Register limits NGOs with access to migrant facilities

Only 18 of the 40 nongovernmental organizations that have been working in migrant reception centers around the country will henceforth have access to the facilities, the Migration Ministry said on Wednesday, after the deadline for NGOs to apply for inclusion in a new registry expired. 

A total of 287 NGOs applied but most did not provide all the necessary details for their requests to be approved, according to the ministry, which created the register in a bid to better monitor the operation of such groups. 

Meanwhile Alternate Migration Minister Giorgos Koumoutsakos met on Wednesday with the Ambassador of Afghanistan in Athens, Mirwais Samadi and the head of the International Organization for Migration’s Greek chapter, Gianluca Rocco, to discuss the voluntary repatriation of Afghan migrants.

Only those who arrived in Greece before January 1 and remain on the Aegean islands are eligible.