Attachments
Report
Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
Rapporteur: Ms Petra De SUTTER, Belgium, Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group
Summary
For over a decade, the Greek islands have been a main entrance point for migrants into the European Union. All boat migrants pay smugglers and risk their lives at sea. The UNHCR estimates that over 800 000 migrants crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece in 2015, in addition to 34 000 from across the Turkish–Greek land border, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.
Deaths at sea have increased since 2015, and Greece is facing an almost insurmountable burden of arrivals every day. Human smugglers and traffickers operate with impunity and organised crime is rife. Only a small proportion of asylum seekers have been granted refugee status in Greece, and high numbers of undocumented migrants try to survive in the streets of Greece and other countries along the so-called Balkan route.
The humanitarian situation of asylum seekers in the reception and identification centres on Lesbos, Samos and Chios has remained critical for many years. Many are housed in tents, with inadequate sanitary installations, insufficient food supplies, a lack of health services and poor security. Asylum procedures must be accelerated and applicants housed and supported in accordance with international legislation and humanitarian standards.