BMC Medicine As in 2015, the worsening of the refugee situation in Greece and Turkey today stems from an escalation in the (civil) war in Syria. Refugees and migrants: common health problems. However, I still had dignity there [in Syria]. In particular, our study corresponds with another MSF report that showed there was an inefficient relocation system [23]. EU resettled some 15,000 refugees out of a planned 160,000. https://www.rt.com/news/376753-eu-refugee-resettlement-plan/. […] We got lost because of the huge numbers of people who were trying to cross the borders. California Privacy Statement, 2016. http://www.msf.org/sites/msf.org/files/report_vulnerable_people_201016_eng.pdf. The protocol was approved by the ethical committees of the National School of Public Health in Greece (ref: 3411/02.03.2017) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (ref: 12033). 2015. https://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/situation_reports/file/Mixed-Flows-Mediterranean-and-Beyond-Compilation-Overview-2015.pdf. At the Ritsona and Katsikas camps and the Athens hotel, most participants had started the relocation procedure (70.0%, 73.2% and 71.8%, respectively). Among men and women, similar proportions of violence experienced were observed but across all sites, a greater proportion of the older age group reported a violent event. The parent study took place in eight sites with a larger sample size and recruited multiple nationalities. However, there is a lack of epidemiological quantitative evidence on their experiences and the mental health problems they face during their displacement. Springer Nature. Access to legal information and assistance about asylum procedures were considered poor to non-existent for the majority, and the uncertainty of their status exacerbated their anxiety. During their travels, refugees and migrants often face harsh conditions, forced detention, and violence in transit countries. (Palestinian man from Syria). The age and sex composition varied by camp, but overall, they were young (median 18 years, interquartile range 7–30) and predominantly male. For participants, at the time of the study in Greece, knowing what would happen to them and their families mattered the most and they often directly linked uncertainty to poor psychological well-being: Will they accept you in Europe? Once we heard that many Syrians escaping Idlib were travelling the length of Turkey to try and get into Europe – Turkey having decided to no longer stop refugees trying to access Europe – we went straight to the border. A crisis of protection and safe passage: violence experienced by migrants/refugees travelling along the Western Balkan corridor to Northern Europe. Confl Health. A start date of 4 April 2016 was set for the repatriation/deportation or resettlement of refugees and migrants. The arrangement also included legal channels of resettlement of certain refugees and migrants to the EU, applicable to Syrian refugees. While the new life situation as a refugee in Greece was already difficult, not being with family members or other social support networks further worsened the situation. volume 16, Article number: 40 (2018) Throngs of migrants, mostly from war-torn Syria, have crammed into small dinghies on dangerous journeys over the Mediterranean Sea to escape fighting and persecution, overwhelming the European asylum system, starting in 2015. Information on asylum procedures was also generally limited, with only 11.0% (Samos) to 31.6% (Katsikas) of the population considering that they had received the necessary information. hide . https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-018-1028-4, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-018-1028-4. However, this paper will focus on data from Syrian populations, collected at six different sites representing a range of temporary settlements: (1) the Ritsona camp in the Attica region near Athens, where the population was living in bungalows; (2) the Katsikas camp in Ioannina, in the northwest of Greece; (3) a hotel where a proportion of the Katsikas camp population had been temporarily relocated while the camp was being refurbished for the winter; (4) the island of Samos, one of the first entry points in Greece and a designated UNHCR hotspot; and (5, 6) a pair of squat-hotels in central Athens. Comparisons of proportions were performed using a chi-squared test. http://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean. In 2015 alone, approximately 850,000 people crossed the Aegean Sea and arrived in Greece … We wish to acknowledge the extraordinary endeavor of the courageous and resilient field staff and translators, who completed this survey in extremely difficult physical and emotional circumstances. (Woman from Syria). A report published in 2016 by the organization Human Rights Watch has specifically documented and condemned abuse from the Turkish police and coast guard against Syrian refugees [18]. A comprehensive humanitarian and political response is urgently needed to provide and protect basic humanitarian rights and refugee laws and provide the care and compassion owed to traumatized populations. Some hoped Turkey’s decision to stop preventing refugees from crossing the border into Europe would make the atrocities in Idlib impossible to ignore. All you can hear is screaming, ammunition and sound grenades; all you can smell is smoke, teargas and the rancid conditions in which people here are forced to live. JBF participated in the study design, data collection, data analysis, literature search, creation of figures, data interpretation, and manuscript writing. Under the deal, the EU and Turkey agreed that all new migrants crossing from Turkey to the Greek islands after 20 March 2016 would be returned to Turkey if they were not applying or not eligible for asylum, or were asylum seekers whose application was considered inadmissible in the EU [8]. Syrian refugees in Greece: experience with violence, mental health status, and access to information during the journey and while in Greece | springermedizin.de Skip to main content Studies documenting the types and levels of violence experienced and the prevalence of anxiety and other mental health disorders among Syrian refugees during their displacement and resettlement are lacking [12, 13]. Thousands of refugees are now on the border of Greece. Situation Mediterranean. Depending on the site, between 31% and 77.5% reported having experienced at least one violent event in Syria, 24.8–57.5% during the journey to Greece, and 5–8% in their Greek settlement. Omar, a former white helmet who had escaped Idlib the previous week, showed us a video he said had been taken the night before. Hassan G, Ventevogel P, Jefee-Bahloul H, Barkil-Oteo A, Kirmayer LJ. The objective of the FGDs was to examine access to information and services in relation to asylum procedures. Some differences exist between these countries in terms of the recent refugee arrivals. Unfortunately, many of them never complete their trip. (Woman from Syria). Specific examples were reported during the qualitative component of our study. The 62-year-old Amal, a devout Christian, has been living in Greece as a recognized refugee since 2018. Article Syrian refugees in Greece: experience with violence, mental health status, and access to information during the journey and while in Greece. Intervention. Google Scholar. Development of an inventory for measuring war-related events in refugees.