The Refugee Crisis in Greece

The refugee crisis in Greece:

In the recent past, over 60,000 refugees escaping conflict have been stuck in Greece. The refugee crisis in Greece has continued to get worse with the closure of the Balkan borders and the EU-Turkey agreement execution. With this agreement meant to slow down arrivals in Europe, the refugees in Greece are left without an easy access to Europe, which is one of their destinations for peaceful settlement. Most of these refugees come to Greece by sea from countries inclined to war and conflict like Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Facing the trauma of a hopeless future, you find the majority of the refugees are traumatized, women and children seeking a war free zone where they can enjoy safety and peace. Below is a discussion of the prevailing factors of the refugee Crisis in Greece.

Relocation Challenges

Refugees seeking shelter in Europe from Greece have found themselves stuck in temporary camps because the legal permit they need for accessing Europe is quite a long one. This delay happens because of the shortage of staff that is responsible for processing the refugees’ claims for relocation. The EU deal with Turkey has also lead to overcrowding in the refugee camps in Greece, which in turn has made acquirement of a legal travel to Europe quite a process. Also, some refugees lack a fair procedure during the asylum claims since some of the migrants are prioritized more than the others in regards to religion and nationality.

Psychological Effects

Many of the Greece refugees are faced with an unpredictable future where they don’t know what tomorrow holds for them. Due to lack of access to proper medication and a healthy environment, many refugees die as their loved ones watch in desperation. The separation of the families that also occurs during the conflicts also leaves some children separated from their parents, which causes some of them to face exploitive situations. Due to these effects the refugees are left with the need of mental counseling to help them cope with the distress they face. The EU policy has also brought about desperation among the refugees that has caused them to be prone to self-harming habits including suicide.

Protection

Women and children travelling alone are in need of protection from sexual violators that may take advantage of their desperate situation. Moreover, children that lost track of their parents during the violence tend to face a lot of child abuse before they get to reunite with them.

Distressed Children

Many of the children face real trauma after facing years or months of conflict. In the refugee camps young children have been found engaging in drugs and also suicide attempts in an effort to escape the harsh conditions in the camps. With the provision of facilities for learning, playing and also exploiting talents the children are able to cope better with these conditions. Some organizations like Praksis and the IRC, offer mobile school activities that help the children to interact with each other thus building trust among them.

Health Unfriendly Environment

With the overcrowding asylum camps, the health conditions keep deteriorating. There is no proper access to basic amenities such as clean toilets, tooth paste, washing and trash collection facilities. Most of the refugees are found lacking enough change of clothes; some of them claim to have only two pairs of clothes to last them during their long stay in the camp. During the summer season refugee camps are invaded by mosquitoes and flies that are likely to increase the spread of sicknesses within the camps. These conditions have been caused by the EU policy that has brought about overcrowding and as some refugees claim, some of the camp environments have become more of animal-friendly than human-friendly.

Deaths

Because of the EU policy with Turkey meant to hinder refugees from crossing into Europe by the Aegean Sea, many refugees are dying on an effort to reach Europe. There is a record of around 5,000 deaths of refugees who have lost their lives while in pursuit of a violence free life in Europe. Most of these refugees die while trying to cross illegally through Libya and Italy, which are also war zone areas.

Discrimination

Refugees in Greece are also being faced with discrimination where there are some deserving and undeserving refugees. Some of the complaints include; African refugees being seen as less deserving of the international protection. Other refugees also face intense torture and mistreatment that lead to them contemplating suicide.

Accommodation

Some of the tents that were built to host the refugees for only a few days have now become a home for them for months. As the days go by and the refugees are increasing, the tents are now holding a double capacity.

Abuse

The refuge seekers have faced physical abuse including, rape, beatings and imprisonment. This has in turn caused the refugees to live in utter fear with an uncertainty for tomorrow. Sexual abuse cases are most prevalent among women and young girls leaving them with long term mental traumas.

The European Refugee Settlement Failure

After the European Home Affairs Committee passed a motion to relocate 120,000 Greece refugees to countries in the European Union, it shed a great hope to the refugees. Well, the progress so far is a discouragement to the refugees since only 5,000 out of the 120,000 have been relocated.

Economic Trauma

While fleeing from violence the refugees leave everything being left with only some little savings that are almost depleted by the time they arrive in Greece. Due to the pressure of becoming financially impaired, gangs have come up in the refugee camps that are involved in illegal activities like smuggling to Europe and drug selling activities as a means of survival.

As conflict continues to increases in war-ton countries like Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, the refugee crisis in Greece continues to grow bigger each day. Refugees in the camps are rioting in resistance to being deported back to Turkey. Many of the refugees feel completely stranded because of the current regulations of accessing the European countries. In the recent past, Greece was just a transit point to Europe but with the current EU policy it has now become a camping place where the refugees have to stay feeling out of control of their lives as they await the approval of their asylum claims into Europe.