Zusammenstellung aktueller Ressourcen, 06.04.2020, von Eva-Maria Maurer
Inhaltsübersicht – Table of Contents
Will Turkey orchestrate migrant flows towards Greece again?
Turkeys‘ Message Control
EU vs. Greece: Who lies to whom?
EU demands evakuation of hotspots
EU starts migrants‘ relocation from Greece
No transfers despite LIBE committee offering financial support
Corona in 2 Greek migrant camps: Malakasa & Ritsona
Greece struggling to relocate camp inhabitants
Update Moria Camp/ Lesvos
No comprehensive Corona prevention plan in Greece
Lesvos – why relocation doesn’t work
Lesvos – cruel kind of ‘quarantine’ for new arrivals
No comprehensive plan – but single measures
Two new open-air prisons @ Malakasa & Serres
Further reports of illegal pushbacks at Sea
Police crack down on hunger strike in migrant prison
———
Update Migrant*innen in der Türkei
Wiederholt sich von Türkei orchestrierter Andrang an Griechenlands Grenzen?
Wahrscheinlich werden die Geflüchteten um den 10.4. aus den Abschiebegefängnissen wieder zur Grenze gekarrt, wenn die türkischen Ankündigungen stimmen:
Reportedly, the Turkish interior minister said that after the risk of being infected is over, they may go back to the border. „An indication of Ankara’s mind-set is its insistence that its decision to evacuate migrants from the Evros land border on Friday was only a temporary measure aimed solely at limiting the spread of the coronavirus.“ http://www.ekathimerini.com/251113/article/ekathimerini/news/athens-readies-for-ankaras-next-move
Die letzten 5800 an der Evros-Grenze TR/GR wurden in türk. Abschiebe-Gefängnisse gebracht. Türkei erwähnt allerdings keine Abschiebungen, sondern 14 Tage Quarantäne. Sie sagte den Evakuierten am 27.03.2020, sie kämen in 14 Tagen wieder zur Pazarkule-Grenze und drohte auch Griechenland damit.
Die türkische Message Control funktioniert weiterhin
https://uebermedien.de/47989/die-vergessenen-von-pazarkule/
Zuerst wurden die Geflüchteten an der Grenze eingezäunt und festgehalten, zu ihnen wurden ab 04.03.2020 nur noch staatstreue Journalist*innen gelassen. Dann wurden den Migrant*innen die Handies abgenommen und sie mit Zwang und Gewalt in 9 Lager in der ganzen Türkei verfrachtet. Die Bedingungen dort sind tw. nicht mit Social Distancing und den Hygienevorschriften vereinbar, es gibt tw. keine Heizung, nicht ausreichend Essen und keinen Strom.
Ausführlicher Bericht, deckt sich mit Aussagen der Freiwilligen-Organisation Josoor: https://sendika63.org/2020/03/cadirlar-yakildi-pazarkule-bosaltildi-yunanistan-sinirindaki-multeciler-sessiz-sedasiz-illere-goturuldu-581793/?fbclid=IwAR2lyaoYZlwT5wvwLteaiBxG7uMfyVdEedK3Gak9-0QMgr1_ZNz_-ce8dGc
Update Migrant*innen in Griechenland
EU vs. Greece: Who lies to whom?“
Greek Migration Minister Mitarakis says March arrivals now allowed to claim asylum, but not those who received (and were actually unlawfully foced to sign) their deportation papers.
“The Greek government has said that the suspension of asylum will be lifted , and the EU home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, said last week she had received assurances that those who arrived in March would be able to apply for asylum.
However, Greece’s migration and asylum minister, Notis Mitarakis, subsequently said that people who had been issued with deportation orders would not be granted an asylum process.“
According to the efsyn-article there’s a law draft (not yet public) that will change the asylum procedure in Greece. Of course, the changes will be negative for the asylum seekers to-be.
One change is that if someone has lived in a country for more than 2 months, it is considered that s/he is protected in that country and his/her asylum application will be considered inadmissible.
https://www.efsyn.gr/ellada/dikaiomata/237741_etoimazoyn-nomoshedio-eytelismoy-tis-diadikasias-asyloy
EU fordert Evakuierung der Hotspots
EU will sich dzt. nicht mit Maßnahmen Griechenlands zufrieden geben. Sie fordert über die zögerlich begonnene, gesonderte Unterbringung vulnerabler Personen hinaus die sofortige Evakuierung der Hotspots: „Sources from the Migration Ministry told Kathimerini that although a solution is being sought for vulnerable groups,
the European Commission has said it wants to decongest the islands to the extent that conditions are suitable for authorities to deal with a possible outbreak of the highly contagious disease.“
www.ekathimerini.com/251352/article/ekathimerini/news/greece-urged-to-evacuate-migrant-camps?fbclid=IwAR2uooey_Ih1Ts4d3qCsHbTIHtI2WuJ-h7BSE42tHiPV8Kpm_RecTDckjrM
EU beginnt Migrant*innen-Umverteilung aus Griechenland
Greece and EU reciprocally blame each other for organisatorial delays of relocation.
