Seeking asylum is a human right. And the European Union should welcome people in search of safety and provide them with what is necessary for living a life in dignity. Unfortunately, the reality in the Greek camps differs from this expectation. Recent events, such as the decision by the Greek authorities to no longer provide food and water to people who are outside of the asylum procedure, prove that Greek authorities fail to adhere to these standards. To be sure, the implementation of this policy has once again brought attention to the utilization of food insecurity as a way to pressure people to leave the island and Greece. Apart from this latest development, it is also necessary to discuss what happens to those who are still amid their asylum process. Does the Greek government fulfil its human rights obligations here?

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‘Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food. […]’ 

Article 25, Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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Access to food is a human right, codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and defined in Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The latter establishes an obligation for the State Parties to take the appropriate steps to ensure that everyone has access to adequate food.

Moreover, according to General Comment No. 12, provided by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the right to food is realized when every person has ‘physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement’. Access to food is a basic necessity and deeply interlinked with other human rights, such as the right to life, health and education.

There are several reasons why people seeking asylum are especially at risk of suffering from violations of their right to food. 

Crossing the border to a country and asking for international protection can result in severe limitations of one's autonomy. People who find themselves in the situation of being an asylum applicant in a third country often lack opportunities in the job market and thus are confronted with limited economic resources. As a response to this issue, Greece has made some improvements concerning the legal framework for employment and integration of asylum applicants. However, the adopted measures fall short of what is required to fully achieve these goals. Asylum applicants still face various obstacles when trying to access the national job market, such as the language barrier, difficulties when opening a bank account, administrative obstacles, as well as the remote locations of the reception facilities. 

Consequently, since the financial assistance asylum applicants receive is often delayed, and insufficient to cover a person’s needs entirely, even if received in time, most asylum applicants rely on food provisions by the government or NGOs. Therefore, Article 17 of Directive 2013/33/EU — which regulates the reception conditions in the European Union — requires Member States to ensure adequate living conditions for applicants, including food security. The same obligation was transposed in Greek law by Article 44 α) of Law 4939/2022.

On Lesvos, the caterer Elaitis has been responsible for providing food to the camp residents since 2016. Unfortunately, the quality, as well as quantity of the food provided, is wholly unsatisfactory. 

With regard to the quantity of the food, Fenix personnel frequently notice the rather small portions that are insufficient to cover a person’s dietary needs. This specific issue has worsened since the Government implemented the new food policy for people outside the asylum procedure. In several families, this decision has led to people within the asylum procedure sharing the little food they receive with their relatives outside of the asylum procedure. NGOs reacted quickly to this and have been providing food to people outside the asylum procedure ever since the new policy was introduced. Additionally, the one meal that is provided is only distributed once per day at 2.30 pm, which further limits the autonomy of the camp residents and increases the number of hours that they have to wait in the food line, which eventually has led to rising tensions in the CCAC. Besides that, the time selected is also extremely concerning considering the extreme heat during the summer months.  

Equally as concerning is the quality of the food. As an example, Fenix frequently observes that the food provided by camp authorities is expired, has a high salt content which often makes it inedible, and has instructions on the packages stating it must remain refrigerated, something that is not possible. Moreover, it has already been reported that insects were found in the plastic-wrapped food that was handed out in the camp.

The food diversity of the meals provided merits criticism as well. Despite assurances provided by authorities, asylum applicants generally complain about how nutritionally insufficient the food is. The nutritional deficiencies are particularly consequential for people who have specific needs due to their differing medical diagnoses. Such special diets are frequently not taken into consideration by the competent authorities, which eventually leads once again to NGOs filling the gap left by the authorities. Furthermore, medical actors systematically receive complaints from the residents about the food provided and treat people with medical problems, which are consequences of its bad quality. This concern has been discussed in several meetings between authorities and medical providers. 

There are further aspects that exacerbate the limited access to food inside the camps. For instance, asylum applicants who use their financial assistance to buy food are sometimes not allowed to bring it into the camp,  and, even if they are permitted, fresh food provisions bought in a supermarket cannot be stored in the camp, since refrigerators are not available. 

To put it briefly, despite the legal obligations imposed by International, European as well as Greek national law, the situation in the CCAC of Lesvos is unacceptable and therefore requires significant changes.

The most empowering measure to ensure the food security of asylum applicants would be the provision of additional financial support to increase the autonomy of people seeking asylum by giving them the chance to choose which food they would like to consume, based on their health and individual needs and preferences. It is self-explanatory that such a measure would also require the provision of options to store and prepare the food. Until then, as long as a caterer is the main supplier of food in the camp, the meals provided need to meet a standard that ensures a balanced diet that respects the health of asylum seekers.