METHODOLOGY This report is based on interviews conducted between April and June 2024 with 30 people resident in camps on the Greek mainland. Interviews took the form of semi-structured conversations conducted in community centres or over the phone, with interpreters as necessary. The interviews aimed to understand people’s personal experiences of life within the camps, the material conditions and the extent to which they were able to access essential services. This data was analysed alongside official documents and statistical data published by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum (MoMA) and conversations with practitioners in the field. Our findings supplement two reports published this year by the Greek Ombudsperson¹ and Refugee Support Aegean (RSA)² on conditions in mainland camps. Respondents were aged between 18-55 and came from the following countries of origin: Afghanistan (6), Iraq (6, including 2 Yazidi and 3 Kurdish), Palestine (3), Sierra Leone (3), Somalia (2), Syria (1), Yemen (2), Sudan (1), and Cameroon (1). Five respondents requested not to disclose their nationality. 12 identified as women and 18 as men. 13 respondents had minor children. On average respondents had been living in the camp for 7.8 months, with camp stays ranging from 1 month to 36 months. In foregrounding the testimonies of people living in current day refugee camps in mainland Greece, we intend to bring visibility to daily life in isolated facilities which are largely hidden from the public eye and media scrutiny, and to highlight the stark contrast between the statements³ of politicians on the conditions of the mainland facilities and the testimonies of people who live their daily lives in such places. Interviews were not conducted with residents of every facility, therefore the findings do not present a comprehensive picture of present day conditions in the camps. However, they point to key themes of concern across facilities. Two thirds of interviewees were resident in camps in Northern Greece, a deliberate selection given the sparse monitoring and media coverage of facilities in the North, particularly compared to those located closer to Athens. Some structures which solely or primarily accommodate vulnerable people such as Pyrgos and Schisto were not included in the research. Notably, the report does not cover the living conditions for children specifically, including the critical issue of access to education in camps, although the damaging impacts of accommodating both accompanied and unaccompanied minors in camps has been noted by the Greek Ombudsperson⁴ and civil society organisations (CSOs)⁵. A number of challenges arose in relation to data collection. We did not interview people living in several of the most disconnected facilities⁶, precisely because of the severe isolation they face. Restrictions on access to camps presented an additional barrier: employees whose names are not included in the Ministry’s official registry of NGOs are not allowed to access reception facilities under the responsibility of the Greek Reception and Identification Service (RIS). Given the 9