Greece: Refugees with Disabilities Overlooked, Underserved
January 18, 2017
Identify People with Disabilities; Ensure Access to Services
Yasami and Ali Habibi from Afghanistan, their 6-year-old twins and 2-year-old son, and Ali’s 14-year-old brother, have all lived in this tent at Eiliniko camp in Athens when Human Rights Watch visited them in October 2016. Their 6-year-old son has a learning disability and difficulties walking. Photograph by Emina Cerimovic. © 2016 Human Rights Watch
(Brussels, January 18, 2017) – Refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants with disabilities are not properly identified and do not enjoy equal access to services in reception centers in Greece, Human Rights Watch said today. Together with thousands of other migrants and asylum seekers, they remain unprotected from freezing temperatures.
The European Union has provided significant funding to the Greek government, and to United Nations and nongovernmental agencies, to operate the centers on the Greek eastern Aegean islands, known as “hotspots,” and camps on the mainland. But asylum seekers and other migrants with disabilities have particular difficulties getting basic services such as shelter, sanitation, and medical care, and like other vulnerable migrants, have limited access to mental health care. For example, one older woman who uses a wheelchair had not been able to take a shower for a month.
“People with disabilities are being overlooked in getting basic services, even though they are among the refugees and migrants most at-risk,” said Shantha Rau Barriga, disability rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Greek authorities, the EU, the UN, and aid organizations should make sure that people with disabilities are no longer an afterthought.”
