A Greek human rights organization has urged authorities to help dozens of migrants and asylum-seekers allegedly stranded on a tiny river island on the Greece-Turkey border. The Greek Refugee Council told CBS News that contact with the group was cut off on Wednesday after a teenage girl was reportedly killed by a scorpion among the desperate people this week.
The 5-year-old girl’s 9-year-old sister was very ill after she may also have been stung, Vasileios Papadopoulos, the organization’s president, told CBS News. He said the migrants, some of whom have been stuck there for more than 20 days, have no access to food or clean water, so they are having to recover what they can from the forested island.
“I’m saying help… it’s hard to survive,” a 28-year-old refugee named Bayda said in an emotional audio recording broadcast to news and humanitarian groups this week.
Shown in this undated photo is 28-year-old Bayda, a refugee trapped between Greece and Turkey. Greek Refugee Council
“They are killing us in Syria, in Turkey, on this island, in Greece, all over the world,” she said through sobs. “What is our fault? Because nobody can hear us?”
The Associated Press reported on Thursday that Greek police have been pursuing reports of the migrants but have been unable to locate them due to different coordinates for their whereabouts. Police told the AP that the coordinates provided for the migrants were “outside Greek sovereignty” and that they had asked neighboring Turkey to provide urgent assistance to a group of about 40 people.
The Hellenic Refugee Council said on Friday that Greece’s claim raises questions about the status of the small river island, which online maps depict as belonging to Greece. However, they said it was positive that “authorities are at least finally acknowledging the existence of the group, which they had previously denied being able to find despite knowing the location for days and despite their declared manned and unmanned search operations to locate them.” .”
3/ The police announcement raises questions about the status of the island where the refugees are located. According to Google and Greek Cadaster, the official government mapping agency, the island is Greek.
The Greek Army Geographical Service also referred us to Google Maps to know the status of the island. pic.twitter.com/xWk7RuSDFB
— GreekCouncilRefugees (@GCRefugees) August 12, 2022
“What will happen?” said Bayda in the audio message. “Maybe we all die in the morning. This island is full of snakes, scorpions and many insects. … This is hell on earth. I swear this is hell on earth and nobody can help us.”
Thousands of people from the Middle East, Africa and Asia try to enter Greece from Turkey every year in hopes of a better life in Europe. The tiny island in the river that forms the border between Greece and Turkey has been a frequent crossing point, but Greek authorities have been accused of forcibly pushing migrants back into Turkish territory in recent months. TV channel Al Jazeera has reported that Turkish authorities have also forced people to enter Greece.
So-called “pushbacks” – people who are pushed back to their country of origin without being allowed to apply for asylum – are illegal under international law. Both Greece and Turkey have denied previous allegations.
The refugees trapped on the island in the Evros River have already been pushed back and forth between the two countries, Papadopoulos told CBS News. He said contact with them may have been lost because the group’s phones died or because they were misplaced.
On Tuesday, his organization and another human rights group, HumanRights360, released coordinates for a Google Maps location where the migrants and refugees are stranded. This location was on the island, which according to the maps was in Greek territory, and the groups appealed to the Greek authorities for help.
The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday issued an injunction ordering the Greek authorities not to transfer the migrants out of Greek territory and to provide them with humanitarian assistance. An earlier, similar order was issued in late July, Papadopoulos said.
“Especially in the last two months, since the beginning of June, the Greek authorities are not complying with the European court orders,” Papadopoulos said.
CBS News has reached out to both Greek and Turkish authorities for comments on the migrants, but has received no replies at the time of publication.
Papadopoulos said that since the island is in a restricted zone, humanitarian organizations cannot travel there to provide aid unilaterally.
“Save people. Save people,” he said when asked what his message to both governments would be. “Save this 9-year-old girl.”
Khaled Wassef contributed to this report.
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