About 11,000 asylum seekers facing eviction

About 11,000 recognised refugees are facing an uncertain future as they will gradually have to leave their current accommodation facilities starting in June, as part of the Migration Policy Ministry's plan to replace them with asylum seekers from the islands, in a bid to decongest the local camps.

About 6,500 of those refugees live in apartments paid by the UNHCR-implemented ESTIA program, 2,500 are in accommodation centres and about 1,500 refugees never left the reception and identification camps even after their asylum application was approved.

Officially, these refugees, whose asylum application was accepted five months or - in some cases - even three years ago are no longer entitled to stay in those facilities and will have to look for a way to secure a livelihood.

Sources from the Migration Ministry said there is coordination with the Citizen Protection...