Human Rights Watch report refers to Greece’s share of responsibility on dealing with the huge flows of refugees, but it also stresses the responsibilities of all EU countries underlining that the solution is not to place Greece in quarantine.

The organization makes a plea not to “quarantine Greece and to prevent the onward movement of asylum seekers put their rights at risk”.

As the report mentions, “It’s deeply troubling to hear EU leaders discuss plans to trap people in Greece by sealing the country’s northern border while people continue to risk their lives to reach Europe, and thousands more are suffering in Greece,”.

But as Eva Cossé, Greece specialist at Human Rights Watch, argues “Greece has its fair share of responsibility for the situation on the ground, but turning the country into a warehouse is no solution to Europe’s refugee crisis.”

Human Rights Watch stresses that “Greece should address the systemic failings in its asylum system to ensure compliance with EU and international standards”. adding though that EU should also take effective measures to “distribute responsibility in the refugee crisis more equitably, in a manner that respects the rights of all asylum seekers and migrants.”

The organization urges EU countries to fulfill immediately their commitments regarding the relocation plan to “alleviate the burden from Greece, including by giving the people who arrive in Greece more incentives to participate through better information and speedier processing, and ensuring proper functioning of hot spots in full respect of migrants’ rights.”

The report also says that more than 800,000 people entered Greece in 2015 and over 44,000 have made the journey since the beginning of 2016, while at least 158 women, men and children have died since the beginning of 2016.

Click here to read the full report.