As winter approaches, the temperatures in Greece have started dropping. This has an immediate effect on the liveability of refugee camps. Fenix works inside the C.C.A.C. on Lesvos and speaks with camp residents daily. Over the last weeks, we have seen a significant increase in the number of clients expressing that the nights are too cold to sleep, especially for their children. In recent months, the number of people arriving on Lesvos has strongly increased with over 2000 people arriving in November as per 27/11/2024. As an effect, more and more people are being housed in exposed areas of the camp, and in so-called Refugee Housing Units (RHUs), effectively plastic houses, which provide little relief from weather conditions.[1] Another important issue is that people living in the camp do not have adequate blankets to be sheltered from the cold. The Greek authorities have run out of blankets and stopped providing them, meaning that people who newly arrive receive either no blankets at all or just a flimsy summer blanket.

The lack of winterisation of the C.C.A.C. is not a new phenomenon. Throughout the past years, there has consistently been a lack of preparation to protect people who are forced to live in the camps from the winter weather conditions. This was confirmed during the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) visit to Greek island’s camps in 2023 which found a lack of blankets and winter clothes in all C.C.A.C.s.[2] During the CPT’s visit to the Lesvos C.C.A.C., the committee met many persons, “including small children,[who] wore only a t-shirt, shorts or slippers, and said that they were cold, especially at night.” The delegation “received many complaints about the lack[…] of blankets [and that] there was regularly no hot water available”. This lack of proper reception conditions immediately puts fundamental rights at risk. In a letter to Fenix, the European Commission confirmed that “a sufficient number of blankets and sleeping bags, […] must be available specifically to ensure the required material reception conditions.”[3]

Despite the condemnation by the CPT, this year is no different. NGOs are filling once again the gaps left by the Greek government, which consistently fails to meet the basic needs of people, by distributing blankets. However, NGOs lack funding and capacity to effectively provide for new arrivals. Nor is it their responsibility. The lack of winterisation is visible from Fenix's conversations with our clients:

“It is so cold at night, my children are freezing and I do not have blankets to protect them from the cold, I don’t have any money to buy blankets or warm clothes myself.”[4]

Fenix client from Afghanistan

“I have arrived in the camp this week, I have not been able to sleep because of the cold. The tent I live in has holes in the windows, I have tried to cover them with plastic bags to keep the wind out. The wall of my tent is also torn, I  have tried to plug the hole with a piece of mattress to shelter my children from the cold. The family that lives here with me and my family did not receive blankets when we arrived in the camp”

Fenix client from Syria

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Besides the impact on their physical health, the lack of warmth has an immediate effect on the quality of sleep people are able to get. This (prolonged) sleep deprivation caused by the cold severely affects their cognitive abilities and overall mental capacity, especially their memory and concentration. This has a direct impact on their ability to effectively participate in their asylum interviews, where they must recall and share detailed accounts of the threats and dangers that are the core of their asylum claim. The cold conditions thus directly undermine their ability to present their case, presenting yet another barrier to their ability to access the protection they urgently need.

To uphold respect for human dignity and existing regulations on minimal reception conditions, Fenix calls on the Greek authorities to provide the C.C.A.C on Lesvos with ample non-food items (NFIs) such as blankets and heaters, and the structurally improve the conditions in which people are forced to live during their asylum process.

Before winter hits Greece in full force, action must be taken now. The Greek authorities cannot be allowed to delay the provision of NFIs again after this has been a recurring issue for many years. Fenix calls on the European Commission and the Greek authorities to uphold the human dignity of people in search of safety while they are in the asylum procedure in the Mavrovouni C.C.A.C..

This report is written by Aron Bosman, Legal & Advocacy Officer and Maaike Vledder, Country Director.