Roundup: Greek civil society shows solidarity to help refugees

Despite being severely hit in the last six years by economic recession, Greek civil society has continued to show solidarity and willingness to help refugees.

After the Balkan route to central Europe officially shut down in February, more than 58,000 refugees and migrants have been stranded in Greece, according to official estimates by the Greek government.

The majority of the refugees - 75 percent- have found shelters in state-organized facilities in northern Greece and in the Attica region around the capital Athens, a recent survey by the Institute of Local Administration showed.

The survey was presented last week during a conference of the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE) where local government officials called for a more efficient national plan to address the crisis and distribute refugees equally across Greece.

From the 54 hospitality centers and camps across the country, seven are in the islands of the northern Aegean Sea and 47 in the mainland.

According to the UN's Refugee Agency UNHCR, the conditions in some of the centers do not meet the standards and in many cases the numbers exceed the capacity. About 73.5 percent of refugees live in tents without mattresses.

In the former international airport Hellinikon in Athens' southern suburbs, 1,400 people are crammed in the old departures/arrivals halls.

Addressing the conference, KEDE president George Patoulis characterized the situation as "marginally manageable", urging municipalities and regions to be given direct access to EU funds so they can run plans to receive and integrate refugees.

Regardless of the financial difficulties each municipality faces, numerous efforts and initiatives have been undertaken to support the refugees.

A few days ago, a solidarity concert under the title "The Journey of our Life" with free entrance was held as part of a series of events organized by the Attica region to help the most vulnerable group among the people in need, the children.

Two dozen popular Greek artists joined their voices to send the message of solidarity, while the audience donated food, medicine, clothing and other much-needed items.

"People's response was overwhelming, beyond any expectation. All items gathered went to the main logistics center of Attica in order to be distributed in seven hospitality centers of refugees in the region and in other 20 across the country," Regional Governor of Attica Rena Dourou told Xinhua.

The region of Attica has created a logistics center for the management, storage and supply of relief items for the refugees.

In May, the Greek Film Archive and the Thessaloniki Film Festival in collaboration with the region of Attica organized a tribute under the title "Refugees: Escape to Freedom?", a selection of films attempting to document and explore many aspects of the refugee crisis.

"We do everything within our powers to organize the social solidarity movement and protect the refugees and migrants from any kind of profiteering," Dourou explained.

"In parallel, we continue our European efforts and initiatives for empowering the local governments and authorities under a common European migration policy and a common asylum system," she added. Endit