Greece Closes "Dante's Inferno" Refugee Detention Center

Published November 02, 2009 @ 04:28PM PT

UNHCR News Story: UNHCR stats show Iraqis, Afghans and Somalis topping list of asylum-seekers in industrialized world by UNHCR. An update on one of our stories from last week: Greece has closed the Pagani refugee detention center, the conditions at which Deputy Civil Protection Minister Spyros Vougias described as "Dante's Inferno." Approximately seven hundred mainly Afghan, Iraqi and Somali refugees formerly held at Pagani are being transferred to other detention facilities on several different Greek islands. While the closure of the Pagani center is a welcome --and urgently necessary-- humanitarian decision, Greece's government still needs to do more to protect the rights of thousands of refugees crossing its borders every year.

[Photo: A UNHCR staff member interviews asylum seekers who have just arrived by boat on the Italian island of Lampedusa. UNHCR / A. Di Loreto.]

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Una Vera is an international development professional living in the northeast United States. Her blogging at Change.org focuses on the intersection of human security, governance, and armed conflict --primarily in Europe and Central Asia. You can follow Una on Twitter @Transitionland.