A group of 91 refugees belonging to 20 families arrived at Hanover airport in Germany from Greece on Thursday this week. According to the interior ministry, they will be settled in different German states.
Another 26 families — 106 recognized refugees, most of them underage — from Greece landed at the same airport on Wednesday.
Since April of last year, Germany has now taken in over 2,151 refugees from Greece.
Germany to Take in 2,750 Refugees from Greece
The total number of people Germany has agreed to take in from Greece is 2,750, according to German news agency KNA.
Germany was one of several European countries that agreed to take in vulnerable refugees and migrants from fellow European Union member state Greece last spring.
In March 2020, Berlin agreed to take in roughly 240 sick children and their core family members, as well as 53 unaccompanied minors.
Germany also promised to take in roughly 1,500 recognized refugees and a small number of unaccompanied minors from Greece, following fires at Moria camp in September of last year.
Hardship for Refugees, Migrants in Greece
Despite transfers to other European countries, Greece still hosts a large number of migrants and refugees.
Roughly 7,000 people live in Kara Tepe camp on the Greek island of Lesbos alone — that’s almost three times as many people as Germany agreed to take in.
The camp has repeatedly been criticized for its poor living conditions. It was flooded due to heavy rains multiple times this winter and did not provide enough space or washing facilities for proper safety measures against COVID-19.
Many activists and advocates have criticized the difficult conditions for refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers in Greece — one of the poorest EU member states.
In January, a German court even ruled that refugees could not be returned to Greece because they would face “extreme material hardship.”
Court Rules that Refugees Can’t be Deported to Greece
The Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in North Rhine-Westphalia has ruled that two men who received international protection in Greece cannot be sent back there from Germany.
The German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) had previously rejected the asylum applications from the men, an Eritrean and a Palestinian of Syrian origin, and threatened them with deportation to Greece.
Two appeals against the BAMF decision were rejected before the men appealed to the OVG. There can be no further appeal against this week’s ruling.
According to the court’s reasons, if the two refugees were returned to Greece, they would face “extreme material hardship.” They would be unable to find accommodation in reception facilities or homeless shelters and would have difficulty accessing the labor market.
Currently, in Greece, a large number of recognized beneficiaries of protection are already homeless.
Appalling Conditions
Overcrowding and poor conditions in camps for asylum seekers and refugees in Greece, especially on the Aegean Islands, remain common. Despite some improvements, some migrants still have long waits in camps while their claims are processed.
Since September, when the Moria reception facility burned down, over 7,000 people lived in the 32-hectare Kara Tepe tent camp on the island of Lesbos. Human rights campaigners say they are living in squalid conditions with “fewer rights than animals.”