Van der Leyen said starting Mon April 6th they will start evacuating some vulnerable camp inhabitants from Greece to other EU countries. They will start with 1600 minors. In case they are part of families, family reunification will take place in those EU countries.
This DeutscheWelle- article she said the same, but also that evacuation of a group of sick or older people to other EU countries is also being prepared to take place asap. It must be monitored if they really evacuate as many as possible.
www.wort.lu/de/international/luxemburg-nimmt-kinder-aus-griechischen-lagern-auf-5e8839b0da2cc1784e35ac0e
According to Migration Minister Mitarakis there is a complete master plan of the government regarding Corona prevention and handling inside migrant camps. However, it is published nowhere. Transfer numbers that are (sometimes) communicated by the government, are hard to verify. Mitarakis started small groups’ evacuation from Moria, but plans no big-scale evacuation at the moment. Since April 5th, there is a lot of talk on „decongesting refugee and migrant camps“ They stress of course „voluntary returns“ that are nothing more than deportations (also without any access to asylum processes).
No transfers although LIBE committee offers financial support
As the situation in overcrowded Greek camps remains inhumane, the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum has eased the access to healthcare.
At the same time, hotel owners on Lesvos refuse to host vulnerable groups. Previously, the LIBE committee had offered to financially support the transfer. This leaves almost 20,000 people in squalid conditions, where physical distance is almost impossible, as people need to gather on a small area, standing in line for hours for food. Residents complain there is no prevention. Meanwhile, eight EU member states have agreed to relocate 1,600 unaccompanied minors form Greece and the Greek authorities have identified some 2,000 children who have been age assessed and are ready to leave.
Voices from Moria: “Social distancing is not possible here. We are 7 people in a tent and there are hundreds of tents around us. … We try to stay inside our tents as much as possible” Afghan family, Moria camp, 2 April 2020 #refugeesGR
“We have no masks or gloves. There is no social distancing. We still wait for hours in the line for our meals. We experience this situation differently from the rest of the world. There is no prevention” — Male asylum-seeker from Africa, Vathy camp, Samos
The migration Minister of #Greece said that, during yesterday’s videoconference, the LIBE Committee offered to financially support the transfer of vulnerable refugees from #Moria to hotels on #Lesvos. However, the hotel owners refused, minister Notis Mitarachi said this morning.>> https://twitter.com/ep_justice/status/1245699595759476738 …
Corona in 2 Greek migrant camps: Malakasa & Ritsona
As of April 6th, 2 Greek migrant camps are under lockdown due to confirmed Corona cases. “So far, the only answer to reported cases of corona within a camp is to put the whole camp under quarantine and therefore to try to keep the virus from leaving the camp, while at the same time leaving the people in the camp to fend for themselves.” Austria and Germany don’t undertake much more targeted measures neither when they lock down whole asylum shelters (…).
That’s nearly 5,000 people in Ritsona and Malakasa who are now at risk of infection, some of whom live in tents, all of whom have limited access to protective measures. It has also been reported that on Friday(03/04/2020), a court rejected two heavily pregnant women’s requests to be released from Malakasa detention facility where no Covid-19 prevention measures are in place.”
Greece struggling to relocate camp inhabitants
Greece keeps transferring some refugees from Lesvos – first those arrived in March, but also some who were incarcerated in Moria long-term to new „closed“ camps.
For example, private security company will guard the new „closed“ camp 2 km outside of Sindiki (in Northern Greece), were migrants from the islands were brought some days ago.
People stay without heating in tents and without warm water, among them 50 infants and children below 14 as well as unaccompanied minors with temperatures below 0.
The place of the camp has been described by locals as uninhabitable.
Update Moria Camp/ Lesvos
Government locking Moria camp refugees in without providing way to cover basic needs. Tens of thousands suffer from reduced daily food rations and without ATMs to buy more. morewww.facebook.com/www.standbymelesvos.gr/posts/604786366781056
Camp Residents and Team Humanity disinfect communal areas in Moria
“Surely the state’s job?” I hear you ask, “aren’t they in charge of Moria? Didn’t you only recently report that the EU were giving the Greek Government financial support to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in camps?” Well… instead it is the residents themselves and Team Humanity who have undertaken this task.”
Greece has no sufficient Corona prevention plan for refugees – but single measures are under way
Lesvos – why the relocation doesn’t work… and the ongoing impact of ‘quarantine’ on new arrivals
A local source states that from 23rd March, 127 people were abandoned to sleep in the countryside in valleys, mountainsides and beaches, including women with babies.
Why all this?
Immigration Minister Mitarakis has officially asked islands to indicate a place or hotels for the hospitality of refugees. The answer of most mayors is “we don’t give hotels-we don’t give anything, bring a boat from Athens and put them there”. The boat hasn’t come, so people sleep in the countryside.
Further reports state that 25 people have been left to sleep and ‘quarantine’ on an old bus. Even people who were provided with tents by UNHCR were not allowed to put them up in the village of Petra, leaving 54 people to make a camp under old boats.
