A delegation from  the Orphans Care Union Humanitarian Forum in Britain and the International Islamic Relief Office of Canada and the Society convoys for Relief and Development Kuwait  in a field visit to Greece to find out the conditions of refugees arriving via land or sea from Turkey, has been hosting us by an organization  convoy of goodwill  Goodwill Caravan  registered in Britain and Greece as a charitable non-governmental organization where they work to help refugees as much as they can.

The Goodwill Caravan is a humanitarian, non-profit organization that covers emergency care for refugees by providing temporary emergency housing solutions, assistance in seeking legal asylum, and providing food and medical support.


According to the scenes that we have seen, the situation requires the efforts of many organizations. There are more than 75,000 refugees, including about 30,000 displaced minors, who are scattered within the borders of Greece, but  there are more than 3,000 children without parents and their  ages range from a few years to 17 years, including those who lost their parents during the journey of death. As they call it (the cruise from Turkey to the Greek islands), and some of them sent his family to Greece to move from there to Germany and find a better life so that he could therefore request to be reunited with his family in the new haven; In fact, the contracts of large charitable organizations ended in the summer of 2017, leaving the refugees who remained in Greece or those who arrive daily to its lands without assistance, and small humanitarian organizations remained to help refugees, especially widows and orphans, and those refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and other countries .

On a visit to a shelter outside Athens, after obtaining the necessary permits from the local authorities, it is a building consisting of a ground floor with a long corridor and a large room with many toilets and washing machines, and the place is composed of rooms on both sides of the corridor.

The place is inhabited by approximately 50 families, and in each room there are 5 families. In order to obtain a part of privacy, they put blankets and cardboard boxes on the beds, especially the veiled women, and many of those we interviewed and spoke with were from the Deir ez-Zor region in Syria.


The place is not prepared to receive refugees, as we found that many beds are without mattresses. The number of people present is much greater than the size of the place. The place is located under high-voltage electricity lines and near gas tanks, meaning that any accident that might occur could kill these people.

 

The refugees need all kinds of emergency relief assistance, including food, drink, clothing, and even a clean place to sleep, or at least a place with ventilation, as they do not sleep due to the intense heat and the lack of fans. Everyone came to Greece via Turkey hoping to follow the road to Western Europe at all costs, we told them about the changing laws in Europe and they are aware of it, the modern world of communication has kept everyone informed of what is happening everywhere, but they are determined to follow the path with all the consequences .

One of the biggest requests the refugees have made is the need for legal clothes because they are not available in Greece - one woman said she has five children and needs some clothes for them. The reaction you can hear from the refugees is general dissatisfaction with their situation, they hoped for a better situation in Europe.

On a visit to a shelter for widows and their children, which is a full-fledged floor with 11 rooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen, inhabited by 11 widows, 19 children and adults. The residents are from several countries such as Congo - Algeria - Palestine, but the majority are from Syria. Some of them arrived in Greece via land smuggling from Turkey and they chose They fled in this way knowing that it might take a long time for them to reach the islands until the government agreed and sent them to the mainland, and some arrived by sea. We found that the Greek government provides 150 euros for the mother and 40 euros for the child, and these sums are provided only to those whose application has been accepted as a refugee in Greece, and the number of those whose application has been accepted is very few.

During the conversation with the widows, it became clear that they set out for Greece with all the risks that the journey carries without thinking of returning or looking back. One of the women said that she was present with her four daughters and that she had sent her son to Greece and continued his way and arrived in Germany in the year 2015 and he is now from She is 17 years old, and she submitted 4 requests for family reunification with her son, but it was rejected.

The situation in Greece is difficult for those who are in camps, shelters, or even detention centers, and even for those who have obtained legal residency and whose refugee status has been settled. Greece suffers from a difficult economic situation. Therefore, even if a work permit is obtained, the opportunities are very difficult due to the economic situation, and language is also considered one of the biggest obstructions.

