- Title: 'The situation is so bad here' says migrant on Greece's Lesbos
- Date: 19th September 2018
- Summary: LESBOS, GREECE (SEPTEMBER 18, 2018) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HUNDREDS OF TENTS PITCHED IN FOREST OUTSIDE OF MORIA CAMP LESBOS, GREECE (SEPTEMBER 17, 2018) (REUTERS) CHILDREN WALKING PAST TENTS IN FOREST, ONE CHILD CRYING LITTLE GIRLS WALKING OUTSIDE TENTS LITTLE GIRL SITTING ON THE GROUND AND STICKING HER HAND IN HER MOUTH LITTLE GIRL SITTING IN THE DIRT ANOTHER LITTLE GIRL SITTING ON A BLANKET PLAYING WITH A BROKEN DOLL/ LITTLE BOY STANDING ON BLANKET/ MAN CUTTING TREE BRANCH WITH A KNIFE LITTLE GIRL SITTING ON A BLANKET PLAYING WITH A BROKEN DOLL MAN BUILDING SHELTER WITH TREE BRANCHES OVER TENT LESBOS, GREECE (SEPTEMBER 18, 2018) (REUTERS) CHILDREN GATHERED AROUND WOMAN SQUATTING IN DIRT AND WASHING CLOTHES IN A PLASTIC CONTAINER WOMAN WASHING CLOTHES IN CONTAINER BOYS FILLING WATER BOTTLES FROM MAKESHIFT TAP WOMEN WASHING CLOTHES AND PEOPLE FILLING WATER BOTTLES FROM MAKESHIFT TAP (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT FROM AFGHANISTAN, ALI, FATHER OF THREE WHO ARRIVED IN AUGUST, SAYING: "The situation is so bad here. We don't have enough toilet, we don't have bathroom here, we should wait in line 30 minutes, one hour in line of bathroom, toilet. We have so many problem here." VARIOUS OF NEWLY-ARRIVED MAN USING PIECE OF CARDBOARD TO DIG GROUND TO PITCH TENT IN FOREST VARIOUS OF MEN SITTING UNDER PLASTIC TARPS TIED TO AN OLIVE TREE IN FOREST/ SMOKE WAFTING FROM A HANDMADE CAMPFIRE IN A HOLE DUG IN THE GROUND VARIOUS OF MAN CONNECTING ELECTRICITY CABLE FROM AN ELECTRICITY POLE TO ANOTHER CABLE BY HIS TENT (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT FROM AFGHANISTAN, ALI, FATHER OF THREE WHO ARRIVED IN AUGUST, SAYING: "Night it is so bad, so bad... My children cannot go to toilet because everywhere it is dark here and we are in forest, because we are in forest, so my children cannot go alone to toilet, to bathroom." LESBOS, GREECE (SEPTEMBER 17, 2018) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) VARIOUS OF WOMAN SITTING INSIDE A TENT IN FOREST NEXT TO MORIA CAMP AND ROCKING A BABY AS SEEN THROUGH A NIGHT VISION CAMERA PEOPLE WALKING IN THE DARK AMIDST TENTS WITH A CHILD HOLDING A FLASHLIGHT AS SEEN THROUGH A NIGHT VISION CAMERA VARIOUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN SITTING INSIDE A TENT AS SEEN THROUGH A NIGHT VISION CAMERA WOMAN HOLDING HANDS WITH LITTLE GIRL HOLDING FLASHLIGHT AND WALKING AS SEEN THROUGH A NIGHT VISION CAMERA ROWS OF TENTS AS SEEN THROUGH A NIGHT VISION CAMERA LITTLE GIRL RUNNING PAST TENTS WITH A FLASHLIGHT AS SEEN THROUGH A NIGHT VISION CAMERA TENTS ILLUMINATED BY FLASHLIGHT AS SEEN THROUGH A NIGHT VISION CAMERA
- Embargoed: 3rd October 2018 13:09
- Keywords: Greece migrants Lesbos island overcrowding EU UNICEF refugees
- Location: LESBOS AND ATHENS, GREECE
- City: LESBOS AND ATHENS, GREECE
- Country: Greece
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0038YAMC07
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos say they face a daily struggle as the government looks to ease overcrowding, and aid agencies raise alarm bells over living conditions.
The official government-run Moria camp is operating at almost three times its capacity with about 9,000 migrants and refugees, forcing hundreds more to spill into the adjoining forest and pitch their tents amidst piles of garbage, without any proper sanitation, security, electricity and other facilities.
Migrants living in the forest told Reuters on Tuesday (September 18) they fear for their safety, especially at night. Lavatories are far away and there are long lines, and they are afraid to venture out at night. Dirt-smeared children could be seen playing around the trash piles, while mothers washed clothes in buckets on the ground with water from makeshift taps. Others cut down tree branches to build shelters over their tents, while one man was connecting electricity from a pylon above.
In Moria, acts of violence have sparked safety concerns while mental health and sanitary conditions have deteriorated. Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Monday (September 17) it had witnessed an unprecedented health crisis in Moria, where it found many teenagers had attempted to commit suicide or were harming themselves on a weekly basis.
A local governor threatened to shut it down within 30 days unless authorities clean up uncontrollable amounts of waste.
Last week, over a dozen human rights groups urged Greece to take action to render its island camps fit for human habitation.
In August, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR urged Greece to speed up transfers of eligible asylum-seekers from Aegean islands to the mainland, noting that conditions at Moria were "reaching boiling point".
The European Union's top official for migration, commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, arrived in Athens on Wednesday (September 19) to meet with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, after Greece said on Tuesday it would move 2,000 asylum-seekers from Lesbos to the mainland by the end of the month.
Some 3,000 people were transferred from Moria to the mainland over the summer and another 700 people were moved last week, government officials said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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