do what we can to help and the last days after we were asked by camp management we helped to prepare new rubhalls for them. Very hard work but this is our job. Many times the new comers are very astonished that it’s a group of self organized refugees doing all this and they like it.”)

This is not a new problem; hundreds of people have been denied food for many months, but it is one which is getting increasingly worse and the frequency with which hunger is used as a form of control over vulnerabilised populations makes it clear that it is a part of the wider policy of deterrence.

(Photo Credit: Lesvos Solidarity)

In June of this year, 44 organisations called for recognition of this highly inhumane treatment after food was cut to 300 people on 18th May. This clearly affected those who are the most vulnerable to health problems to the greatest extent.

No exemptions to the denial of food and water have been communicated for people with vulnerabilities, including pregnant or lactating women, people with disabilities and elderly people. This exacerbates vulnerabilities, while depriving people of the lifeline they depended upon. — Lesvos Solidarity

In September, two further reports have been produced citing unlawful de facto detention and inhumane and degrading living conditions in ‘Temporary Accommodation Zones’ on Samos and in rub-halls (large tents) on Lesvos. In addition to inadequate access to food, water and medical care, new arrivals have their phones taken for 7–10 days, are prohibited from leaving except in emergencies and are not given appropriate bedding or a safe and private space to live in even if they are unaccompanied children.

On Lesvos, although the official capacity is 8000, according to the camp manager they only have space for 3,400. Refugee Support Aegean have continued to collect testimonies in the past week:

Food is not enough & it’s not of good quality. I often don’t eat it at all, sometimes it has water in it and tastes bad. Potable water is also not enough: we are given 2 small bottles a day per person. — Testimony of a refugee in the Lesvos CCAC

These conditions are also re-traumatising for people who have already fled violence at home.

Sometimes they shout at us — they don’t understand that we are vulnerable, we have been through a lot in the past, but also now. Even when they come to check on us, they knock on the door very loudly, which often makes us panic. — Testimony of a refugee in the Lesvos CCAC

Other islands’ Closed and Controlled Access Centres (CCACs) are also not within the limits of national or international law. On Kos, unaccompanied children face de facto detention for months at a time and some residents only receive one meal a day. Access to medical care and legal support is limited and the structure resembles and operates under prison-like conditions. On Leros, the situation is similar and includes body checks for all genders which go under the individuals’ underwear.

Mainland

In the heart of Athens, a silent struggle unfolds away from the headlines. With a growing influx of displaced individuals, both new arrivals and those transferred from the Greek Islands, our city bears the weight of their despair.

These resilient souls face daily battles — hunger, scarcity of essentials, and limited access to crucial support. — Refugee Biriyani and Bananas

Once again families are being found sleeping rough in Viktoria Square in Athens after making the long journey down from Evros. It was less than a year ago that single mothers and their children were in the same predicament after the vastly premature closure of the ESTIA II housing programme and Eleonas Camp. For those who were transferred to another facility, such as Ritsona camp, over an hour from Athens, they were often not eligible for food, along with approximately 1000 other residents who were also denied access to this inherently necessary service. The entire population of the camp at this time was 1,800. They were managing to feed lass than half of them. This, despite the 412 million Euros allocated for food over a four-year period beginning in 2021.

Every day I go and wait an hour or two in front of the garbage to get the leftovers of those who are entitled to food. When my children line up for the soup kitchen, the guards push them. I may not have suffered physical violence, but the fact that my children have no rights, no right to food and no medical care is a form of violence. I came here to protect my children. If my life in Iraq wasn’t in danger, I would have gone back. — Testimony collected by DAWN in 2022 via Avgi

The struggle here is constant, for nothing more than the most basic of living conditions, the most fundamental of human rights. In 2023, numbers for mainland camps are not easy to come by and access by journalists and activists is strictly controlled, but people are still managing to speak out about their situation.

We are new Malakasa camp, we need help with food, I also have an 8 month old baby — message received by Refugee Biryani and Bananas this week

Yet, despite everything, EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson, has once again praised Greece for its handling of migration and promised yet more funds and further Frontex personnel. She even referenced the death of 600 people in June off Pylos — who died while the Hellenic Coast Guard watched and after Frontex had spotted them and then been asked to fly their drone to Crete — stating that she saw no tension between the Greek State and the border agency. Of course not, they are willing to collaborate in murder.

Once such human rights violations and violence at Europe’s borders would have made headlines, now this treatment of humans seeking protection has been so normalised that it is often met with silence from all sectors. If no one will provide oversight, if there is no accountability for causing death at sea or starving people in detention far from the public eye, then we must continue to speak up, amplify the voices of those effected and carry on doing so until we create change.

Article by Emma Musty, AYS

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