refugee and migrant crisis

Greece and its EU partners are failing pregnant women, unaccompanied children, victims of torture or sexual violence and other vulnerable people who seek protection in Europe. In EU 'hotspot' camps on the Greek islands, people are being put at risk by flawed processes, chronic understaffing and squalid, overcrowded conditions.

This research report explores the decision making processes of displaced people and returnees in Salah al-Din governorate, Iraq. It finds that against a backdrop of strong family and community support, displaced people and returnees – including women – have surprising levels of agency and self-direction.

In Ventimiglia, near the border between Italy and France, refugees and other migrants are living rough, without access to the most basic services. The French police meet children with abuse, and send them back to Italy in violation of French and EU law. Stranded, hundreds of people are unable seek even basic support.

As the two-year anniversary of the EU-Turkey deal nears on March 18, 2018, thousands of asylum seekers are trapped on the Aegean islands in deplorable conditions and without access to adequate protection and basic services, nine humans rights and humanitarian organisations including Oxfam said today.The Greek government should act immediately to end the containment policy that traps asylum seekers in these conditions on the islands and move them to safety on the mainland.

 

Many people are still trapped in captivity and suffering abuses in Libya a year after Italy struck an EU-backed deal with the government to stop irregular migrants. Migrants who have managed to escape Libya following the deal have told Oxfam and its partner Borderline Sicilia of on-going kidnapping, murder, rape and forced labor.

More than 13,500 refugees and other migrants remain trapped on the Greek islands in deplorable conditions as winter begins, a coalition of 13 NGOs including Oxfam said today. Oxfam calls on the Greek government and its EU partners to transfer immediately at least 5,500 asylum seekers from the squalid island camps to the Greek mainland.

Two years on from the peak of the “refugee crisis” in Greece, the Greek state is beginning to take over management and financing of aspects of the reception and integration system. At this turning point, the 14 undersigned NGOs believe it is critical to reflect on our field experiences and provide recommendations.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras should end the Greek government’s “containment policy” of confining asylum seekers to the Aegean islands, 19 human rights and humanitarian aid organizations said in an open letter released today.