Next to the greenhouses where strawberries are cultivated, informal settlements have been established, consisting of makeshift structures made from reeds, iron, and greenhouse plastic. In these temporary shelters, known as "shacks," 25 to 30 people, primarily migrants from Bangladesh, live together. For their accommodation, they pay a monthly fee of 15-20 euros per person.
A moment of humanity: A migrant farmworker from Bangladesh feeds a kitten. The majority of migrants in the area live without documentation, while recent legislative initiatives in Greece have failed to ensure decent and safe living and working conditions for them
A return to the strawberry fields of pain, with no hope of receiving their unpaid wages, no hope of securing residence permits despite being victims of human trafficking, a return to their last refuge in the shanties of shame. How will they find the mental strength to continue a life with no tomorrow?
Next to the greenhouses where strawberries are cultivated, informal settlements have been established, consisting of makeshift structures made from reeds, iron, and greenhouse plastic. In these temporary shelters, known as "shacks," 25 to 30 people, primarily migrants from Bangladesh, live together. For their accommodation, they pay a monthly fee of 15-20 euros per person.
Manoladas case
Greece is the first country that immigrants from the third world countries enter on their way to Europe.
The majority of them don’t have the necessary legal documents, so in their effort to find jobs in order to survive, they fall victims of exploitation. In many cases their number exceeds the numbers of local populations. In Nea Manolada of Peloponnese the local residents are 2006, while the migrants living in camps in the village outskirts are 17000. Most of them work as fruit pickers in the strawberry fields.
In April 17, 2013 three Greek farm guards opened fire against a group of immigrants, most of which were from Bangladesh and had gathered to protest for accrued wages of more than five months. 35 were injured, 4 of them critically. So, the farm guards and the strawberry field owner were arrested.
With the collaboration of 2 non governmental organizations, the Hellenic League for Human Rights and the Greek Council for Refugees and sponsored by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the case was sent in front of the Greek justice and was judged by the Mixed Jury Court of Patras in July 2014. The subhuman working and living conditions revealed by this case were broadcasted by all Greek and international media.
The victims of the attack, along with the rest residents of the refugee camps fell in total disfavor, not only because they couldn’t find jobs to support themselves, but also because they were obliged to live like slaves, with no electricity, food and water as “punishment” for their reaction.
Local organizations of migrant support citizens and activists took care of supplying food and clothing as well as the necessary medical attention to these people.
Despite the fact that the defendants were scandalously acquitted for human trafficking and only 2 of them were convicted for causing serious injuries, the positive result of this case was that the fruit producer finally left the region, because the local society was awakened and showing an increased social sensitivity, boycotted his products.