Damning report by Human Rights Watch on child refugees in Greece

Report calls on Greece to releases children from detention centres

Human Rights Watch issued a report highlighting the atrocious living conditions of refugee children in Greek reception centres, dubbing the quarters they were being hosted in as ‘shocking’. ‘Children are kept in filthy, microbe-infested cages, sometimes without matrices or access to clean water for weeks and months’, Rebeca Riddell, the author of the report outlines. In the 27-page damning report, titled ‘Why are you keeping me here?’, Riddell records the situation of the unaccompanied refugee children, who are being held for an extended period of time in facilities with minimal access to basic care infrastructure. The report, which was brought to light by newspaper Guardian, reveals that during the first six month of 2016 161 unaccompanied children were arrested by the Greek authorities and placed in detention centres, as there was no other alternative. Riddell urges on the Greek state to stop unjustifiably detaining unaccompanied children. ‘The EU should not only refrain from supporting such practices but ensure that unaccompanied children be relocated from Greece to EU countries and reunited with their families’, Riddell recommended in the report. Estimates place the number of refugees and migrants outside organised reception facilities in Greece at 7,800, with the current official number of refugees and migrants in hotspots across Greece approaching 60,000.