The European Union’s deal with Turkey to control migration and return “irregular” migrants, which came into effect on March 20 2016, has led to policies and practices in Greece that are short-sighted, unsustainable, ineffective and dangerous, 25 NGOs, among which the Greek Council for Refugees, said today on the deal’s third anniversary.

In an open letter to European leaders, 25 human rights organizations say that as many as 20,000 people have been stranded in unsafe, unhygienic and inhumane conditions in EU camps. These terrible conditions are due to the European policy of trapping asylum seekers in EU “hotspots” in the Greek islands, rather than hosting them in locations on the European mainland, the groups say.

The letter is published only one month before April 16, when Greece’s High Court (Council of State) is expected to examine GCR’s annulment application of the second decision of the Asylum Service to impose a geographical restriction to asylum seekers on the Aegean islands.

Read the full letter to the European leaders attached here