Graphic by Kinsey Couture ‘22
BY JOCELYN ZHOU ‘22
Receiving points for refugees in Greece are being shut down, galvanizing a call from human rights activists in Lesbos to keep the north shore open.
The Stage 2 Transit Camp is located on the north shore of Lesbos, Greece. The camp temporarily hosts asylum seekers and receives over half of the total refugee arrivals to Lesbos. The camp is the last remaining open refugee receiving point in the region, providing a rest area and supplies to migrants after they make the dangerous trek from Turkey.
Refugee Rescue, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) team operating in the country’s North Shore, claimed in a statement that the closure will be devastating for both refugees and local communities.
According to CNN, Greece hosts more than 80,000 refugees and asylum seekers who have crossed the sea from Turkey since 2015.
Tensions between the camp residents and locals have reached a crucial point, as several anti-refugee protests have broken out on the islands and mainland. According to Al Jazeera, in recent months, thousands more refugees and migrants have arrived in the country. Following more than 60,000 arrivals last year, more than 4,100 refugees and migrants have reached Greek shores so far in 2020. In late January, thousands of Greek citizens took to the streets on the islands in a general strike against the government’s refugee policies.
Local communities are becoming increasingly angry and exhausted, while refugees are holding protests to demand better living conditions.
Amidst all this political turmoil, boats are still arriving. Refugees are not allowed to travel from the islands to the mainland under a 2016 EU-Turkey deal, which was aimed at easing migratory flows.
According to the Guardian, more than 42,000 men, women and children are estimated to be on Lesbos, Samos, Chios, Leros and Kos, unable to leave due to the EU’s containment policy. They are forced to remain on the islands until their asylum requests are processed by a system which is both understaffed and overstretched.
Refugee camps are often overcrowded because of an increase in sea arrivals, and clashes between camp residents have risen. CNN reports that at least one person died in a fire, which broke out at the overcrowded Moria refugee camp on the Greek Island of Lesbos on Sunday.
Sabr al-Kolak, a 30-year-old from Palestine’s Gaza Strip, told Al Jazeera that he made it to Greece after his fourth attempt and went weeks without showers or food, even after waiting in long lines.
“The problems here have multiplied,” al-Kolak told Al Jazeera., “We don’t see our futures ahead of us.”
The Guardian reported that the Moria camp in Lesbos has grown from a population of 5,000 last July to around 20,000, with new families arriving daily. Even the most vulnerable new arrivals can no longer find space in the official area, but have to build makeshift shelters in a rubbish-filled olive grove around the camp, according to the Guardian
According to Refugee Rescue, Stage 2 ensures that refugees can access safety, vital medical aid, shelter and rest after the dangerous crossing from Turkey. With the closure of Stage 2, arriving refugees will be left waiting for hours on beaches, by the side of the road or in remote rocky areas, sometimes in sub-zero temperatures, with no access to immediate shelter, protection or medical aid.
The U.N. also warned that, since July 2019, asylum seekers have not had free access to the state health care system.
“There is an urgent need for the government to speed up the implementation of its plans to move thousands of asylum seekers from the islands to the mainland,” UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic said to the Guardian.
“People are suffocating here,” al-Kolak said. “We want to continue [the journey]. It doesn’t matter where as long as we have a life and work.”
“I think that the closure would bring about nothing but suffering for the refugees,” Astha Kiran KC ’21, a Mount Holyoke student who interned at the U.N. headquarters in New York last summer, said. “The Stage 2 Transit Camp should remain open so that there is a safe place for people fleeing from conflict and persecution and if Greece changes their mind and keeps the camp open, they would be aligning themselves with the goals of the U.N.”