Reception And Identification Centers In Greece on:
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Reception and Identification Centers in Greece, also called hotspot camps, are refugee camps for the processing of foreign nationals who come to Greece without the necessary legal formalities. In October 2019, there were a total of six such camps in Greece: five at the islands of the eastern Aegean (
Lesbos
Lesbos or Lesvos ( ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of , with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, eighth largest ...
, Chios
Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...
, Samos
Samos (, also ; , ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese archipelago, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the Mycale Strait. It is also a separate reg ...
, Leros
Leros (), also called Lero (from the Italian language), is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by a nine-hour ferry ride or by a 45-min ...
and Kos
Kos or Cos (; ) is a Greek island, which is part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 37,089 (2021 census), making ...
) and one at the Fylakio
Fylakio (Greek: Φυλάκιο) is a village in the Evros regional unit of northeast Greece. Fylakio is in the municipal unit of Kyprinos. In 2021 the population was 867 for the community, including the villages Ammovouno and Keramos. It is loca ...
of Evros at the northeastern border of Greece.
Capacity
The total capacity of the five camps on the islands was 6,178 people (the total occupancy was 38,423 people), while the Greek government was planning to create new closed structures with a capacity of 22,000 people. These structures would replace the camps of the islands and would function both as reception and identification centers and as pre-departure centers.Criticisms
In 2018Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
called the Moria camp on Lesbos an "open air prison". In 2019 the New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
reported that the Samos camp was housing 6000 refugees, equivalent to nine times its maximum capacity.
Incidents
In September 2020, a fire at the Moria camp on the island of Lesbos temporarily displaced 12,500 refugees.Planning
In 2021, the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum has estimated that they would need a total of 270 million euros for the creation of new or the expansion of the old camps on the islands, while for the expansion of the capacity of a pre-departure center at the Fylakio of Evros, they would require 30 million euros.{{Cite web , last=Γεωργιοπούλου, first=Τάνια , title=Τα νέα ΚΥΤ στα νησιά, οι αριθμοί και οι αντιδράσεις {{! Η ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ , url=https://www.kathimerini.gr/society/561334924/ta-nea-kyt-sta-nisia-oi-arithmoi-kai-oi-antidraseis/ , access-date=2021-05-19 , website=www.kathimerini.gr, date=19 April 2021
References