May 2019 | Reception crisis in Northern Greece: three years of emergency solutions the police (if necessary), and then with the Ministry of Migration Policy as residents of the site. Subsequently they submitted their asylum claim upon referral by RIS or SMS. 2.3. RECOGNIZED REFUGEES AT RISK OF HOMELESSNESS AND DESTITUTION FOLLOWING MINISTERIAL DECISION “There is no privilege for me as a recognized refugee compared to the asylum seekers living aside me. On the opposite, I am under constant threat to get kicked out because the camp is not for recognized refugees they say and also not the UN houses. The only work I found was informal work in the harvest where I got 12 Euro for 8-10 hours of work. I don’t see a future. … I can only give up. My days in the camp pass by without any change of my situation. All day, I sit on a chair in front of the isobox and in the night I try for hours to fall asleep. There are no lessons now, no measures to make a living, nothing.” Behruz K.* (22) xxx from Afghanistan, Diavata camp “We don’t know Greece. We want to live in a city, learn Greek, find friends and jobs. I don’t want to live with the help of the state but to stand on my own feet. But if they cut the help we have now, we would be forced to be homeless because we don’t have anywhere to go. This is why we don’t have children yet. I feel fear. I fear the future. … Now, they want to kick us out, us who have asylum out, us who we never had a chance to learn the language and integrate, us who they put at the most far place possible from the cities”. Qassim S.* (30)xxxi from Afghanistan, Nea Kavala camp In early February, the Greek Ministry of Migration Policy announced the gradual termination of accommodation to beneficiaries of international protection living in refugee camps in mainland Greece. The first group of beneficiaries of international protection required to leave their accommodation were those recognized before the end of July 2017, and the deadline given for xxxii their exit was 31 March 2019. Refugees facing eviction from camps and flats would receive cash-assistance for three months if they agreed to leave their accommodation immediately. In the beginning of April 2019, RSA expressed concerns that such evictions would result in the xxxiii affected group facing homelessness and destitution. . At the end of February 2019, site-managing organisations started informing recognized refugees who spoke to RSA that they had to leave the camp they resided. In early March, they were called again and told to sign an informative letter that explained to them the situation. In the documented cases, the authorities did not adhere to the requirements of https://rsaegean.org/en/reception-crisis-in-northern-greece-three-years-of-emergency-solutions 8