On Friday, 23/11/2023, we met with the Minister of Migration and Asylum, Mr. Dimitris Kairidis. We thank him for his availability and time. This meeting served as an initial introduction with the members of the Board of Directors of the Greek Forum of Refugees, who are also representatives of the communities.
Also, representatives of the Board of Directors of the Greek Forum of Migrants, Ms. Adla Sasati, participated in the discussion. We thank them for their participation and significant contribution to the meeting.
It was an opportunity for us to highlight the serious issues we face daily, whether in remote ‘reception centers’ or in the social fabric of cities, and also for the Minister himself to directly hear these important issues and challenges from us.
Specifically, the discussed issues were:
- The food issue as a large number of residents in the centers do not have access to food
- The exclusion from cities and the local community as there is a lack of transportation and connectivity methods. Especially in the reception centers of Ritsona and Thebes, the deficient bus service has been completely discontinued, preventing individuals from attending critical appointments in hospitals and other asylum-related services
- The serious problems refugees and migrants face in renewing their residence permits even though they have been living in Greece for many years. They often receive their renewed documents already expired
- The lack of stability and continuity in housing programs and overall integration efforts, such as Greek language lessons, was highlighted. A characteristic example is the uncertainty and insecurity faced by thousands of refugees who are beneficiaries of the HELIOS program, unsure whether they will continue to have housing or not
The Minister of Migration and Asylum listened attentively to all these issues and committed to organizing a meeting soon with the presence of more communities with the goal to document all the problems in the field and design a long-overdue strategic integration plan.
