The U.N. refugee agency says it is "alarmed" at the conditions at a Greek detention center where hundreds of illegal immigrants are being held, including scores of children.
The UNHCR said Friday that 200 unaccompanied children are among 850 people detained on Lesvos island in the eastern Aegean Sea. It also said many of the 50 babies there have illnesses "related to the cramped and unsanitary conditions of the center."
The UNHCR has urged Greece, which faces a major illegal immigration problem, to overhaul its asylum system.
Greece says it detained more than 146,000 illegal immigrants in 2008 — most from the coast of nearby Turkey — including 2,648 unaccompanied children. Detained minors often have been separated from adult companions or hope to join relatives in Greece or elsewhere in the European Union.
