Conditions for refugees have deteriorated in Greece in the wake of last month’s controversial EU-Turkey dealto such an extent that newborn babies are being deprived of milk, endangering their lives, refugee advocates and rights groups say.
“Approximately 25 babies under the age of six months, whose mothers are unable to breastfeed, are being given roughly 100ml of milk formula just once a day on the island of Chios, according to photographs sent by detained refugees and testimonies provided by phone,” the Guardian reported Tuesday.
“The conditions here are not good and we are sleeping on the ground; our blankets are soaked with water. There are no bathrooms. This is why people are getting sick.”
—a Syrian asylum seeker in Idomeni, Greece
“Britain’s Royal College of Midwives said the situation, if confirmed, would contravene international protocol,” the newspaper continued, “and suggested that some refugee babies in Greece may be receiving just a quarter of their recommended daily intake.”