More than 130 Iraqis voluntarily return home
One hundred and thirty-four Iraqis, including 38 children, voluntarily returned to their homeland on a charter flight Thursday from Athens International Airport as part of an assisted voluntary return program implemented with the support of the International Organization for Migration.
Of those, 40 were part of an enhanced voluntary return program implemented in cooperation with the European Commission.
Their departure Thursday marks the start of this program, which will involve 5,000 asylum seekers from camps on the islands, who had arrived in Greece before January 1, 2020 and wish to return home.
The program’s up to 5,000 beneficiaries are expected to receive financial assistance of 2,000 euros in cash if they arrived and lived on the Aegean islands of Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Leros or Kos before December 31, 2019 and do not come from Ghana, Senegal, Togo, Gambia, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Georgia, Ukraine, India or Armenia.