No comprehensive plan – but single measures
Migration Minister’s official web appearance says med staff is recruited for migrant detentions: „today began(…) recruitment of emergency staff(…), lasting three (3) months to meet the extraordinary needs of the Reception and Identification Centers and Temporary Supply and Supply Structures for Hosting Services. A total of 150 people will be hired at the KYT of Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos, as well as at the Structures of Malakassa and Sintiki“ and Evros prison outpost.*
„new arrivals from March 1 have not been taken to the Reception and Identification Centers of the Islands but in separate quarantine areas, however there are difficulties to do so(…).
So far, the Ministry has not received a positive response from the municipalities for hotel rentals for the removal of vulnerable groups from the KYT to the islands (…). The European Commission has offered to cover hotels for the most vulnerable for a short time now due to the crisis, we have a written response from the local municipality that it refuses to use hotels to get the most vulnerable out of Moria.
What some are calling for a mass decongestion of Moria, that is, for 15,000 people to come from Moria to mainland Greece amid the crisis of the corona (…).there are no 15,000 vacancies in the hinterland and if there were they would be in structures like Ritsona. And in the end, it is not a given which place is safer „, the Minister stressed.“**
Mitarakis’ last statement is wrong both medically and legally. Corona measures are law in Greece, and there is no legal option to exclude migrants from them. Crowded camps are incompatible with Corona prevention measures and thus must be evacuated.
*www.mitarakis.gr/gov/migration/1987-dt-yma-proslipsi-dioikitwn-symvasiouxwn
**www.mitarakis.gr/press/81-tv/1982-i-evropi-kalipti-ta-eksoda
Two new open-air prisons @ Malakasa & Serres – One of them under Corona lockdown
<<In the middle of last month, Greek authorities began work on two sites, one in Malakasa, where 1,340 people have been sent, and another near the border with Bulgaria in Serres, which is housing 600 people (…).
“These sites are fundamentally different,” said Belkis Wille from Human Rights Watch. “They are open-air prisons, filled with people who have been denied their basic rights and are being held as de facto detainees without any legal framework.”
Conditions at the Serres site, where tents are packed tightly together behind fences on a dry riverbed, are even worse than at Malakasa. Detainees say they have no electricity to even charge a phone. The Serres police union said in a statement that the site was “totally unsuitable”.
Spyros Leonidas, mayor of the nearest village, Promaxonas, said the camp was “unfit for animals, let alone people”. “There are newborns and pregnant women among the people. And there is no hot water,” he said.>>
A THREAD has been published following people’s experiences as they are moved to the new detention camps at Serres and Malakasa: https://twitter.com/daniel_howden/status/1246738628040146944
Further reports of illegal pushbacks at Sea – even more life-threatening than before
Illegal deportations and pushbacks to Turkey, ordered by Greek government, executed by the Greek coast guard.
Mare Liberum have started a THREAD monitoring the situation for new arrivals. https://twitter.com/teammareliberum/status/1246828612399046656
Evidence on systematic pushbacks by Greece:
„While the eyes of the world are occupied with the COVID-19 pandemic, Greek government seems to be taking advantage of the situation, a new tactic to tackle flows towards the Greek Aegean islands has been implemented.
In the last weeks at least nine incidents of people being found drifting in the sea, in life rafts without propellant, has been reported by Turkish coast guard.
This could easily have been disregarded as Turkish propaganda, if it hadn’t been for the evidence from Samos(…). When we also take in account the pics and statements from locals regarding this landing, the evidence is overwhelming.
If this had been a isolated incident, this could have been a HCG crew taking things in their own hands, but it’s not. Nine known cases in the last two weeks, from Simi in the south to Lesvos in the north, shows that this is not an isolated incident, this is boat crews acting on orders from the top.“
Corona, hungerstrike, batons and tasers – Several refugees injured, some critical police crack down on hunger strike in migrant prison, 04.04.2020
„70 riot police entered Drama detention camp last night and beat everybody with batons, five people are in critical condition and rumours one is dead.
They smashed the cameras on their phones so they can’t take pictures of the injuries.
And they haven’t given them food.“ According to police sources, an immigrant was taken to hospital in critical condition. https://www.facebook.com/StopWarOnMigrants/posts/166460874812488
Audio document from inside PROKEKA migrant detention @ Paranesti, Drama
From “KEERFA-MOVEMENT UNITED AGAINST RACISM AND FASCISM” https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=210291153636474
Violent supression by police, of the protest of immigrants in the detention center in Paranesti, Drama, on 04.04.2020
The government and the Minister of Civil Protection are responsible for the barbaric crackdown on migrant protests over food in the midst of the corona pandemic. Not only are they cynically indifferent to the human lives of the 450 migrants held in PROKEKA, but they are endangering their health with bad and lacking food.
On April 3, when the food arrived, they found that it was not eatable, and refused to eat it. This kind of food was simply “not for humans”.
Officials have promised that this will change, which did not happen, however.
Then, starting with a large group of Arab protesters came out of the cells, almost everybody went to the rooftop and on a hunger strike.
This was followed by an attack of the police in full battle gear. The police took them out of the cells, hitting them with batons, while they also used electric tasers, as the immigrants complain. Dozens of people were beaten for taking part while lying in the yard.”