Moreover, several of Greece’s neighbours, including Macedonia and Serbia, have closed their borders to Afghans. Because only 63% of claims from Afghans are approved on average, people from Afghanistan don’t qualify for this programme. However, the only people eligible are asylum seekers from countries like Syria or Iraq where 75% of EU asylum claims submitted by its nationals receive positive responses. These careless practices put many lives in danger.Īs a way to share the burden of having so many refugees, the European Union now has a quota system, which means that asylum seekers who enter Greece could be moved to another country. Sometimes, clients don’t use condoms simply because they don’t care about these young people. He had no idea if he had contracted the virus during a sexual relation or while using drugs. He had no idea what his diagnosis meant - he had never heard of AIDS. One day, I translated for a young Pakistani man who had just tested positive for HIV. I sometimes work as an interpreter at the local hospital. I don’t know the nationality of their clients but almost all of them speak Greek and most of them are much older than the boys. These young people have no adequate shelter and no way of making money and, ultimately, they are just left to fend for themselves as best they can.Īt best, these young people are paid €50 per client, sometimes less than €10. They also don’t get any governmental aid. Some of the problem comes from the fact that Afghan refugees face a lot of discrimination. They are living in tents in refugee camps and they don’t have any other work. These young boys are in a desperate situation. When people are just trying to survive and to fulfil their most basic needs, they are capable of doing all kinds of things. He sees Afghan refugees on a daily basis. works with a humanitarian orgranisation based in Athens. "The clients don’t care about these boys”Ali A. Sometimes, the actual act is carried out at the client’s house but, more often than not, the boys end up just going into the bushes with their client. Every night, several dozen young men congregate in Victoria park, Pedion tou Areos park and on the Omonia Square to sell themselves. Migrants of all ages also face widespread discrimination.īecause they have no access to the labour market, many end up having to turn to illegal trades, such as prostitution, to survive. With no source of income, most end up living in tent cities with no hot water or electricity. Their young age - some of them are barely 15 - makes them especially vulnerable in already precarious conditions. Most of the young migrants you see in these public squares are Afghan and some are very young. Despite the continuing efforts of numerous NGOs, some young migrants - especially unaccompanied minors - find themselves caught up in illegal trades, including drugs, human trafficking and, most frequently, prostitution. It’s almost impossible for them to find work or decent housing, so they while away their days in public spaces. The boy was forced to walk naked in the colony, say the police.Town squares and parks in Athens, Greece, are filled with migrants who idle there, trapped in limbo between Turkey and Europe.
He is even seen with his hands and legs tied as he is thrashed. He is trying weakly to cover himself with his discarded clothes. One of the men filmed the attack and shared the video, in which the boy is heard crying out in pain as he is tortured with a beer bottle. The police say they were drunk when they tortured the boy on Monday, accusing him of theft. "When I came to know of the video, I tried to kill myself," the boy told NDTV today.įour men have been arrested but the main attacker is missing. The mobile phone video surfaced on Thursday, three days after the assault, and has been circulated on social media.