ATHENS – Plans by Greece’s government to move some refugees out of apartments to move others in as upset Non-governmental organizations who called on the Migration Policy Ministry to revoke the decision.
The NGO’s said the refugees set to be evicted have no place to go although Greece has a number of detention centers and camps, including on islands near Turkey, housing more The ministerial decision will initially affect about 200 people whose asylum application was approved by July 2017, said Kathimerini, and those evicted will be given three months rent to find something else.
The apartments they occupied will be refilled with migrants arriving from the overcrowded camps of Lesbos and Samos that have been overrun with those seeking asylum, waiting up to two years and more, after the European Union closed its borders to them and reneged on promises to help take some over the overload off Greece during its nine-year long running economic crisis.
“The ministry claims that the refugees have completed the integration process and are ready to start their lives alone, which is not true,” one of the employees who asked not to be named told state-run news agency ANA-MPA.
“None of the integration steps have progressed and essentially these people are being asked to integrate by themselves, which is impossible,” she added.
Another employee who also requested her anonymity told ANA-MPA: “We are called upon to evaluate the vulnerability of the refugees – who can leave from the apartments and who cannot. We refuse to do it. Families will be left in the street, homeless, without any care.”