Council of Europe criticizes Greece on refugee camps

A top European body Tuesday slammed Greece for what it said are horrible conditions of refugees and irregular immigrants at camps.

Refugees in Greece were subjected to physical violence by police, said a report published by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).

The report said refugees were ill-treated by police, especially in the Evros and Lesvos camps, and it urged the government to act.

The conditions in the refugee camps visited by the group's experts were "inappropriate", the report said, adding 95 people were in a single room in the Fylakio refugee camp.

It noted there were pregnant women and children in the camps and half of the children do not have anyone to look after them.

Bad conditions were also found in other camps, dirty beds and hygiene problems caused refugees to catch diseases, the report said.

The Greek government did not take adequate measures in general about the problems in refugee camps, according to the CPT.

The Greek said in response that poor conditions is because of an increase in refugees for Turkey in early 2018 and it found no evidence found to support accusations of police violence against refugees.