PAGANI, Greece, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- United Nations staff expressed shock Friday about conditions at a detention facility on the Greek island of Lesvos.
When staff from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees visited the detention center at Pagani they found 850 people in a facility designed for between 250 and 300, agency spokesman Andrej Mahecic said.
Equally troubling, he said, was the fact there were 200 unaccompanied children at the camp. Most of the children were from Afghanistan, Mahecic told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland.
The U.N. staff said one room housed more than 150 women and 50 babies many of whom suffered from illness related to the cramped and unsanitary conditions at the center.
Greek officials said some measures have already been taken and that all unaccompanied children will be transferred to special reception facilities by the end of the month.
The U.N. agency helped the Greek government to overhaul the country's asylum system, especially as it relates to children, but the new measures have yet to be implemented.
