The “Hot Spot” of horror is what Moria turned to the last week and since its inauguration when numbers of new arrivals were high and the weather conditions harsh with constant rain falls. The authorities together with the UNHCR and all other involved actors of the humanitarian aid regime failed in protecting hundreds of refugees from what was a predictable catastrophe.
Trying to protect his baby / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Small boy covered in garbage bag / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Welcome to Europe and Alarm Phone Statement about the Situation on Lesvos Island / Greece
Barefoot in the rain a small Afghan boy is waiting in the queue for days / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Since Frontex has entered the scene, registration processes were dramatically slowed down. Frontex procedures of ‘screening’ individuals takes a long time which has caused great delays and thus created a situation of humanitarian emergency for the hundreds of people waiting outside. The official opening of this hotspot on Lesvos coincided with increased numbers of new arrivals and deteriorating weather conditions. While it rained non-stop in the past few days, dinghies kept arriving from Turkey. In the absence of any functioning queuing system and any form of crowd management by the authorities, and without access to shelter (protecting people from the harsh weather conditions), sanitary infrastructures such as toilets, as well as to food, water, dry clothing, medication and doctors, hundreds of desperate refugees are left to survive in between mud and piles of garbage outside of Moria’s fences.
The scenes in Moria remind us of war-zones: For several miles people are queuing, often for many days. They are exhausted and stand, sit or even lie in the mud, often after just having escaped death when crossing the sea. Highly vulnerable individuals are neither identified, nor protected, supported or prioritized. There are children, elderly, and pregnant women who are only cared for by activist volunteers and who are made to wait outside by Frontex, and those who drop out of this never-ending queue have to get back to the end of the line. Several women lost their unborn babies due to the stressful circumstances waiting in the line, families got separated in the chaotic situation, children are crying desperately for their parents.
Welcome to Europe has documented this awful situation already since the beginning of October in several Blogposts that included pictures of the scenery: http://infomobile.w2eu.net/.
At the same time, authorities have separated procedures and accommodation of Syrians from Non-Syrians, creating a two-class system where some are prioritized while others are discriminated against, even if one can hardly speak of any privilege in this situation of mass suffering.
For several months now, UNHCR as well as dozens of International and Greek NGOs have rushed to Lesvos to offer humanitarian aid to fill the gaps left by the Greek government. However, the foreseeable deterioration of weather conditions seems to have caught everyone by surprise – no one was prepared for the consequences of rain fall, nor has anybody managed to support those who are presently situated in several locations on the island, without basic resources and shelter. The response to the humanitarian crisis is too little and too late, while millions of Euros have flown into emergency aid. At the same time, the civil society, including mainly locals but also people coming from all over the world to help, has shown great solidarity without which we might have had to report of more victims of Fortress Europe on Lesvos Island.
The ongoing tragedy in the “Hot Spot” and around, mirrors the failure of Europe to protect refugees and the violence of the border regime on which European Migration policies are based. Screening and registration are priority, peoples’ lives are not.
We demand the immediate end of hotspot procedures and the instant withdrawal of Frontex personnel. The EU has to immediately put an end to the slowing-down of registration procedures produced by Frontex which is life-threatening. We denounce the procedure of ‘speeding up returns’ in the strongest possible terms. We call for the opening of land borders so that people on the move do not have to risk, and at times lose, their lives. We demand widespread humanitarian aid provisions to sufficiently address the pressing needs of those who arrive on the Greek islands and a dignified welcoming of refugees by offering protection.
Freedom of movement for all!
Welcome to Europe – http://infomobile.w2eu.net/
Watch The Med Alarm Phone – http://alarmphone.org/
++Refugees left to survive in Moria under inhuman conditions++Vulnerable groups unprotected for days in war zone like areal++
This child doesn’t stop crying as it is exhausted and afraid / copyright: Salinia Stroux
“I am queueing since 10 days!,” a Syrian man says. “I am single, but my family is left in Syria and I have to get them out to save their lives. I am very anxious. In this camp the is no human rights. It is zero zero.”
Continue reading ‘Moria / Lesbos: “Hot Spot” reminds of war zone’
++No welcome for refugees in Moria++ Hot Spot feared to become deportation machinery++
Hot Spot to be inaugurated on Friday, October 15, 2015 in Moria camp while registration procedures are malfunctioning, there is no identification system for vulnerable groups in place and living conditions are inhumane and degrading. The lack of basic needs provision leaves refugees unprotected waiting in the registration queues for hours and days.
A father is standing in the police field near registration gates observing the queue / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Dozens of children are sleeping on the arms of the parents in the queue / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Daily registration numbers (careful: not numbers of arrivals!) have risen to 3,500, while neither the problem of food provision for the camps of Moria and Kara Tepe has been solved yet, nor are there sufficient tents, blankets or dry clothes for the wet newcomers. At the same time the limited support structures inside Moria are available only to a part of the refugee population (the Syrians and some Non-Syrians who have been already registered) and only at specific working hours while the refugee boats arrive at the shores of the island at any point of time during day and night.
Continue reading ‘Moria / Lesbos: Chaotic registration queues leave refugees in future Hot Spot under inhumane conditions for hours’
Hundreds of Syrian wait for their registration in Moria / copyright: Salinia Stroux
UNHCR Ikea refugee houses are full once more / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Queue of Non-Syrians October 10 / copyright: Salinia Stroux
An Afghan mother falling asleep holing her five-months-old in the arms / copyright: Salinia Stroux
António Guterres is going to visit Greece for the days between 9.-12. October to assess refugee crisis in Greece. In Lesvos, Guterres is going to visit the main arrival points of refugees and the so-called reception centers, while he will meet with local officials, NGOs working on the island and volunteer groups.
Refugee families queueing in the back of the riot police busses in Moria / copyright: Salinia Stroux
During the last week non-Syrian refugees in Moria – among them many children – were suffering once more tear gas attacks and beatings by riot police as they were trying desperately to enter the pre-removal centre for registration. Dozens of refugees were transported to the hospital during these days.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras visited Lesbos island on October 6, accompanied by Austrian chancellor Werner Feymann, to ostensibly appraise the refugee crisis on the islands firsthand, but what they saw there did not correspond to the everyday reality as thousands of refugees had left in four unscheduled extra ferries beforehand, the port had been cleaned, bus transportation of refugees from the north of the island to the camps had been halted, suddenly no boats were crossing the sea border just for the time during the short visit and his visit in Moria camp was focused on an inspection of the almost empty First Reception Centre, while in the meanwhile a few meters further inside the fenced territory at the pre-removal detention centre where registration takes place the desperate crowds were repressed by riot police with tear gas and severe beatings.
Queue of single men after tear gas attacks and beatings when registration halted / copyright: Salinia Stroux
A father tries to help his son after another tear gas attack by lightening a small fire and holding the smoke near his eyes / copyright: Salinia Stroux
“Why don’t the authorities apply a registration system that works? Who is the responsible here? I really would like to speak to him. There are easy solutions to the problem. I am in the queue for three days and three nights now. Look around. This looks like the end of the world here!”
Continue reading ‘Moria / Lesbos: “This looks like the end of the world here!”’
October 3: Registration queue in Moria / copyright: Salinia Stroux