On a visit to a detention center where they put refugees who may have done an illegal act such as forging some papers and are deported to their countries; Simply those coming from countries that the European Union does not consider to suffer from problems or wars, and the center is under the supervision of the Greek police, and there are minors under the age of seventeen in the center and the reason for this is to protect them from exploitation or trafficking in addition to the presence of some families who did not find them no place to shelter them. The police official - the commander of the station - requested to get some copies of the Qur’an in several languages, some books, and the need for a tent for the place of prayer in the open.


In a visit to a nursery center for Syrian children, which is supervised by the Goodwill Caravan, they provide simple teaching sessions and entertainment programs for children, and it has a Skype center. But it also became clear that the line has been broken for more than 4 months and people are in a state of nothingness. The organization also provides many legal counseling services for refugees to find out what they have to do to settle in Greece, knowing that everyone lives on the dream of leaving Greece for Western Europe.


On a field visit to the island of Lasvos through its Mytilene airport, where it is considered the capital of the island, to see the camps there, we were received by Mr. Eric Kempson and his wife, Mrs. Philippa, who are two Britons who have lived on the island for more than 18 years. The island since the beginning of their arrival, where they live near the place of arrival of boats in the north of the island, which is 6 km from Turkey. He stated that to date, the arrival of boats has not stopped, and every day it reaches between 1 to 3 boats, and each boat carries between 35 to 85 people, and it is worth noting that The boats used to carry from five to seven minors, while today the boat arrives with more than 30 minors. Minor girls are placed in shelters, while boys and young men are placed together, regardless of age.


A visit was made to a store of clothes and sanitary ware that was prepared by Mr. Eric and his wife, and they called it The Hope Project. They receive donations by mail from European Union countries and distribute them to needy refugees and volunteers of multiple nationalities work with them. The way is for the refugee to attend and register himself with his family with the store and get Thus, he can get the clothes he needs, and each family can have a monthly sanitary basket.

Mr. Eric and his wife Philippa work to help refugees on a daily basis without obtaining support from any of the international organizations, he contacted the United Nations organizations and others and he got many promises of support, but all of them went unheeded without getting anything.


On the side of the store, Mr. Eric rented another store and called it The Art Project, and put a theater in it and provided pens for painters, where we found many pictures and asked him when he painted them. He replied that these pictures are the work of Syrian artists, and set up a theater to do some entertainment programs and launch talent.

     

Next to him is Mr. Julio, a Spaniard who rented two containers, one to live in and the other to arrange as a kitchen, in which he provides daily more than 2,000 meals to refugees for free without any compensation, and volunteers work with him from several countries. When you ask him why you are doing all this and what is the fee, he answers you with a broad smile without saying Anything, we also met two girls from Spain who work with him full time for free, and when I asked them why they spend their time volunteering on a daily basis instead of enjoying the holiday they said that they have some fun and entertainment in the evening when they finish work and they are glad that they are helping as much He can and two volunteers from Afghanistan are also working with him for free.


Moria camp, which is some kilometers away from the coast, where there is an official camp under the supervision of the Greek government and its capacity is up to 750 people, but more than 4000 people live in it, but we were not allowed to enter it, and on its side is another camp and in which more than 3000 people live ; Some of them are from Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Africa; The condition of the camp is very bad, the tents are squatters spread in all directions without any kind of organization and are not supervised by any humanitarian or governmental body, and because of the randomness of its construction, any kind of fire will undoubtedly cause a humanitarian disaster.

And near the camp is a center for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) where they provide medical services from Monday to Friday only, and they refused to place their medical camp inside the informal camp because of their objection to the condition of the camp.


When meeting with some refugee women, it became clear that many of the widows are from Mosul in Iraq or from Syria. People complain about the situation they are in and demand their most basic rights as refugees, and most of the women demand modest clothing because it is not available in all of Greece.

