Author: Filio Kontrafouri | cgtn.com | 17 December 2018
t's a rainy December morning. In a corner next to the police station inside the Vathy Reception and Identification Center, unofficially known as the Samos refugee camp, dozens of asylum seekers wait in line in a small, fenced-off outdoor area to have their picture taken.
They are all Afghans, men, children and women with babies in their arms, all part of the 102 arrivals on the island of Samos the night before. This is the beginning of their identification and registration process by Greek authorities before claiming asylum in Greece. And while a big part of their harrowing journey to Europe is ending, another, just as distressing is beginning.
They will have to live in one of the worst refugee camps across Greece, the so-called "hotspot" of Samos, probably for months, while waiting for their asylum applications to be examined as dictated by the EU-Turkey deal. Read more>>>