The United Nations refugee agency and the European Union’s aid department have been accused by other aid groups of mismanaging a multi million-Euro fund earmarked for the most vulnerable refugees in Europe, leaving thousands sleeping in freezing conditions in Greece.
The Greek government, which has ultimate jurisdiction over camp activities, has also been criticised for failing to use nearly €90m of separate EU funding to adequately improve conditions at the camps before the onset of winter.
No single party has overall control of all funding and management decisions in the camps, allowing most parties to distance themselves from blame.
The EU aid department, known as Echo, has given UNHCR more than €14m since April to help prepare roughly 50 refugee camps for the winter in Greece, where an estimated 50,000 mainly Syrian refugees have been stranded since the adoption of new European migration policies in March.
A further €24m was given to UNHCR for other projects.
Both organisations stand accused by other aid groups of squandering this money, after failing to properly “winterise” or evacuate dozens of camps before snow fell in Greece earlier in December.
In addition to providing warmer bedding and clothes, UNHCR was expected to use this money to move people from tents to heated containers or formal housing, heat warehouses where other refugees are living, provide a consistent supply of hot water, and install insulated flooring for anyone still left in tents.
Months after the funds were dispersed, roughly half of those living in camps had yet to be transferred to formal housing by the onset of winter. UNHCR admitted it was itself aware of only eight camps where all the residents have been moved out of tents and into prefabricated containers.
In a recent UNHCR video, promoted by Echo, the two institutions hailed the success of their winterisation work. In early December, the EU also said that Greece was safe enough to return refugees there from other European countries.
But refugees and independent aid workers say Echo and UNHCR had initially ignored the gravity of the situation. The head of Medécins Sans Frontières in Greece, Loic Jaeger, described the situation as a failure.
“We are outraged about the positive communications [from UNHCR and the EU] that are completely disconnected with reality,” said Jaeger, speaking before UNHCR began to admit flaws in the process on 9 December.
The ongoing blame game highlights the level of disorganisation across the entire response to the Greek refugee crisis.
The EU denied that its money is being badly spent, and said it was doing all it can to monitor where its money went. A spokesman said its partners were subject to four layers of control and that its funding was “the most thoroughly monitored and controlled of all international aid donated for the refugee crisis in Greece”.
