Greece: Migrant and Refugee Support

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Wednesday 17th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

Following the intervention of the European Commission—we are working through the commission and the UNHCR in this regard—a number of urgent steps have been taken. The first is to speed up the rate at which assessments are taken; the second, to address the point of the noble Baroness, Lady Massey, is to identify vulnerable children and make sure that they are moved out of the camps and on to the mainland as soon as possible; the third point is to ensure that new accommodation is built and opened up. Those steps will go some way towards addressing what is obviously a horrific situation for the people who are living there and experiencing it.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, one issue is the policy of containment on the islands. The conditions are deteriorating, particularly over the winter. Oxfam and many NGOs have been calling on the Greek Government to move people to the mainland, so that facilities can be improved. Have the Government had any discussions with the Greek Government about that, including giving financial support?

[Lord Bates]

In all these things, we work through our European partners to address these situations and they have been very involved. We also have people from the Home Office in the UK seconded on to the islands. They are acting as camp security and liaison managers, and helping to identify and register young people. But exactly those types of efforts are part of the prioritisation that I referred to in reply to the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, by ensuring that winter accommodation and heating are there for them now. The number currently on the islands is 14,000 and there are 48,000 on the mainland; that is 62,000 people in this position and we need real urgency to improve the humanitarian response.