More than 5,000 people in Athens alone cannot buy essential goods. INTERSOS helps vulnerable families who have fled Ukraine and the many people at risk who have arrived in Greece over the years
photo by Silas Zindel
In Greece, the Migrant Forum, supported by INTERSOS, has distributed food to more than 500 vulnerable people, mostly children, living in Athens, since February to date. These are people from different countries: Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Senegal, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Somalia, Morocco, Cameroon, Iraq, Mauritania, Comoros, Pakistan, and from Greece itself. Families who cannot make it alone to meet their basic needs, such as food, and whom we try to support with the “Food for All” project.
The Greek Migrants Forum conducted a mapping of the needs and problems faced by migrant and refugee communities during the pandemic. Many migrants and refugees lost their jobs and were cut off from all kinds of benefits provided by the Greek state. On the one hand, asylum applications are systematically rejected and applicants lose all economic support, so they are forced to leave the camps and no longer have access to food. On the other, those who are granted refugee status, if they cannot find a job, are unable to purchase basic necessities.
There are more than 5,000 people in need of food in Greece’s capital today, a number that could rise again in the coming months. “It is inconceivable that today in Greece, in Europe, we are talking about food insecurity and asking for the obvious: the right of every human being to have access to a plate of food a day,” emphasizes INTERSOS Greece Director Apostolos Veizis. “The Food for All project supports children, women and men, vulnerable people and the elderly, who have recently arrived in Greece from Ukraine or have been living in Athens for years, but their survival is now in question,” Veizis explains. “We must continue to support as many people as possible, regardless of their legal status. Food security is the basis of human needs. No one should experience food insecurity.” “Food for All” is part of the Food for Migrants/Refugees project of the Greek Migrants Forum and INTERSOS, supported by Stichting Vluchteling – SV (Dutch Refugee Foundation).