children and babies. As noted by one of those affected: ‘When my children queue up for the soup kitchen, the guards push them […] I may not have suffered physical violence, but the fact that my children have no rights, no right to food and medical care is a form of violence […] I came here to protect my children. If my life was not in danger in Iraq, I would have gone back’.815 That being said, as in previous years, so too in 2022, GCR continued receiving complaints by its beneficiaries with respect to the quality of food –which many have stressed is not edible or even expired at the time they receive it– and to the lack of specific food products, such as suitable milk for babies, throughout several of Greece’s camps, including near Athens and Thessaloniki. As stated by a single-headed family supported by GCR,816 after being transferred to a camp (previously residing in ESTIA): ‘The situation is very bad. With this cold, we don’t have winter clothes, they didn’t even give us [i.e. the camp authorities] a blanket. We cannot eat the food. The milk they give for the children makes them feel discomfort (« τα ενοχλεί »). They told me they cannot change something [i.e. the camp authorities]. In the [ESTIA] apartment we did things on our own, we cooked the food we eat. Here, we do not have a choice’. Likewise, while commenting on the quality of food provided to those considered eligible by the Greek administration, an employee of Ritsona camp stated: ‘[t]he food they provide is terrible. It is not edible’.817 During the 2020-2021 winter, conditions were also reported as highly substandard, as several mainland camps, including Schisto, Elaionas, and the old Malakasa camp were covered by snow during adverse weather conditions in February 2021, and hundreds of persons, particularly those living in tents at the time, were unable to warm themselves, not least, due to reported electricity shortages in several mainland camps.818 In the old Malakasa camp near Athens, even though tents were fully replaced by containers, these were reportedly not equipped with showers and toilets, forcing many, including families with small children, to walk into the snow to access common facilities/lavatories, and leaving many refugees in fear for the health of their new-borns, due to the lack of electricity amid freezing temperatures.819 As of October 2021, electricity shortages in Ritsona camp continued to create concerns about the residents’ access to heating for yet another winter (2021-2022).820 Though the extent to which similar challenges remain in 2022 needs to be further checked, residents of the camps have continued complaining about lack of access to sufficient warmth during the 2022-2023 winter as well. For instance, as noted by a 21-year-old applicant from the DRC, following his eviction from ESTIA and return to a camp outside of Athens, where he was placed in a container: ‘The container was dirty, and there were not enough beds inside. The heating wasn’t working properly, and it was very cold. The first day we arrived, the cold was unbearable. They gave us only bedding, but no blankets in the beginning’.821 By April 2021, it was also reported that works had commenced on the construction of 2.5 to 3-meter concrete walls and fences around the open (COVID-19 restrictions notwithstanding) mainland camps of Ritsona, Diavata and Nea Kavala, raising questions for the camp’s employees, who were reportedly not informed of the initiative, but also ‘discomfort to refugees who have for years been living in isolation, 815 816 817 818 819 820 821 Avgi, ‘Ritsona / Holidays without food for hundreds of refugees and migrants’, 18 December 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/43dn7eM. Aggelidis, D., ‘Homeless [‘ανέστιοι’] refugees without ESTIA’, EfSyn, 24 December 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3LvxNis. Avgi, ‘Ritsona / Holidays without food for hundreds of refugees and migrants’, 18 December 2022, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/43dn7eM. In.gr., ‘The snow is not pleasant when you are living in a tent – ‘Medea’ buried the refugee camps (‘Τοχιόνι δεν είναι ευχάριστο όταν μένεις σε σκηνή – Η «Μήδεια» έθαψε τους προσφυγικούς καταυλισμούς’), 16 February 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3fmDFJI. Efsyn, ‘Last minute improvisations for the refugees in Elaionas’ (‘Αυτοσχεδιασμοί της τελευταίας στιγμής για τους πρόσφυγες στον Ελαιώνα’), 16 February 2021, available in Greek at: https://bit.ly/3wfWTrf. GCR, Diotima Centre and IRC, Homeless and Hopeless:an assessment of the housing situation of asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection in Greece, January 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3tTuCsm, 9. RSA ‘A step backwards for protection and integration: On the termination of the ESTIA II housing programme for asylum applicants’, 22 December 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/43vr3Y5. 171