A total of 99 vulnerable asylum applicants have been relocated from Greece and Cyprus to Finland and Germany over the past few days, according to the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) report.
A total of 83 persons from families with seriously ill children were relocated from Greece to Germany on July 24, as part of the EU’s ongoing scheme to relocate 1,600 minors from various European countries, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“The scheme, which is a tangible example of EU solidarity for Greece, provides for sick children and unaccompanied minors (UAMs) who are particularly vulnerable due to their young age and lack of family care, to start off new safe lives with strong support networks,” EASO’s statement reads.
16 asylum seekers from single-parents families were relocated from Cyprus to Finland, on July 27, in the second relocation exercise, which is not part of the European Union scheme. The group were part of families from Somalia and Congo.
All persons were tested for the Coronavirus pandemic, before leaving Cyprus and Greece.
The Executive Director of EASO, Nina Gregori, recently visited both countries, Cyprus and Greece. During her visits, she met with Minister of Interior of Cyprus, Nicos Nouris, in Cyprus, while in Greece she met Minister of Immigration and Asylum of Greece Notis Mitarachi and Alternate Minister for Migration and Asylum of Greece Giorgos Koumoutsakos.
Both countries are looking forward to modernising and expanding their asylum systems and facilities.
According to EASO, these relocations of individuals in need of particular support will also continue throughout the summer months.
Whereas the local authorities report that nearly 5,000 refugees are living in unsanitary conditions in Greece, or housing not suitable for them.
The statistical office of the European Union- Eurostat, reported that in 2019 there were 13,800 unaccompanied minors from asylum seekers who applied for international protection in the European Union.
The majority of them were registered in Greece (3,300 unaccompanied minors), Germany (2,700) and Belgium (1,200).
Due to the current Coronavirus situation, EASO revealed that there were 84 per cent fewer asylum applications filed during May compared to the pre-pandemic period.
Even though a large share of countries across the EU+ lifted some of their preventive measures imposed in a bid to halt the spread of COVID-19, in many countries asylum activities have still not fully resumed.
SOURCE: SchengenVisaInfo
