{"id":2381,"date":"2021-10-19T07:20:30","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T07:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intersos.gr\/?p=2381"},"modified":"2021-10-19T08:14:28","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T08:14:28","slug":"press-release-no-one-should-be-left-hungry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intersos.gr\/en\/press-release-no-one-should-be-left-hungry\/","title":{"rendered":"PRESS RELEASE: No one should be left hungry!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Greek government should immediately <\/em><\/strong>disburse belated payments of cash assistance and ensure food provision to people living in\u00a0facilities\u00a0(e.g.\u00a0camps and ESTIA apartments), irrespective of their legal status. Depriving them of this basic human right is shameful and a violation of fundamental human rights.<\/em><\/strong>\u202f<\/strong><\/p>\n

Athens, October 18 2021 – In a new bleak turn of events, people that seek or have received international protection in Greece, are now deprived of food or their cash allowance, due to the policies pursued by the Greek government and an overall lack of preparation to undertake its obligations.<\/p>\n

Those excluded from food provision<\/strong> reside in the camps and include people with valid refugee status, people who have not yet been registered in the reception system, and those individuals whose request for asylum has been rejected. Among those left hungry are 25% women (including pregnant women), single-headed families, 40% children[1]<\/sup><\/a>, chronic patients, and patients with special medical and nutritional conditions. In some places, food is not even provided to those put in quarantine due to COVID 19.<\/p>\n

Although recognised refugees and the individuals whose request for asylum has been rejected should not be living in camps, many are forced to remain or return there, due to a lack of alternatives, reflecting Greece\u2019s ongoing lack of a comprehensive integration strategy. The situation is similar for many people who have not yet\u00a0been able\u00a0to register their asylum applications,\u00a0due to\u00a0the chronic delays encountered in the Asylum Offices\u00a0on\u00a0the Greek mainland.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, thousands of asylum seekers included in food provision<\/strong> in Greek state-run accommodation, receive catered meals because of the temporary cash assistance<\/strong> gap<\/strong>. EU-funded cash assistance was planned to transition from UNHCR to the Greek government on 1 July 2021 but a 3-month delay was agreed between the two parties, to ensure a smooth transition. On October 1st 2021, the Greek government undertook this responsibility, as per the Greek state\u2019s legal obligation to ensure minimum material reception conditions for asylum seekers. Yet, since this handover, about 36,000 people have not received their cash support, despite the fact that this transition was planned over a year ago.\u00a0In an attempt to cover this gap, asylum seekers have been receiving portions of food, reportedly of very poor quality and often not fully cooked.<\/p>\n

This comes after the Ministry of Migration and Asylum\u2019s decision to\u00a0terminate cash support<\/a> for those not residing in state-run facilities,\u00a0at the end of June 2021. Since then, those who have found informal\/private housing solutions, including those waiting for the Ministry\u2019s response to their application for housing, are left without the cash assistance they were entitled to, unable to meet their basic needs.<\/p>\n

The Ministry of Migration and Asylum\u00a0does not\u00a0publish\u00a0relevant data,\u00a0even though\u00a0it has\u00a0been requested on multiple occasions\u00a0according to principles\u00a0of\u00a0transparency and good governance.\u00a0Though practices differ from region to region, it is roughly estimated that 60% of people living in camps do not receive food in the mainland camps[2]<\/sup><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Access to livelihood is a fundamental human right. Food insecurity, let alone complete food deprivation, should not be experienced by anyone,\u00a0especially not at the hand of the state. The Greek government and the European Commission must act urgently to fulfill this right and meet the needs of those who seek protection.<\/p>\n

The signing organizations in alphabetical order:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Action for Education<\/div>\n
2. ARSIS- Association for the Social Support of Youth<\/div>\n
3. Babel Day Centre<\/div>\n
4. Better Days<\/div>\n
5. Centre Diotima<\/div>\n
6. Changemakers Lab<\/div>\n
7. Choose Love<\/div>\n
8. Europe Must Act<\/div>\n
9. Greek Council for Refugees<\/div>\n
10. Greek Forum of Migrants<\/div>\n
11. HIAS Greece<\/div>\n
12. HumanRights360<\/div>\n
13. Jeesuit Refugee Service Greece (JRS Greece)<\/div>\n
14. INTERSOS<\/div>\n
15. INTERSOS Hellas<\/div>\n
16. \u0399nternational Rescue Committee (IRC)<\/div>\n
17. Irida Women’s Center<\/div>\n
18. Lesvos Solidarity<\/div>\n
19. Legal Centre Lesvos<\/div>\n
20. Lighthouse Relief (LHR)<\/div>\n
21. Mobile Info Team<\/div>\n
22. Network for Children\u2019s Rights<\/div>\n
23. Refugee Legal Support (RLS)<\/div>\n
24. Safe Passage International<\/div>\n
25. Still I Rise<\/div>\n
26. Symbiosis-School of Political Studies, Council of Europe network<\/div>\n
27. Terre des hommes Hellas (Tdh)<\/div>\n
28. Fenix – Humanitarian Legal Aid<\/div>\n
29. Women\u2019s Centre Irida<\/div>\n

[1]<\/a> IOM factsheet, August 2021 https:\/\/greece.iom.int\/sites\/greece\/files\/__Merged%20Mainland%20August_21_compressed.pdf<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> latest update provided during the National SMS WG on October 15th, also: https:\/\/medium.com\/are-you-syrious\/ays-special-from-greece-are-you-eligible-to-eat-8cc3ac6bed3e<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to download the text in english and greek:<\/p>\n

food crisis_joint NGO press release pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

PRESS STATEMENT_Food_GR<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Greek government should immediately disburse belated payments of cash assistance and ensure food provision to people living in\u00a0facilities\u00a0(e.g.\u00a0camps and ESTIA apartments), irrespective of their legal status. Depriving them of this basic human right is shameful and a violation of fundamental human rights.\u202f Athens, October 18 2021 – In a new bleak turn of events, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[30,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intersos.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intersos.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intersos.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intersos.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intersos.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2381"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.intersos.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2404,"href":"https:\/\/www.intersos.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2381\/revisions\/2404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intersos.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intersos.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intersos.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intersos.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}