Doctors Without Borders issues call to Greece for humanitarian rightsof Turkey's migrants

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Athens, December 14, 2010 —Sandra Murilo, Doctors Without Borders  - GHN News Editor - With the world wondering about Haiti and concerned about the problems of war in different parts of the world, many people do not know about the humanitarian crisis taking place in Turkey.

Doctors Without Borders issues international alarm about migrant asylum seekers from Turkey crossing into the regions of Greece.

Migrants and asylum seekers kept in detention facilities in the Evros
region of northern Greece are in a critical situation, said the
international medical humanitarian organization Medecins Sans
Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF). In the last two months, the
number of migrants without official papers crossing the border from
Turkey to Greece has increased significantly, with 200 to 300 new
arrivals each day. As a result of the recent influx, detention
facilities are overcrowded and conditions in the cells are appalling. To
respond to the urgent needs of detained migrants, (MSF) has started an
emergency intervention in the Evros region, providing medical and
humanitarian assistance.

During an assessment carried out in
November in two detention centers (Venna, Fylakio) and three border
police stations (Soufli, Tychero and Feres), MSF documented the harsh
and inhumane conditions in which detained migrants are being kept. Most
of the detention facilities are very overcrowded, operating at two or
three times their capacity. Due to the lack of space, men, women, young
children and unaccompanied minors are being kept together in the same
cells. People have to sleep on the floor next to the toilets. Detention
facilities holding more than 100 people typically have only two toilets
and two showers, and there is a significant lack of materials for
cleaning and personal hygiene. Despite the presence of Ministry of
Health medical staff in most of the detention facilities (including
doctors, nurses and one psychologist), medical services are still
inadequate for the detainees’ needs due to the insufficient number of
medical personnel, the absence of interpreter services, and the lack of
medical screening and follow up of new arrivals. In addition, migrants
and asylum seekers receive little or no information about their legal
status and the detention system.

“The situation is critical for
all the people who have been detained. Migrants have no place to sleep,
they are not allowed to go out into the yard, and many of them are
obliged to live for weeks or even months in unacceptable living
conditions,” said Ioanna Pertsinidou, MSF’s emergency coordinator. “We
decided to intervene immediately for the provision of medical care and
humanitarian assistance.”

Since the beginning of December, an MSF
team has been in the Evros region providing health care and working to
improve living and hygienic conditions in the detention facilities. Two
MSF doctors are working in Tychero and Soufli border police stations
treating patients who are mostly suffering from respiratory and skin
infections due to the harsh living conditions. A logistician is working
to improve sanitation inside the facilities and the MSF team is also
distributing sleeping bags.

“What we witness every day inside the detention facilities is not easy to describe,” said Pertsinidou.

At
the Soufli police station, which has space for 80 people, there are
days when more than 140 migrants are detained there. In Tychero, with a
capacity of 45, MSF counted 130 people. In Feres, with a capacity of 35,
last night MSF distributed sleeping bags to 115 detained migrants. One
woman, who had a serious gynecological problem, told MSF that there was
no space to sleep and she had no other option but to sleep on the
toilet. In the detention centre of Fylakio, a few days ago several cells
were flooded with sewage from broken toilets. MSF has ensured the
disinfection of the cells and the toilets. In Soufli, where winters are
known to be harsh, with below-zero temperatures, the heating is not
working and there is no hot water. In many detention facilities, MSF has
seen many unaccompanied minors detained in the same cells as adults for
many days without being allowed out in the yard.

An immediate
and coordinated response is needed to respond to the current
unacceptable situation and to ensure humane and dignified conditions for
detained migrants. MSF urges the Greek government to immediately
implement measures providing for the reception of asylum seekers and
migrants under conditions which respect their human dignity. MSF also
urges the EU and its member states to share the responsibility of
receiving asylum seekers and migrants, rather than focusing on
restrictive measures, such as the deployment of rapid border

intervention teams.