CALL TO ACTION The The Greek Council for Refugees and Oxfam are calling on EU member states’ governments, with the support of the European Commission to accept responsibility for the refugee population that reaches Europe. The Greek Council for Refugees and Oxfam are calling on EU Member States and EU institutions to: ❖ Reject the policy of remote and closed centers and, instead, promote social integration policies for newly arrived asylum seekers and recognized refugees, in compliance with the EU own integration policy ❖ End the use of official and de facto administrative detention measures against people seeking international protection in the EU. ❖ Establish a mechanism to monitor the living conditions of migrants in the camps and secure that basic human needs such as access to healthy, safe and nutritious food and efficient medical care will not be undermined. ❖ Ensure asylum seekers’ effective access to the asylum procedure and substantive examination of their asylum applications. ❖ Ensure that Greece complies with the European Commission’s call to establish an effective and independent border monitoring mechanism. ❖ Share responsibility with Greece for receiving and welcoming people asking for asylum in Europe. Most urgently this should include relocation of asylum seekers who are identified by Greek authorities and NGOs as those most in need of relocation. In addition, the Greek Council for Refugees and Oxfam are calling on Greece, with the support of the European Commission, to: ❖ Abandon the strategy and implementation of “Closed Controlled-Access Centers”. ❖ Stop all unjustified and/or illegal restrictions of asylum seekers’ freedom of movement. ❖ Respect the right to personal and family life of the asylum seekers and adapt the safety mechanisms of the new centers. ❖ Ensure the adequate and specialized staffing of the Medical and Psychosocial Units based in camps. ❖ Ensure vulnerable camp residents’ prompt transfer to the mainland for the required medical treatment that cannot be provided in islands’ hospitals suffering from staff and equipment shortage. ❖ Examine all asylum applications on the merits, ensure that every individual asylum seeker has access to effective asylum procedure and none is trapped in legal limbo. ❖ Remove the illegal obligation of a €100 fee for second and further subsequent asylum applications’ registration that violates the right to access to asylum procedure. ❖ Apply alternatives to administrative detention measures and, in any case, refrain from using administrative detention, when there is no real and immediate possibility of removal. ❖ Examine all the reports of alleged pushbacks and guarantee the establishment of an independent and effective national border monitoring mechanism. 2