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When CGTN visited refugees on the Greek island of Samos in 2019, more than 5,000 people were living in a camp designed to hold just 648 people. Most live in a jungle camp outside the official area.

Four years after the EU-Turkey deal, thousands of refugees are trapped in degrading and inhumane conditions across Greece. In 2016, the agreement committed Turkey to accepting the return of all asylum seekers who had passed through the country on their way to the Greek islands. To facilitate this deal, Greece has contained all-new arrivals in "island hot spots" while they go through the asylum process. In reality, a slow asylum system and a steady flow of new arrivals have led to severe overcrowding, with refugees forced to wait for many months in unsafe, unsanitary and degrading conditions.

One of the refugees we met was Pasha Rafei and his wife who had fled from Iran for their lives. Rafei was a champion sportsman in his home country but was forced to flee when local officials threatened his life. He is a Muslim but his wife is a Christian – and this was causing problems with their neighbors in the camp.

One year later on we found the couple in Athens where Pasha is training for his first professional fight as a European resident. Has European residency been all that they had hoped for?

Refugees continue to flee to Europe for sanctuary but despite a significant fall in numbers, the EU is finding that sharing the absorption of new arrivals across member states still causes a political headache.