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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
3 4 October 2016
Nadi, a young Iraqi woman wrings her hands in despair.
She has brought her family this far in search of safety
and is now waiting to see if they will be relocated to
another country in Europe. Her husband, who has diffi-
culty walking unaided due to an injury from a bomb
blast, sits in silence beside her as she recalls their jour-
ney. They travelled by boat from Turkey to Greece with
their three small children and her brother who has an
intellectual disability. After several months spent in a
refugee camp on the island of Chios Nadi’s family awaits
its fate in Athens.
“I want to be relocated to Ireland, the people are so
friendly and welcoming there”.
Many families, like Nadi’s, are stranded in Greece
waiting to be relocated. During my trip I met numerous
refugees wishing for a better life in Ireland and else-
where. Greece continues to be at the frontline and in
recent weeks more and more people have arrived on the
Greek islands following the attempted coup in Turkey.
Conditions in refugee camps, particularly on the island
of Chios, are extremely difficult. The camps are over-
crowded, with inadequate sanitation facilities; vast areas
of tents and tarpaulin with families waiting in the swel-
tering, exhausting heat. There are only six showers with
no hot water for approximately 1,100 refugees in Souda
camp in Chios. Rats and snakes also malinger there. The
tension sears the camp as people grow increasingly frus-
trated. A feeling of abandonment permeates the air. If it
were not for the tremendous work of volunteers and
NGOs, the situation would be much worse.
At the ‘hotspot’ of Moria on the island of Lesvos
Ireland should take its share
of refugees from Greece
October 2016 3 5
(Lesbos) what strikes you is the barbed wire:
huge swathes of it around every corner of the
camp. Some refugees are housed in steel con
-
tainers while others are left in plastic tents. A
compound enclosed by a chain-link fence and
more barbed wire is home to the unaccompanied
children on the island when there is no space left
for them in the specialised centres. Approxi-
mately 1,470 unaccompanied children are
detained in this manner throughout Greece.
Approximately 95 unaccompanied children were
detained in Moria in this manner during my visit.
At the time of writing, due to a fire which
destroyed the Moria camp, local Greek authori-
ties have committed to moving all unaccompanied
children to the mainland. Existing trauma and
mental health issues are exacerbated by these
living conditions. No child, no person should live
like this. With more than 59,000 refugees, the
Greek authorities are doing what they can but
are completely overstretched. In comparison Ire-
land only received 3,276 asylum applications in
2015.
One act of solidarity the Irish government can
make is to support Greece by relocating more
refugees here in a swift manner. In September
2015, when the Irish Refugee Protection Pro-
gramme was established, Minister for Justice
Frances Fitzgerald declared that “It is only right
that we do all we can as a nation to help...... Ire
-
land will offer a welcome safe haven for families
and children who have been forced to leave their
homes due to war and conflict”. Are we doing all
we can to help? Where is that welcome? Although
efforts have been made with the resettlement of
refugees, our response under the relocation pro
-
gramme has been poor.
So far only 69 people have been relocated
from Greece, including only one unaccompanied
child. Not one refugee has been relocated from
Italy. The Irish government’s response is in stark
contrast to other countries such as France, the
Netherlands and Portugal which have relocated
1,431, 439 and 307 refugees respectively from
Greece alone. Portuguese representatives even
went to Greece to advertise Portugal to refugees
as a destination under the relocation
programme.
When the EU decision to relocate 160,000 ref
-
ugees in 2015 was made, it was based on the
urgency of the situation, solidarity and the need
for an exceptional emergency response to
alleviate the situation in Greece and Italy. The
spirit of the relocation programme was to speed-
ily act to support Greece and Italy. That need for
speed has not been picked up in Ireland’s
response. In our time spent planning to ensure
that facilities are in place for when relocated
people arrive here we are failing refugees who
are losing hope living in places like Souda camp
in Chios. A fast response is essential.
Although operational delays in Greece ham-
pered the start of the relocation programme,
that is no longer a factor. The Greek authorities,
in collaboration with the European Asylum Sup
-
port Office and the International Organisation of
Migration, are processing relocation cases and
the delays are more attributable to other coun
-
tries not responding to requests quickly enough.
Recent pronouncements from Minister Frances
Fitzgerald show a commitment to ensure that the
relocation programme will become more opera-
tionalised here in the coming months. That is to
be welcomed, but the urgency of the situation in
Greece cannot be emphasised enough. The scale
of the humanitarian crisis requires an emergency
response.
In contrast to our relocation efforts, Ireland
has made significant progress in resettling refu-
gees. So far, 377 refugees have been resettled
from the Lebanon with Ireland committing to
resettle a total of 520 refugees by the end of this
year. The Irish defence forces have also done tre-
mendous work as part of their humanitarian
mission in the Mediterranean Sea where they
have saved more than 11,500 lives.
As part of our response to the refugee crisis it
is also important to remember the 4,300 people
who are already here, living in Direct Provision,
on average for three years before they receive a
decision on their application for refugee status.
Nearly 1,000 children currently live in this
system which has been widely criticised as
being an entirely unsuitable environment for
young people. Avoiding a discriminatory two-
tiered system for different marginalised groups
is essential. Resources also need to be commit
-
ted to those languishing in Direct Provision in the
asylum procedure and refugees transitioning
from Direct Provision into local communities.
Equally we need to ensure that their rights are
protected and upheld and that they receive the
necessary support in the longer term once
moving on with their lives here in Ireland.
As we have just recently passed the one-year
anniversary of the establishment of the Irish Ref-
ugee Protection Programme and following
Ireland’s co-chairing of the United Nations High-
Level Meeting on Refugees and Migrants let’s
show that as a nation we are doing all we can to
help to refugees at this time of the largest global
forced displacement in history.
Maria Hennessy is a Legal Officer at the Irish
Refugee Council [IRC] Independent Law Centre.
She returned from a nine-day visit to Athens
and the Islands of Lesvos and Chios in Greece in
August. The IRC has set up a fundraising
appeal. All names were changed to protect the
identities of the people mentioned.
There are only
six showers with
no hot water for
approximately 1,100
refugees in Souda
camp in Chios.
Rats and snakes
malinger there
3 6 October 2016
160,000
to be resettled under
2015 EU agreement
4,300
living in Direct
Provision in
Ireland
1000
children living in Direct
Provision in Ireland
3
years average before asylum
seekers in Ireland get decision
on refugee status
520
refugees to be
settled in Ireland
by end 2016
3,276
asylum
applications in
Ireland in 2015
11,500
rescued at sea
by Ireland
