A new mother’s story — pregnant, undocumented and alone in Greece
I met Mariam* when she was 39 weeks pregnant — in her early 20s, ten years younger than myself, she was alone in Athens. She had fled the dictatorship in Eritrea, where military service is mandatory and indefinite. Mariam had managed to claim asylum just a few days before I met her, with the help of someone in her community, but prior to that she had spent over nine months struggling to apply for protection in Greece.
UNABLE TO CLAIM ASYLUM
The majority of Eritrean people seeking asylum in Greece receive positive decisions, with a recognition rate of 89.5%. But upon arriving in Greece, Mariam was unable to claim asylum. Greece’s Skype system does not have a line for Tigrinya speakers (there is a Russian line, despite there being 500% more applications from Eritrean applicants than Russian). Pregnant women are considered vulnerable according to Greek law and are therefore eligible to apply for asylum directly and bypass the long wait times for Skype, but Mariam was not aware of this. She had no access to legal information or advice because there is no state legal aid for people seeking asylum in Greece and most NGOs do not employ Tigrinya interpreters, as they consider it a minority language.
NO ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE OR SUPPORT
So, Mariam had spent the duration of her pregnancy undocumented in Greece. Whilst she was unable to claim asylum, she had been unable to access public healthcare. She had gone to local hospitals, but was turned away because she had no AMKA (the social insurance number necessary to access public healthcare) or PAAYPA (the parallel system set up since the New Democracy government refuse to give people seeking asylum AMKA). Mariam had never had an ultrasound or pre-natal checkups and she did not know the sex of her baby.
Whilst undocumented in Greece, Mariam had also not been able to apply for a UNHCR cashcard for basic subsistence. The cashcard scheme provides people who have managed to claim asylum with 34 Euros a week, while their asylum claim is processed.** With this money people are expected to pay for accommodation, food and other essentials.
To apply for a cashcard you must have a smartphone connected to the internet, and you apply by sending messages through the app Viber — as with the dysfunctional Skype system, there are different numbers for different languages, and Tigrinya is not offered.
Once we met, I used Mariam’s phone to send a message to the English language Viber number. The reply she received stated that there was a wait of at least three months in order to process her request for support.
NO ACCOMMODATION: NEW MOTHERS NO LONGER CONSIDERED ‘VULNERABLE’
Mariam had also been unable to obtain proper accommodation. If she had managed to claim asylum earlier, and find support whilst pregnant, Mariam would have been eligible for UNHCR’s ESTIA program — accommodation for ‘vulnerable’ asylum applicants.*** But since giving birth, Mariam and her baby are apparently no longer vulnerable — as the New Democracy government in Greece recently removed women in the postnatal period from the list of those legally defined as vulnerable.
Mariam was therefore living in an overcrowded mixed-gender room with nine people — she had set her phone to lock after 5 seconds of inactivity for fear that her privacy would be invaded, and she lived day to day amongst men and women that she did not know.
Still, before Mariam gave birth I briefed her that she should not explain her accommodation situation to hospital staff or state that she was homeless. There have been numerous instances these last weeks of homeless refugee mothers having their babies held by the hospital and then transferred to state structures because the mothers could not supply documents proving their address.
A NEW LIFE IS BORN
When Mariam went into labour in the early hours of the morning, she called me and a common friend that speaks Tigrinya. We drove her to the hospital, since there’s a serious shortage of ambulances in Greece’s heavily burdened public healthcare system, which has faced severe cuts following years of economic crisis.
Mariam had a long and painful labour, alone, due to Covid-19 measures. There were no interpretation facilities in the maternity hospital, so Mariam was unable to communicate with medical staff for the duration.
When Mariam’s baby girl was born, she had breathing difficulties and was taken to another hospital, as there was no space at the hospital in which Mariam had given birth.
Mariam was discharged from the hospital four days later, but a week after giving birth she is yet to meet her baby. She is unable to visit her daughter due to Covid-19 measures.
POSTSCRIPT
Mariam is now in a solidarity flat with two other Eritrean mothers. Support is urgently needed in order to continue to provide this safe accommodation. You can contribute directly to the costs here:
*Names have been changed to protect people’s identities
**Asylum claims in Greece can take many years to be processed. Those arriving via the land border especially face long delays — upon registering a claim for asylum, interview dates are scheduled for years later.
***In practice, wait times are long once a referral is made for the ESTIA program— some people wait months, and others never receive a response from the Ministry who decide on the referrals.
