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Greek islands: more needs to be done

Motion for a resolution | Doc. 14474 | 23 January 2018

Signatories:
Ms Petra De SUTTER, Belgium, SOC ; Ms Luise AMTSBERG, Germany, SOC ; Lord Donald ANDERSON, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Doris BARNETT, Germany, SOC ; Ms Petra BAYR, Austria, SOC ; Ms Tamara BLAZINA, Italy, SOC ; Mr Bertrand BOUYX, France, NR ; Mr José CEPEDA, Spain, SOC ; Ms Jette CHRISTENSEN, Norway, SOC ; Ms Lise CHRISTOFFERSEN, Norway, SOC ; Mr Boriss CILEVIČS, Latvia, SOC ; Mr Vernon COAKER, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Stella CREASY, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Seán CROWE, Ireland, UEL ; Ms Vanessa D'AMBROSIO, San Marino, SOC ; Ms Doris FIALA, Switzerland, ALDE ; Ms Dubravka FILIPOVSKI, Serbia, FDG ; Ms Ute FINCKH-KRÄMER, Germany ; Lord George FOULKES, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Pierre-Alain FRIDEZ, Switzerland, SOC ; Mr Carlos Alberto GONÇALVES, Portugal, EPP/CD ; Mr Fabien GOUTTEFARDE, France, NR ; Mr Etienne GRECH, Malta, SOC ; Mr Jonas GUNNARSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Antonio GUTIÉRREZ, Spain, SOC ; Mr Domagoj HAJDUKOVIĆ, Croatia, SOC ; Ms Gabriela HEINRICH, Germany, SOC ; Ms Susanna HUOVINEN, Finland, SOC ; Ms Eva-Lena JANSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Mogens JENSEN, Denmark, SOC ; Ms Susan Elan JONES, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Serhii KIRAL, Ukraine, EC ; Ms Elvira KOVÁCS, Serbia, EPP/CD ; Mr Florian KRONBICHLER, Italy, SOC ; Mr Zviad KVATCHANTIRADZE, Georgia, SOC ; Mr Luís LEITE RAMOS, Portugal, EPP/CD ; Ms Yuliya LIOVOCHKINA, Ukraine, SOC ; Mr Dirk Van der MAELEN, Belgium, SOC ; Mr Jacques MAIRE, France, NR ; Mr Emanuel MALLIA, Malta, SOC ; Mr Duarte MARQUES, Portugal, EPP/CD ; Baroness Doreen MASSEY, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Georgios MAVROTAS, Greece, SOC ; Ms Kerry McCARTHY, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Víctor NAUDI ZAMORA, Andorra, SOC ; Ms Marija OBRADOVIĆ, Serbia, EPP/CD ; Mr Žarko OBRADOVIĆ, Serbia, SOC ; Ms Carina OHLSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Henk OVERBEEK, Netherlands, UEL ; Ms Mechthild RAWERT, Germany ; Ms Azadeh ROJHAN GUSTAFSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, Austria, SOC ; Mr Andreas SCHIEDER, Austria, SOC ; Mr Frithjof SCHMIDT, Germany, SOC ; Mr Frank SCHWABE, Germany, SOC ; Mr Predrag SEKULIĆ, Montenegro, SOC ; Mr Jan ŠKOBERNE, Slovenia, SOC ; Ms Angela SMITH, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr David STELLINI, Malta, EPP/CD ; Ms Tineke STRIK, Netherlands, SOC ; Ms Aleksandra TOMIĆ, Serbia, EPP/CD ; Ms Violeta TOMIĆ, Slovenia, UEL ; Mr Manuel TORNARE, Switzerland, SOC ; Lord Don TOUHIG, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Nicole TRISSE, France, NR ; Mr Evangelos VENIZELOS, Greece, SOC ; Ms Marie-Christine VERDIER-JOUCLAS, France, NR ; Mr Martin WHITFIELD, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Phil WILSON, United Kingdom, SOC

The Greeks islands Lesvos, Samos and Chios have become war zones this winter. The facilities are overcrowded: the capacity of the hotspots is exceeded by 100 to 250 %. Basic assistance and needs are not fulfilled: there is no security, no hygiene and no medical or psychosocial help. It is the worse reception conditions for any person who escaped war.

The President of the Parliamentary Assembly has appealed to the European Commissioners to take additional emergency measures to address the situation, after visiting Greece at the beginning of December 2017, and called upon national delegations to take action as well. Besides, the General Rapporteur on Reception Conditions has repeatedly asked the Greek Government to transfer more vulnerable people to the mainland. However, the situation is still deteriorating and more needs to be done.

Given the urgency of the situation, the Assembly should investigate how to treat the symptoms of the crisis on the short term and tackle the root causes according to the European solidarity relocation mechanism on the long term in order to guarantee human rights. That is the only way to ensure the human dignity of these persons searching for protection.