Right to food – Right to dignity for all

Excessive work has been accomplished during the first months of our project “Food for All”, a project implemented by the Greek Forum of Migrants, with the support of INTERSOS. “Food for All” aims to support vulnerable groups of the population in Athens, unable to meet basic needs, as food.

More than 500 people – half of which are children- have received our support during this time, as we have distributed 328 food bags!

People who are asking for our support come from different countries, Greece, Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Senegal, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Somalia, Morocco, Cameroon, Iraq, Mauritania, the Comoros, and Pakistan.

The Greek Forum of Migrants has conducted a mapping of the needs and problems that immigrant and refugee communities faced during the pandemic. Many migrants and refugees lost their jobs, being cut out of all types of allowances provided by the Greek state.

At the same time, asylum applications are systematically rejected. As a result, people do not have access to food. Recognized refugees on the other hand who do not have a job, do not have access to food…
The number of people who need food and material assistance in Athens today, according to the estimates, exceeds 5.000, a number that may increase even more in the upcoming months.

“It is inconceivable in Greece today, in Europe today, to discuss about food insecurity and have to ask for the obvious: for the right of every human being to have access to a plate of food daily. “Food for All” supports children, women and men, vulnerable and elderly people, who either recently arrived in Greece from Ukraine, or have been living in Athens for years, but their survival is today in question. We need to continue to support as many people as we can “, pointed out the executive director of INTERSOS Hellas, Dr. Apostolos Veizis.
With our project, we aim to offer food to people in need, regardless of their legal status. Food security is at the baseline of human needs. No one should experience food insecurity.

“Food for All” is part of the Migrants/Refugees Food project of the Greek Forum of Migrants and INTERSOS in the context of a community-based approach to emergency response in the Greek mainland, supported by Stichting Vluchteling – SV (Netherlands Refugee Foundation).