A bleak winter beckons for many refugees and migrants trapped in Greece, with thousands left vulnerable to the elements.
Although the Greek government has largely succeeded in shifting most people from ad-hoc sites into state-run camps, conditions in the camps vary widely, leaving various aid organizations to offer winter assistance to those stuck in the country since the closure of FYROM’s border and the Balkan route last spring.
As one UNHCR spokesman admits, “more speed” is needed in efforts to minimize the impact of the coming cold, adding that many refugees still have no more than a tent to protect them in the coming months.
As temperatures drop throughout the country and winter settles in many of the camps, cabins are replacing tents, however, in Greece’s 50-odd state-run camps, not all camps will have that luxury.
More than 50,000 refugees and migrants are trapped in Greece. Among them, 10,000 people who are still living in tents and exposed to the elements, with an estimated 6,000 more living in tents within warehouses, prompting fears of indoor fires as the cold bites.
Most of those in the camps remain stuck in the slow-turning cogs of EU bureaucracy, waiting for permission to stay in Greece or legally relocate elsewhere in Europe.
Of the 66,400 people the European Union pledged to move out of Greece and elsewhere on the continent, less than one tenth have moved on, prompting some to attempt crossing into the rest of Europe illegally.
“It’s not rocket science,” said Roland Schoenbauer, a UNHCR spokesman. “The number of people who need to be relocated is absolutely manageable, but the number of spaces provided [for relocation] has been far too few.”
Source: VoA
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