EU plan to fund new refugee camps in Greece raises doubts of human rights groups

EU plan to fund new refugee camps in Greece raises doubts of human rights groups

A European Union official is expected to soon announce a 250-million euro fund to finance the building of new refugee camps on Greek Aegean Islands. EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, says that the camps will be of “acceptable standards”, “will be humane, and allow for areas for families and vulnerable people.” However local Greek authorities have repeatedly stated that the facilities will be “closed and controlled”. Human rights groups oppose the construction of new camps because they believe this measure will situate asylum seekers in prison-like conditions without proper access to essential services. Epaminondas Farmakis from Human Rights 360 was also not convinced that the funding may improve camps: “The conditions are atrocious for many years now and more than 3 billion euros [$3.5bn] are directed from the EU to Greece to tackle this process.” Farmakis and others warn that lack of transparency in the distribution of EU funds and absence of independent monitoring mechanisms within the camps will result in poor living conditions and waste of resources.