The Greek context © Julia Kourafa / MSF Immigration to Greece became a significant issue in the mid-1990s. Most migrants come from the Balkan region, predominantly Albania, and the former Soviet Union countries. The official number of foreigners living in Greece, according to the 2001 census, is 800,000 but this number does not include an estimated 200,000 or more irregular migrants. 4 Greece, at the southeastern border of the European Union, with a very long coastline and thousands of islands and islets, faces a particular challenge in managing migration flows towards Europe. The number of irregular migrants and asylum seekers arriving from unstable and violent contexts, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, and Palestine, has grown over the past few years. Unaccompanied minors and families are increasingly among those making the journey. New arrivals are systematically apprehended by the coast guard or the border police for entering Greece without valid travel 5 documents and are detained in centers for irregular migrants or border police stations. In 2009, according to official data, 27,685 irregular migrants were arrested at the sea border with Turkey, while arrests by police along the Greek-Turkish land border amounted to 8,787.5 Afghans make up the largest proportion of new arrivals followed by Iraqis, Somalis, Palestinians, and Pakistanis.6 The majority of the new arrivals wish to continue their journey to another European country but many get blocked in Greece as stricter border controls make it increasingly difficult for them to leave. Most of the irregular migrants wish to continue their journey to other European countries to join their relatives or friends or because they are aware that their asylum request will stand a better chance to be accepted elsewhere in Europe. In Greece the asylum approval rate remains extremely low, at 0,04% at first instance. 7