Docs With out Borders raises alarm over little one malnutrition in Greece’s migrant facility.
Docs With out Borders (MSF) has reported the primary circumstances of malnourished kids in a migrant camp on the Greek island of Samos, elevating recent issues over the ability’s circumstances.
The medical charity stated on Monday that its medical doctors had identified six kids from Syria and Afghanistan, aged between six months and 6 years, with acute malnutrition requiring pressing care.
Whereas MSF couldn’t verify whether or not their situation was instantly brought on by life within the camp, it warned that insufficient meals and healthcare positioned kids at critical threat.
“No little one ought to endure from malnutrition on account of systemic neglect,” stated Christina Psarra, director common of MSF Greece, calling for instant intervention. She famous that a couple of quarter of the camp’s residents have been kids, Reuters reported.
Greece’s Ministry of Migration and Asylum dismissed issues of widespread malnutrition, insisting that the circumstances have been remoted. “Not at all is there generalised malnutrition on account of dwelling circumstances,” it stated, including that asylum seekers obtain three meals a day.
Greece, which was on the centre of Europe’s 2015-16 migration disaster, has seen one other surge in arrivals this yr. In accordance with United Nations knowledge, practically a 3rd of migrants reaching southern Europe from the Center East and Africa in 2024 landed in Greece.
The Samos camp, constructed with European Union funding, opened in 2021 as a high-security facility encircled by barbed wire. It changed the overcrowded Vathy camp, which as soon as housed 7,000 folks in squalid circumstances. The six malnourished kids arrived on the camp this yr, MSF stated.
Amnesty Worldwide has beforehand condemned circumstances on the website, describing them as “inhumane and degrading” throughout instances of overcrowding, with water shortages and an absence of important companies.
In December, a UN human rights knowledgeable criticised Greece for failing to determine victims of intercourse trafficking within the camp.
MSF has urged Greek authorities and the EU to make sure correct paediatric care and diet help for asylum seekers. It additionally referred to as for the reinstatement of monetary assist to refugees, which was suspended final June.
