Moria camp in Lesvos i currently housing 13,000 refugees (Image: Getty)
My psychology professor went to volunteer at the Moria refugee camp in Lesvos, Greece. The precarious camp that was originally designed for 3,000 people is currently housing 13,000 refugees, impeding sanitation, hygiene, protection and security. My professor said those she talked to in the camp had all considered taking their own life because they had lost what matters most to humans: hope.
I had no idea conditions in Lesvos were this bad. Families have escaped countries ruled by war in the hope of finding a safe home in Europe, but are instead finding themselves trapped in inhumane conditions on the Aegean Sea. Greece is currently the main destination for refugees coming into Europe, and over 36,000 refugees have entered the country so far this year. It has received more refugees than Spain and Italy, and is facing economic and political instability.
At the Moria camp, people live in overcrowded tents, and queue for several hours every day just to get basic accesses to food and the toilet. Knife attacks and sexual assaults are rife, and some women have been reported to wear diapers at night in fear of going to the toilet alone. Resignation syndrome, a condition in which individuals enter a catatonic state following trauma, is starting to be seen at Moria. Those affected may close their eyes to the world, stop talking, walking, and eating. They withdraw from the world, as if the mind refuses to stay connected to the outside; as if a wall is built between the child and the world, because the child simply could not take it if he were to be harmed yet again. The body says stop.
Explaining the reasons for the dire conditions at Moria would require a complex analysis of political, economic and social systems. However, one factor that seems to be upholding and exacerbating the situation is the EU-Turkey deal.
The deal was struck in March of 2016, with the goal of limiting the flow of refugees coming into Europe. Turkey was promised € 6bn to aid the situation of refugees there, as well as visa-free travel for Turkish people to the EU. In exchange, Turkey accepted to house refugees who would be sent back from Greece because they had entered Europe without formal permission. For every refugee sent back to Turkey, the EU would accommodate one Syrian refugee currently staying in Turkey. This deal has aggravated the situation for refugees in Greece. The thousands of refugees who were already on Greek islands prior to the deal and ones still entering the country are finding themselves trapped. They are confined to deteriorating camps while waiting to either gain asylum approval or be rejected and deported to Turkey. Amnesty international discovered that the Greek government has rejected asylum applications without proper consideration making the plight of refugees even tougher.
Furthermore, a recent Amnesty report indicates that Turkey is illegally deporting hundreds of refugees back to countries in active conflict zone through physical violence or threatening with prison sentences. Therefore, Greek camps like Moria have now become detention centres rather than temporary refugee camps. The EU-Turkey deal violates human rights in many ways and as long as the deal exists, Europe is closing its eyes to the reality of the situation and failing to show basic human compassion.
Moria is just one example of camps where refugees are trapped, losing hope of a better future, waiting day by day to know if Europe will accept them. Meanwhile, doctors, nurses and psychologists working for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are seeing how refugees are really suffering as they tackle communicable diseases, hygiene-related diseases, traumas, depressions and suicidal thoughts. They can do nothing more than to listen, attempt to treat them, then send them back to their tents. After reading about the atrocities in the Moria camp of Lesvos, all seems truly unfair. What pains me the most, though, is that children are growing up in these detention camps, playing within the premises of barbed wire fences, missing out on a safe and secure childhood.
Written by Miriam Billaud Feragen
Sources
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/09/oxfam-criticises-eu-inhumane-lesbos-refugee-camp-moria
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