Greece is facing a refugee “emergency”, as the number of number of unaccompanied minors arriving in the country and there is growing concern about the lack of “safe zones” to host them, the Guardian reports.

Large numbers of children arrived in 2024 as a new trafficking route emerged from Libya to Crete, prompting NGOs to urge Greek authorities to take emergency measures that would allow children to be transferred to shelters or other EU member states

“What we see is equivalent to one emergency for children the likes of which we haven’t seen in years“, said Sofia Kouvelaki, head of the Home Project, an organization that supports refugee and immigrant children in Athens.

Ten years after Greece found itself in focus of a refugee crisiswhen nearly a million EU-bound asylum seekers crossed its borders, child arrivals are set to double in 2024, according to UNHCR. More than 13,000 minors arrived in the country by sea in the first 11 months of this year. Arrivals of unaccompanied children have also risen sharply, from 1,490 in 2023 to around 3,000 so far this year.

“There are a huge number of children appearing on boats every day and the need to create more safe spaces to house them is imperative“, said Kouvelaki.

Recent arrivals reported in the Home Project included; extremely young children from Syria and Egypt, he added.

THE Minister of Immigration of Greece, Nikos Panagiotopoulospredicted last week that the pressure of migration flows from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe’s southernmost border state is likely to continue in 2025.

“The widespread geopolitical turmoil in our wider region, where three wars are being fought, the most recent in Syria, combined with the climate crisis, is forcing many to flee their homes simply to survive“, he told the parliament. “All these factors have led to a significant increase in migration and refugee flows from the end of 2023».

By the end of the year is expected that 60,000 people have entered Greece. The increase in numbers has been such that reception centers on the Aegean islands are at full capacity, Panagiotopoulos said.

As Christmas approaches, hundreds of children have been reported by aid groups to be on the front lines on the islands of Samos, Leros and Kos without clothes or shoes and little or no access to basic services.

Cuts by Greece’s centre-right government, which has adopted what it has described as a “tough but fair” immigration policy, have led to fewer protection structures. An estimated 1,500 unaccompanied minors across the country were forced to fend for themselves.

Incidents of violence and abuse have multiplied in overcrowded state reception facilities that often house children and adults together.

This month, authorities were put on alert after it emerged that an Egyptian teenager had been gang-raped, beaten and burned by at least four people, including two adults, after arguing over a mobile phone. The attack on the Malakasa refugee camp outside Athens sparked outrage. Officials said plans were underway to create an additional 500 places for children in sheltered settings “once funding is found”.

“We are all shocked by this incident“, Deputy Immigration Minister Sofia Vultepsi said, noting that of the 213 boys in the camp, 160 were from Egypt and it is alleged that “showed strong signs of delinquency».

“Unfortunately, the traffickers go to the poorest villages in Egypt, convince the parents to send the children to Europe to work in order to send them money, and then take them to Libya and from there to [λιμάνι] Tobruk. “, he told ERT. “There they put them in a huge camp and torture them and train them and familiarize them with organized crime».

Greek officials say arrivals from Tobruk have increased by 400% this year.

The humanitarian organizationsincluding Save the Children, also report critical failures in the reception system in Greece. Overcrowding in asylum-seeker camps and facilities, they say, was exacerbated by shortages in essential services, including interpreters and guardians, which had put children at risk as their asylum claims were continually put on hold. 2024 was notable for EU funds being “too late” to reach shelters, migrant solidarity workers said.

The government recently announced that an agreement had been reached to “finally” resolve the shortage of interpreters.

“When one part of the system malfunctions, everything malfunctions“, said Lefteris Papagiannakis, the director of the Hellenic Council for Refugees.

Last week, the council published a scathing report, co-authored with Save the Children, into the “alarming” living conditions that minors still face in the country’s camps. “It is unacceptable, even now, when so much money has been invested in Greece and we are no longer in a crisis situation, to discuss such basic issues».

NGOs urged the Greek authorities to prioritize the early integration of children seeking asylum and called for child protection measures to be implemented urgently.

“Children fleeing humanitarian crises arrive in Greece hoping for safety, but find themselves trapped in yet another crisissaid Willy Bergogne, Europe director at Save the Children. “The reception centers meant to protect them have been places of fear and isolation, with violence, disturbing living conditions and a lack of support services».

It was, he added, the duty of the officials to act immediately. “The EU and the Greek authorities have a moral and legal obligation to act urgently to improve conditions in these camps and protect these children».