Refugees

The Greek police have been bringing in asylum seekers living in the country and expelling them to Turkey by force while using the coronavirus pandemic as a cover for their abuses, according to a report published on May 20. 

Greece's Asylum Service will start receiving new asylum applications as of May 18, the Migration Ministry announced on Friday, after having stopped for two and a half months.

To maintain social distancing, half of the staff will work from home.

A group of 20 non-governmental organizations have sent a joint petition to Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis, arguing that a bill recently passed into law undermines the rights of asylum seekers in Greece.

Some spoke of dire conditions in the centre and the growth of gangs stealing from and assaulting other residents.

Others, migrants trying to reach Western Europe, said they had been left out in the cold despite seeking refuge at the centre, its doors closed under a lockdown across the country to confront the coronavirus pandemic.

Plans to relocate some 2,000 elderly and ailing asylum seekers from overcrowded migrant reception centers on the Aegean islands to facilities on the mainland could face obstacles as some residents and local authority officials oppose the move. 

Switzerland has agreed to take in 22 unaccompanied migrant children from Greece, it was announced Thursday following a telephone conversation between Alternate Minister of Migration and Asylum Giorgos Koumoutsakos and his Swiss counterpart Mario Gattiker.
Switzerland said it will also contribute 1.1 million Swiss francs to support Greece in managing the migrant/refugee crisis.

A total of 10 asylum seekers were arrested and six more are wanted by Greek authorities in connection with the violence that broke out at a hotspot on the island of Chios on Saturday (April 18).

An asylum seeker living at a Greek refugee facility has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, reports said Monday.

Greek authorities will begin the gradual transfer of 2,380 asylum seekers and their families from island camps to accommodation facilities on the mainland after Orthodox Easter (April 19), the country's Migration Ministry said Thursday.

The move, which will take place over two weeks, aims to reduce the risk of refugees being infected by the coronavirus.

Turkey on April 13 rejected Greece's migration minister's remarks that claimed Ankara violated the March 18 agreement with the EU using the coronavirus epidemic as an excuse.