of the General Secretariat for Reception of the Ministry of
Migration Policy, respectively. There are however facilities
still operating based on the General Rules of Operation143
established pursuant to Article 8A of Law 3907/2011,
which was repealed with Law 4375/2016, whereas in most
cases there are no Internal Rules.
tion Policy, the Ministry of Defence, the local Municipality
and humanitarian organisations (e.g. Chios (VIAL), Ritsona
and Oinofyta in Viotia, Polykastro in Kilkis). This fact creates
an overlap of competences and removes the possibility of
comprehensive supervision and effective coordination by
the main agency that has been appointed for this purpose.
General
Secretariat for
Reception
According to the above, the Ministry
of Migration Policy is responsible for
the overall supervision and operation of the facilities. The structures operate at sector level,
the management of which is assigned to a head of sector.
The appointment of the head follows specific procedures
(article 11(5) of Law 4375/2016). Each sector is structured into distinctive operating levels, as follows: a) logistics
level, which is competent for the administrative support,
housing and nourishment of the residents and cleaning of
the spaces; b) medical care and psychosocial support level;
c) information provision level which is responsible for the
provision of information to the residents regarding their
rights and obligations and d) level of external guarding and
security (Article 13(4)).
According to Law 4375/2016, competent for the establishment, operation and
supervision of open Temporary Reception and Temporary Accommodation Facilities are the Reception and Identification Service (Article
8(2)(b) and (d)) and the Accommodation Department of the
Reception Directorate (Article 27(2)) that are under the
General Secretariat for Reception of the Ministry of Migration Policy (Article 26). The Reception Directorate is also
responsible, inter alia, for: a) the coordination of the Reception actions across the country; b) the study, drafting and
monitoring of the implementation of the policy for meeting
the accommodation needs of international protection applicants and unaccompanied minors; c) the cooperation with
co-competent ministries, the Directorate General of Home
Affairs of the European Commission, the UNHCR, civil society organisations and other competent agencies in each case,
for the planning and implementation of the above policy; d)
the study, development and processing of the institution
framework of specifications related to the establishment and
operation of the reception centres and accommodation facilities for applications for international protection and unaccompanied minors, and e) the care for the communication
and cooperation with the involved public agencies and services of the State, with Independent Authorities, International Organisations, NGOs, other organisations of the civil society and legal entities, with the purpose of managing the humanitarian aid (Article 27(2)).
In practice, the management and coordination of the actions
for the transport, accommodation, food and health care of
the refugees and migrants is carried out by the Central Coordinating Body for the Management of the Refugee Crisis that
reports directly to the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence
General Staff, in cooperation with the Asylum Service and
the Reception and Identification Service.144 At the same time
there are facilities, where responsible for the management
of specific issues are simultaneously the Ministry of Migra143 MD 11.1/6343/2014.
The management
of the facilities
The management of a large number of structures has been
assigned to IOM, the UNHCR or to NGOs and they operate
without any substantial supervision by the ministry and
without the required structure. As a result, in many cases
we witness a lack of a direct view of the situation and the
needs of these facilities by the competent General Secretariat. Difficulties arise therefore in addressing these issues
as well as a vagueness regarding the responsibilities that
correspond to each agency (e.g. settlement at the former
airport of Elliniko, Ritsona in Viotia, camps of the Ministry of
Rural Development in Lavrio).
A special case is the camp in Moria, Lesvos, since its operating framework is particularly unclear. The camp is laid
out surrounding the fenced area of the RIC and is guarded
by the Police. However, formally, the director of the RIC is
not responsible for the operation of the other facilities, which
operate informally.
Finally, we must mention that there are sites the responsibility of which is assumed by no state or other agency. A typical
example was up to May 2016, the camp in Eidomeni, and to
a much smaller scale, the site in Neraki, Lavrio, with approximately 100 people.
144 Law 4368/2016, Article 96(1) and JMD Φ. 000/8/245258/Σ. 37/2016
(Government Gazette Β 630/9-3-2016).
45
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