MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) urged the Greek authorities on Friday to find alternative locations for the inhabitants of the evacuated Idomeni camp in northern Greece amid poor living conditions.
Unofficial Idomeni refugee camp was a home for some 14,000 refugees and migrants, including many families with children. This week, Greek law enforcers evacuated migrants from the overcrowded camp.
"UNHCR agrees that the makeshift site at Idomeni on the Greek border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, where refugees had been staying in abysmal conditions, needed to be evacuated… However, the conditions of the some of these sites to which the refugees and migrants are transferred fall well below minimum standards," the agency noted.
According to the UNHCR statement, some of the refugees have been moved to tents that have been placed too close to each other. The agency also noted poor air conditioning and insufficient supplies of food, water, electricity, and access to toilets and showers.
UNHCR stated that if it were not possible to bring conditions up to minimal humanitarian standards, the Greek authorities should find alternatives.