In the afternoon we drove with Mr. Eric to his place of residence and work, which is located in the north of the island, where he used more than a third of the place to prepare to receive the refugees when they came and to put boxes containing emergency blankets, drinking water, etc. to help the refugees arriving by boat. In 2015, the number gradually decreased until it reached 3 boats today.


On the way back, we passed one of the hills that was called the petal of life jackets, where all life jackets are placed for the arrivals, in addition to the placement of the boats brought by the refugees. And it became clear that the closest distance on this island is 6 km with Turkey, and there are those who crossed this distance within two hours, and some arrived within 8 hours, and some did not arrive, and dozens, rather hundreds, died during this journey.


Before we arrived back to Mytilene we visited  a project house for one day ( Menu Home For of a Day )  which is based upon Nicos and his wife Katrina , where they ran a restaurant for tourists and the people of the region and at the start of the arrival of refugees took offering meals free them, they arose to shut down the business and replace it with a restaurant charity will send 2000 A daily free meal for the refugees and is currently working on expanding the kitchen to serve an additional 500 meals in the restaurant for the refugees.


On a visit to a refugee camp outside Athens, which is managed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), it is divided into two parts, one part is made of containers and has air-conditioning and people live in it for long periods and they are from Syria and Iraq, most of them are from northern Syria, and the other part is regular tents and the refugees live there for short periods Between a month or two after which they are transferred to fixed camps. Everyone asks to be housed in an apartment within the city. Their situation is considered acceptable compared to what we saw on the island the previous day, and with all this, everyone is complaining about their situation and striving for a better situation.

 

Humanitarian case studies

Laila's story (Iraqi)

The last thing Laila saw in the middle of the night in 2015 was her mother being tortured and then killed. On Friday 1 December 2017, Laila was able to regain her sight again. For the first time in two years, Laila entered school with her infant sister as a result of private medical aid.

Ibrahim's story: Escape from the war in Iraq

A 9-year-old orphan boy. Ibrahim barely escaped the crossing from Turkey to Greece in the Aegean Sea and was placed in an overcrowded cell.

He went with his mother and it was windy and cold, and the waves were very loud. They spent an hour and a half at sea, until a loud tide came and overturned the boat; Ibrahim stayed with his mother, who spent hours praying to God to save her son from drowning, and after 5 hours, calling her son's name and holding on to hope that everyone would be rescued, until a boat approached the Greek coast guard and rescued Ibrahim, but his mother drowned. Ibrahim says the life jackets were pulling us. Down, because they are stuffed with sponge to drown the refugees.

After the emergency hospitalization of Ibrahim, like many other orphaned children, he was arrested, but thank God a charitable organization won a court battle to release him, as the Attorney General agreed to remain in a shelter in Athens under the protection and supervision of the Goodwill Caravan.

After that, his aunt, who lives in Holland, was identified, and she came with her children to Greece immediately to be with her nephew and to arrange the burial for her sister. Ibrahim is currently being housed in a shelter and is being looked after and medical care is provided until he obtains a legal permit and is reunited with his aunt and living with her in the Netherlands.

Rama's story: (Syria)

She was kept in prison as she was only 18 months old to protect her from the danger of being trafficked, and with the efforts of the Goodwill Caravan she was rescued and is now under the auspices of the charitable organization. But there are thousands of underage children who need help. Every day, children from government shelters disappear without a trace. For example, three-year-old girls have disappeared without any trace, due to lack of financial support.

Recommendations:

Communication with the Greek government, the Greek Red Cross and the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) working in Greece with refugees.

- That there be a movement from small and international humanitarian organizations to work to help these refugees by all means, whether it is relief, medical or psychological support.

Work to provide camps for refugees arriving through the Greek islands, so that their legal status can be settled.

Legal assistance to orphans with no parents, numbering 3000, and provision of adequate temporary housing for them so that their status can be permanently settled.

Coordination between international humanitarian organizations and the Greek government to provide job opportunities for these refugees, especially widows.

 

To download the report as pdf

Report on the field visit to the refugee camps in Greece, July 2018

07.08.2018