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3 - Grasping at straws: social work in reception and identification centres in Greece
- Edited by Emilio José Gómez-Ciriano, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Elena Cabiati, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, Sofia Dedotsi, University of West Attica, Athens
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- Book:
- Migration and Social Work
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 17 January 2024
- Print publication:
- 16 January 2023, pp 47-63
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Summary
Introduction
In May 2015, at the beginning of the so-called ‘refugee crisis’, the European Commission devised the ‘hotspot approach’ to help Member States at the Southern EU-borders manage increasing migratory pressure. Under this approach, European Union (EU) agencies (European Asylum Support Office [EASO]), European Border and Coast Guard Agency (EBCG, FRONTEX), and Europol started to work on the ground with Greece and Italy in the identification and registration processes of newly arrived migrants and asylum applicants. The objective of this was to ensure that all new arriving persons were immediately registered and pointed, as soon as possible, to the correct direction (that is, application for asylum, return to their home country or relocation to another EU-country), and as such to avoid so-called ‘secondary movements’ to other European countries.
Greek reception and identification centres (RICs) opened their doors in early 2016, together with the Greek government adjusting its asylum legislation (Law L4375/2016), formalising the existence of RICs. As an extension to the EU-Turkey agreement, which was finalised on 20 March 2016, five new first reception centres were created on the Aegean islands of Lesvos, Kos, Chios, Leros and Samos, all in close proximity to the EU-Turkey border. The islands’ geography posed an additional movement restriction for the arriving refugees, extra to the one created by the police and authorities on arrival. The initial examination of their asylum application could lead to relocation to the Greek mainland or abroad in case of proved vulnerability, or deportation to Turkey in case of rejection.
International organisations, NGOs and human rights observatories have repeatedly shed light on the living conditions in Greek RICs (see for example, ECRE, 2016; FRA, 2016; HRW 2016, 2018; Avocats Sans Frontieres, 2019), and scholars have demonstrated the human rights abuses in these hotspots and the effects of the living conditions there on the refugees’ physical and mental health (Rozakou, 2017; Jones, 2019; Boccagni and Righard, 2020).
Social work in Greek reception and identification centres
Professionals working in these centres include, among others, asylum authorities, security staff and social workers. The work of frontline social workers in providing services for refugees and asylum seekers is generally considered difficult and stressful (Robinson, 2014).
11 - EU border migration policy and unaccompanied refugee minors in Greece: the example of Lesvos and Samos hotspots
- Edited by Emilio José Gómez-Ciriano, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Elena Cabiati, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, Sofia Dedotsi, University of West Attica, Athens
-
- Book:
- Migration and Social Work
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 17 January 2024
- Print publication:
- 16 January 2023, pp 177-197
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- Chapter
- Export citation
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Summary
Introduction
The hotspot approach
So much ink has been spilled about the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ of 2015 that it is almost impossible to refer to it without the fear of falling into endless repetition. Reports from international organisations state that in the period between January 2015 and September 2015, the largest number of refugees since World War II moved into Europe. During those months, an estimated 1,000,000 refugees arrived in Europe, about 850,000 of whom via Greece as gateway and mainly via the islands of Lesvos and Samos. Among them, there were thousands of unaccompanied minors; minors travelling without their parent/legal guardian. In May of the same year, the European Commission introduced ‘The hotspot approach to managing exceptional migratory flows’ as defined in the European Agenda on Migration and formally endorsed by the European Council on 25– 26 June 2015. In early 2016, Greece legally introduced the establishment of these centres with Law L4375/2016. Under this law, five so-called hotspots, officially titled ‘Registration and Identification Centres’ (RICs), were created on the islands of Lesvos, Samos, Kos, Leros and Chios. A few days before the Greek law, the ratification of the EU-Turkey Statement came into effect stating that:
All migrants arriving in the Greek islands would continue to be duly registered, and the Greek authorities would process all applications individually at the hotspot in accordance with the Asylum Procedures Directive. Migrants not applying for asylum, or whose application was held to be unfounded or inadmissible under the directive would be returned to Turkey.
With this agreement, ‘the corresponding regimes, which have long been criticized by Europeans for their infringements of human rights and the rule of law, would now be seen as guaranteeing sufficient protection for refugees’ (Fassin, 2016: 1).
The impact of the ‘hotspots’ in Greece on the migration management was immediate and severe (Afouxenidis et al, 2017; Kourachanis, 2018). Suddenly, Greece changed from being one of the main gateways – together with Italy and Spain – towards Northern Europe, to being the main migrant detention centre in the EU. Thousands of people kept arriving to the Greek islands, only to find out that they were no longer allowed to leave, but had to proceed with their asylum application at the RICs. If they refused to apply for asylum at the ‘hotspot’, they were immediately subject of deportation to Turkey.