Refugee camp

A European human rights watchdog on Thursday slammed living conditions as "horrible" for thousands of asylum seekers in overcrowded Greek camps, including waits spanning several hours for food and toilets and a lack of access to medicine.

Authorities in Greece have expanded a program to transfer migrants and refugees from overcrowded camps on the islands to the mainland amid concern that the number of arrivals from nearby Turkey could continue to rise.

Citizens' Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis will be convening an emergency meeting of the country's regional governors in Athens on Friday to discuss plans to create new migrant and refugee camps on the Greek mainland following reactions to the transfer of hundreds of asylum seekers from woefully overcrowded facilities on the Aegean islands.

A 5-year-old Afghan boy was accidentally run over by a truck near the migrant and refugee camp of Moria on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos on Tuesday.

According to preliminary reports from state broadcaster ERT, the boy was inside a cardboard box that the truck driver ran over while turning into the parking lot of a business where he was making a delivery.

Security and municipal services on the Greek island of Lesvos held an emergency meeting Monday after administrators of a refugee camp said they were overwhelmed by the number of arrivals from nearby Turkey.
The camp at Moria on the Aegean Sea island began turning away new arrivals Friday as the number of people at the site exceeded 12,000, four times its intended capacity.

Security and municipal services on the Greek island of Lesvos held an emergency meeting Monday after administrators of a refugee camp said they were overwhelmed by the number of arrivals from nearby Turkey.
The camp at Moria on the Aegean Sea island began turning away new arrivals Friday as the number of people at the site exceeded 12,000, four times its intended capacity.

Authorities on the Greek island of Lesvos say they can't house more newly arrived migrants at a perpetually overcrowded refugee camp that now is 400 percent overcapacity.
Two officials told AP the Moria camp has a population of 12,000 and no way to accommodate additional occupants.

The Greek government plans to create two new continental camps to house migrants and refugees transferred from the island's overcrowded facilities, saying the new units will be temporary, serving only as "transit" centers.

About 1,500 asylum-seekers were being transported from Greece's eastern Aegean island of Lesvos to the mainland Monday as part of government efforts to tackle massive overcrowding in refugee camps and a recent spike in the number of people arriving from the nearby Turkish coast.

A spike in migrant flows over the last month to islands in the northern and eastern Aegean has put fresh pressure on the country's already overcrowded reception centers, to the frustration of Greek authorities which are reportedly exploring different options.