The situation of unaccompanied children in Greece

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Save the children and the Greek NGO Praksis, raise the alarm over the situation of the unaccompanied minors in Greece, expressing their serious concern about the approximately 1.500 children from conflict-torn and violence-ridden countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan currently in waiting list for placement in suitable accommodation centers.

According to an advocacy note jointly issued by the three organisations, there is an important number of children among the about 60.000 asylum seekers currently stranded in Greece who have arrived without a parent or guardian and live in deplorable conditions together with adult populations in camps across the Greek mainland or are held under “protective” detention in hotspots, pre-removal centers and police stations.

Unaccompanied children, according to the Directive 2013/33/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of the 26^th June 2013 on common standards for the reception of applicants for international protection, shall only be detained as a measure of last resort and for the shortest period of time. However, more than 300 children are currently detained, in many cases for several months, in closed facilities in islands such as Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros, without access to registration, asylum procedures or information.

“It is unacceptable that many unaccompanied children in Greece have no access to the protection they deserve”, says Emilie Dubuisson, MSF’s Humanitarian Affairs Officer in Greece. “Safety, dignity and appropriate care must be urgently guaranteed to this particularly vulnerable group”.

Last summer, following the tensions and fights among unaccompanied minors due to the overcrowding in the hotspot of Moria, MSF in cooperation with Praksis and Save the Children and in agreement with the competent authorities, accommodated and supported 79 minors for 3 months at MSF’s transit camp in Mantamados (Lesvos) as an alternative to their prolonged detention in the hotspot. But transit camps cannot be the solution for the accommodation and protection of unaccompanied minors who need a safe and stable environment including legal and psychosocial support.

MSF, Praksis and Save the children, highly concerned about the effects of detention and uncertainty on the well-being and mental health of these children,  are urging the authorities to provide adequate reception conditions and to speed up registration, relocation and family re-unification allowing them to have access to a safe and better future.