Ten thousand migrants repatriated from Greece

IOM, the UN Migration Agency, has assisted over 10,000 migrants with voluntary returns over a 20-month period, through an EU and Greek-funded Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) programme.

A total of 10,576 migrants returned voluntarily from Greece to 84 countries and territories between June 2016 and April 2018, with nearly 2,500 returnees receiving financial support for reintegration.

IOM workers assess potential beneficiaries’ plans to return home and how sincere they seem , inform them of their legal options in Greece, and discuss specific issues, such as potential medical needs that may require enhanced support.

After the migrants are informed about the situation in their countries of origin, a reintegration plan is developed taking into account their needs, the specifics of their country and the needs of their home community.

Out of the 2,487 people deemed suitable for the economic reintegration assistance programme, 2,261 managed to open small businesses that can contribute to the social and economic sustainability of their home communities. One of the beneficiaries, Fadil, from Morocco, opened a butcher shop in Marrakech after returning.

“Staff from IOM Greece recently came to evaluate my business and I am really proud to show that my shop is neat and clean,” he said.

“I also got a sanitary license from the commune. My business is running well as there are no similar shops in the area.”

IOM gives returning migrants and asylum seekers a return trip to their country of origin and between 500 and 1,500 euros to restart their lives.

The AVRR project is oriented toward undocumented third country nationals who no longer want to stay in Greece, asylum seekers who have withdrawn their applications for international protection and asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected.

Most of the beneficiaries of the project choose voluntary return after determining that they have very little hope of being granted asylum in the European Union and that they might risk legal problems if they stay.

Greece implemented a “containment policy” in 2016 to prevent migrants and refugees from reaching mainland Greece, keeping tens of thousands of migrants trapped on its Aegean Islands in overcrowded conditions.

In March of this year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that thousands of asylum seekers were trapped in crowded and filthy processing centres on the Greek islands, with many having spent the winter in lightweight tents or sleeping outside on the ground.

The containment policy, which keeps asylum seekers confined to the islands to facilitate their speedy processing, is a result of the 2016 EU-Turkey agreement. The agreement commits Turkey to accept the return of all asylum seekers who reached the Greek islands by traveling through Turkey and crossing the sea.

Photo caption: Migrants arriving at Kos Island, Greece from Turkey, September 28, 2015

TMP – 08/06/2018