Crown has closed its borders to Europe and beyond. What does this mean for the refugees?

If Wahidullah Rahimi leaves his tent to wander around the refugee camp on the Greek island of Samos, wearing a mask. But from among the other refugees in series and in food distribution centers and slept in a tent unhealthy, 32, Afghan knows that he can do little to protect me from COVID-19 “There is a great way to get here from all effects crown, “said Rahimi. “Everyone is worried.” The E.U. camp promoted to Samos, built in 2016 to accommodate 640 people, is now home to at least 3,745 refugees living in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. To combat asylum seekers who sleep in crowded tent during the night, have access to health care. In some parts of the field, is only one water tap for 1,300 people and one toilet for 167 people. When Rahimi first in Afghanistan five months warehouse were times he did not think the terms “worse.” But he could then hit the crown, more than 435,000 infected people and kill more than 19,000 worldwide. The European Union closed its borders to non-citizens on March 17. The next day, the greek government has imposed restrictions on movement inside the refugee camp, leaving only one person per household every day. Now refugees as Rahimi wondering what the ring means for their future in the fields and on the continent. While only one case of COVID-19 was added to the five Greek islands which shelter 42,000 refugees, experts say, the crown becomes uncontrollable spread if it reaches the warehouse. But the virus is more than just health at risk refugees could be their transfer to other E.U. threaten countries in the framework of the asylum procedure in search. “I’m worried that affect the crown, if I can be in a country that I want to be,” said Rahimi. It is updated here with our daily newsletter crown. Human rights activists fear that E.U. Countries, particularly in Greece to suspend the crown as an excuse for asylum or relocation. Greece has taken a hard line on asylum prior to the crown outbreak in Europe. On March 1, the greek government has established new asylum applications for a month to stop the arrivals send excursions military troops on the border with Turkey. The government was out of court and in secret migrants place of custody and to return without trial in Turkey to be sent. “What we feared that if they took two or three weeks before this measure, which the Crown had not,” Eva Cossé, a researcher at Human Rights Watch tells TIME. “But now that it’s crown, it is a high risk that the government extended this suspension.” He adds: “They could do it with the help of the crown as a pretext for an indefinite period”, while according to international law, national states rights that they may have to adjust and may not exceed their limits, can not be denied to applicants seekers fleeing persecution. On 16 March, the High Commissioner of the United Nations published a document for Refugees (UNHCR), which affirms that, although States to implement health measures and screening for refugees seeking to enter its territory, refugees without evidence of a risk to health is not discriminatory under vacuum measures to ban international law. But experts fear that political contain the spread of the affected crown scramble asylum seekers. They also worry that the transfer of refugees from Greece overcrowded camps for other E.U. Countries are likely to be pushed on the back burner. “Relocation can be affected by various restrictions that instead provided by Europe to take to control the spread of COVID-19 attack” Boris Cheshirkov, a UNHCR representative in Greece tells TIME. A temporary suspension of relocation of refugees would delay the family reunion, life special problems for children who are currently posing in Greece with his parents waiting for reunification. “Some European countries have decided to move 1,600 children from the Greek islands,” says Cossé Human Rights Watch. would “But it seems that this type of action will be put on hold until the situation improves.” The refugees in the Greek islands also have concerns about the impact of an eruption crown in areas where health conditions already terrible. Many refugees live in the camp are disabled, elderly and have chronic illnesses that went untreated because of lack of medical resources on the island, which makes them more likely susceptible to the virus. Experts note that if the virus finds its way in the field, will be a disaster. “If it is a case of a crown in the field, all get”, says Cossé. They shall have their current health problems under control that health facilities, not to mention “a barrage of Corona affects nearly 20,000 people.” While health organizations have been in the islands since an increase of migrants have arrived on its shores in 2015, the recent attacks by the Greek right vigilante groups to aid workers operating led their activities in fields in many closed. Rahimi, along with other refugees in Samos, began to take matters into their own hands by spreading leaflets with advice on health by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) live on social distancing and effective hand washing techniques to other refugees in field. Rahimi, a policeman of the medical team worked again in Afghanistan has first aid treatment for young children, in an effort to provide even begun to keep them healthy. But Rahimi knows that as long as the refugees living in overcrowded conditions, little can be done to stop the spread of the virus. “If they deliver all at home, you can avoid the crown and to protect refugees,” said Rahimi. “But this will not happen. For five years, have not provided proper housing.” For years, human rights groups such as Amnesty International, the European Union has criticized the rear Greece to rotate and otherwise to support them , the inhuman conditions of Samos addressing. Although the greek government to speed up the construction of new plants and convert all facilities open in enclosed fields, is committed to the rights groups say the government is not enough to do for the protection of refugees and to prevent the spread of virus. “The government has not taken seriously the danger for refugees,” says Cossé. Since March 18, the government restricted the movement of refugees and forced a 19: 00-07: 00 block. But activists say that these recent measures, the refugees in overcrowded and hygiene precarious block fields, are discriminatory. Cossé says, however, that the government should move the refugees to the virus from the islands to the smaller controlled health facilities and improve the conditions in which they live. Annoyed, he adds, “but the strategy of the government is to block all in one place and throw away the key.” Please send any suggestions, cables and [email protected] stories.
Picture copyright by Guy Smallman-Getty Images