Refugees in Greece Are Literally Paying to Go to 'Prison'

Since the EU-Turkey deal went into effect last week, refugees arriving in Greece through Turkey are being forced to pay for their own travel expenses to detention centers, where they are being kept as prisoners and fed through fences as volunteers who deliver food are not allowed into the facilities, the Refugees Trail website reports.

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“The refugees were brought into the prison by bus, which they had to pay for,” Benjamin Julian, a writer for the website, wrote on March 25 after speaking to refugees and police officers at Vial detention center.

“These buses have been in operation for a while, and offer not just a joyride to jail, but also wildly inconsistent prices, depending on currency.”

Greece-Macedonia border: child refugees can't cross.
We're gonna have to explain ourselves to future generations. pic.twitter.com/vnw3r4oU3j

— Crimson Chunti (@MexicAnarchist) March 23, 2016

The report, which refers to refugees as inmates and the camp as a prison, added that the only source for food for the refugees is from aid and human rights volunteers, who are forbidden from entering the camp.

Aid workers have been “harassed when visiting the hotspot to bring food, and have been forbidden from talking with inmates,” the report added.

While refugees are allowed to apply for asylum and refugee status, the process seems complicated and the center lacks staff. Greek authorities have had very little time to implement the deal between the EU and Turkey, which went into effect on March 20.

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The controversial agreement, which has been widely criticized by aid groups and the United Nations, states that refugees arriving from Greece will be returned to Turkey. For every refugee returned the EU is expected to take in one refugee from Turkish refugee camps.

In return, the Turkish government received US$3 billion in aid from Brussels and a potential visa-free deal for Turkish citizens visiting the EU.

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More than one million people, fleeing conflicts and wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, arrived in Europe in 2015, 80 percent of them making the risky sea crossing between Turkey and Greece.