Severe risk of sexual violence in Greek migrant centres

Photo credit: Getty. Moira migrant centre.

TMP – 14/02/2018

Asylum seekers in Greece remain at severe risk of sexual violence and harassment in the country’s severely overcrowded reception centres, according to a report released by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).
While UNHCR said it is aware of hundreds of cases of sexual violence on the Greek islands where many migrants live, the agency’s spokesman Cecile Pouilly emphasized that there is a reluctance to report such violence out of fear, shame and concerns about discrimination, retaliation and stigma.

“The actual number of incidents is therefore likely to be much higher than reported,” Pouilly told reporters in Geneva, saying the UN has only a “very partial picture of what the reality is.”
Pouilly said the situation was most worrying in the reception and identification centres of Moira on Lesbos and Vathy on Samos, “where thousands of refugees continue to stay in unsuitable shelter with inadequate security.”
Women and children in particular remain extremely vulnerable, in large part due to the severe overcrowding of migrant centres, which are currently holding around 5,500 people – double their capacity.

“In these two centres, bathrooms and latrines are no-go zones after dark for women and children,” Pouilly said, adding that “even bathing during the daytime can be dangerous.”
In Moira camp, one woman told UNHCR staff that she had not showered for two months for fear of being attacked.
In the same camp, 30 government medical staff, psychologists and social workers are squeezed together in three rooms where they conduct examinations and assessments with little to no privacy, she said.

UNHCR welcomed measures taken by Athens to reduce violence but insisted women should not be forced to live in close quarters with men they do not know.
The UN agency also called for more efforts to reduce overcrowding and improve lighting in toilet and shower areas, as well as an increased police presence.

Greece said last month that it still shouldered a “disproportionate burden” of the EU’s asylum applications in 2017, taking 8.5 percent of the Union’s total requests.
The country of 11 million people recorded 58,661 asylum applications last year, making Greece the European country with the highest number of asylum seekers per capita, according to the Greek Asylum Service.