May 2019 | Reception crisis in Northern Greece: three years of emergency solutions interviewees had received international protection status. The continuing lack of integration measures and future prospects for beneficiaries of international protection resulted in a dead-end situation for these individuals. In February 2019, the announcement by the Ministry of Migration Policy that refugees granted asylum before July 2017 would have to leave the camps by the end of March 2019, created an atmosphere of panic and fear not only among refugees living in these camps, but also among those awaiting for a decision on their asylum claim. On the basis of the interviews conducted the following patterns were also identified: Those interviewees who had arrived in the mainland camps during 2017 and were not provided with a flat upon or shortly after their arrival, remain in the camps until today. With one xviii exception, the vast majority have been granted asylum in Greece . Those interviewees who arrived in the camps since 2018 were most likely to be transferred at least once to another mainland camp. Pregnant women who gave birth while being resident in the camp were then provided accommodation in flats whereas one family who had arrived with a new born remained in a camp. Interviewees, who sought shelter in the mainland camps shortly after arriving from the land borders, were first placed in large tents, rub-halls, communal spaces or summer tents. They were staying informally in the camps and could not have access to a cash-card or being transferred to flats until they completed their registration with the camp authorities, the police and registered their asylum claim. They also tended to remain in camps for longer periods, as they had to wait to register with the police and submit their asylum claim. 2.1. INSUFFICIENT SERVICES AND IMPACT UPON REFUGEES LIVING IN CAMPS “There are more people now, but the services are even less. People live in small tents, in the stone building. As new people arrived from the land borders they are placed wherever they fit. We tried to help them if we could. You cannot wait from this system to get help, you have to help each other.” Ali H.* (44)xix from Afghanistan, victim of torture, Diavata camp “In the camp there are only army doctors. We still pay our medicines. Only sometimes aid organisations that visit give us something for free. If we need an interpreter for the hospital, we can ask the DRC to get one. But there is no Farsi speaking interpreter in the camp. Now, they want to kick us out, those who have asylum … us who never had the chance to learn the language and integrate, us who they put at the most remote places away from the cities.” Qassim S.* (30)xx from Afghanistan, Nea Kavala camp The vast majority of mainland camps continue to be far away from the large cities of Athens and Thessaloniki where refugees can access additional social, medical and legal assistance as well as some integration possibilities such as free language lessons and access to labor. https://rsaegean.org/en/reception-crisis-in-northern-greece-three-years-of-emergency-solutions 6