Motion for a resolution | Doc. 14474 | 23 January 2018
Greek islands: more needs to be done
The Greeks islands Lesvos, Samos and Chios have become war zones this winter. The facilities are overcrowded: the capacity of the hotspots is exceeded by 100 to 250 %. Basic assistance and needs are not fulfilled: there is no security, no hygiene and no medical or psychosocial help. It is the worse reception conditions for any person who escaped war.
The President of the Parliamentary Assembly has appealed to the European Commissioners to take additional emergency measures to address the situation, after visiting Greece at the beginning of December 2017, and called upon national delegations to take action as well. Besides, the General Rapporteur on Reception Conditions has repeatedly asked the Greek Government to transfer more vulnerable people to the mainland. However, the situation is still deteriorating and more needs to be done.
Given the urgency of the situation, the Assembly should investigate how to treat the symptoms of the crisis on the short term and tackle the root causes according to the European solidarity relocation mechanism on the long term in order to guarantee human rights. That is the only way to ensure the human dignity of these persons searching for protection.