The Camp Network Group is an informal network of collectives, assemblies, grassroots associations and individuals working in solidarity with people forced to live in isolated refugee camps (Ελεγχόμενη Δομή Προσωρινής Φιλοξενίας Αιτούντων - Controlled Access Facility for Temporary Accommodation of Asylum Seekers) around Athens and all over Greece. We believe that refugee camps are inhumane and degrading. They violate people's human rights and freedom of movement by hindering access to basic services and enforcing control and isolation instead of inclusion and support. No one should be forced to live in these conditions!

Enforcing isolation has been a key policy of the Greek authorities in managing migrant populations through the camp system on the mainland and on the islands. For the residents of Ritsona camp, transportation to and from the nearest cities, and especially towards Athens, has always been a crucial issue. Ritsona camp is 19km (a 4.5 hour walk away) from Chalkida – which has the nearest hospital – 20km from Thiva and 75km from Athens.

Failing to provide consistent and free public transport to and from Athens and Chalkida turns the camp even more into a prison-like structure. Moreover, access to the city means access to basic and life-saving services, which are severely lacking within the camps as has been widely reported.

Over the years, buses to Athens have been temporarily provided by non-governmental organisations (before 2020), intergovernmental agencies such as IOM (2022-2023), and from time to time by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, for the sole purpose of bussing people to and from Katehaki Asylum Office. Indeed, over the past five months the Ministry has arranged a bus that leaves Ritsona camp at 7 a.m and bring people to Katechaki, where the greek asylum service is located, and the return to the camp is at 15.00, from Tuesday to Friday. None of these options has ever been consistent or frequent enough to respond to the needs of the residents.

Alternatively, the closest local bus stop is located 700m away on the highway connecting Ritsona to Thiva, with no lighting or pavements, in the industrial area of Ritsona. With a return ticket to Athens at 13 EUR, it is far from accessible for people trying to reach the city. The other alternative for travelling to the city is booking a registered taxi for around 100 EUR each way.

In January 2024 the Ministry of Migration and Asylum started bus transport from Tuesday to Friday at 06.30 AM from Ritsona camp to the Katehaki Asylum Office and back again at 15.00 PM. Two months later by March 2024 this bus was no longer running. This constant changing in the provision of transport services has not only prevented people accessing their legal rights and essential services, but has been psychological manipulation, increasing the dependence of residents on camp authorities for their ability to move to and from the camp. Moreover, to access this temporary bus transport, people were required to book a seat a week in advance by showing written proof of their appointment to make the seat reservation, however many essential legal and medical services do not offer such written appointment confirmation, adding another barrier to transportation.

As mentioned, transportation is crucial as it means being able to access a variety of essential services and networks:

1. Legal Services

Camp residents are given appointments at the asylum offices in Athens that are mandatory and essential for progressing a claim for asylum, such as the appointment to register for asylum and interviews for the asylum claim. Often these are scheduled as early as 08.00 AM (even on weekends). Presently, in order to make their appointments, people often have to travel to Athens the day before and find accommodation for the night. If an appointment is missed, their asylum/protection application can be automatically withdrawn, immediately leaving people precariously undocumented and ineligible to stay in the camps, therefore homeless and at risk of detention and deportation. They must start a new application for asylum at the cost of 100 EUR each time per individual from their second new application.

Preventing people from attending their asylum appointments hinders their right to claim asylum and protection from the country they arrive in, as granted under the Geneva Convention of 1951. Moreover, in order to have support in navigating the complex and hostile asylum system, people often need help from lawyers, interpreters and case-workers who are predominantly based in the cities. Access to interpretation in an official language of your country is a right under EU law.

2. Medical Services

Access to healthcare is a right and should be respected at all times. In camps, this is often dependent on people's ability to access transportation to Athens. Living conditions in Ritsona camp are infamously poor (little or no access to medication, lack of medicines, insufficient food and clothes provision, widespread unattended mental health conditions).

In January 2023, Sommet Nsoni Nsita died in the camp after having been sick for many days, neglected by the camp's medical staff and a delayed response by emergency services. This was not a unique situation. Access to free transportation is critical in many instances: ambulance response time at Ritsona camp has proven many times to be extremely slow, if arriving at all, and healthcare providers working in the camp routinely refer people to Athens hospitals, including those needing regular treatment for serious illnesses. At the same time, with the number of organisations going to camps having reduced over the last years, most of the humanitarian medical providers are based in Athens, as well as those providing interpretation and support by accompanying camp residents to hospital visits.

3. Food

As it has been reported in the past, food in the camps is often low quality, if not spoiled, and non-nutritious. Meals for the whole day are delivered every morning in single pre-packaged portions. No choice is offered and the same food is provided every single day, without provision for those observing specific diets, fasting or indeed for personal taste. Food often goes uneaten, and we have received reports of it being inedible, causing stomach ache and intestinal infections.

4. Employment

According to recent laws, asylum seekers are allowed to work 60 days after registering in the camp. Without reliable and regular transport from Ritsona camp to Athens it is extremely difficult for people to access employment support and CV workshops that are offered in the cities, and to attend interviews for open positions. Even after finding a suitable job in the nearest urban centres, people are not able to reach the workplace on time or go back to the camp after work, because of the limited transport options. This leaves camp residents little choice, forced to accept underpaid and exploitative jobs in the fields or factories surrounding the camp. Accessing paid work is essential for many people since the amount of cash assistance provided in the camps is insufficent to live off.

5. Clothes & Hygiene Products

In the camps people receive clothes intermittently and do not have enough clothing, particularly in the winter months. Our Camp Network Group in Athens are regularly contacted for clothes, shoes, hygiene products and items for children and babies, but have no capacity to organise regular distribution to meet the needs of even one camp. In Ritsona, people need to get to the city to access more reliable free clothing distribution and to have more choice, so that they can keep warm in winter and avoid repercussions to their health.

6. Socialising and Activities

If people staying in Ritsona Camp don't have the possibility to leave the camp and surrounding area because of a lack of transportation, they are socially isolated from others and any social activities of their choice with a wider community. This is particularly important because people cannot invite their families and friends outside the camp to join them inside to socialise or eat together. All of this turns Ritsona camp into a prison.

Removing the camps from the city and not providing transportation also eliminates the awareness of Athens' residents of the current situation in the camps. It makes it impossible for widespread solidarity and human connection. It pushes the problem out of the public eye, promoting xenophobia and racism because of the impossibility of connection between migrants and locals.

Having consistent and free transportation to and from Athens would grant access to all these necessities and would simultaneously help to guarantee basic human rights and dignity for people living inside the camps.

DEMAND

For these reasons, as Camp Network Group, we demand the Ministry of Migration and Asylum's urgent provision of a number of daily, regular, free buses from Ritsona camp to Athens and Chalkida. Buses must not be connected solely with the asylum offices, but reach the city centres and cater for early morning and weekend appointments, whatever their nature.