Brussels/Athens (dpa) - Six months after Athens tightened its asylum laws, a new report from Oxfam and the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) claims the changes systematically undermine the right to seek asylum there and put those seeking protection at greater risk.

With the backing of the European Union, Greece has made it easier to reject claims for minor misdemeanours like failing to show up to an interview and has also curbed applicants' opportunities to seek recourse for such decisions, the report published on Thursday claims.

Even the most vulnerable are confined to the so-called hotspot camps on the Greek islands, which amounts - according to Oxfam and GCR - to "administrative detention." The past months have seen also seen a harrowing increase in sexual violence, they add.

Moreover, Athens' policy is "part of a worrying EU-wide effort to reduce the number of refugees who can find safety in European countries."

The Greek reforms aimed to speed up the processing of asylum applications, with a view to either more quickly deport people or grant them protection and cut down the huge backlog of cases.

Conditions in refugee camps on the Aegean islands are notoriously overcrowded and unhygienic. There are some 33,500 people living in camps in Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos, where the intended combined capacity is 8,000.

In recent months the conservative Greek government has accelerated asylum procedures and hired hundreds of new border police officers. It is also building a fence along the border with Turkey. In March, Athens suspended the right to an asylum procedure for one month.