Subscribe to our channel! rupt.ly/subscribe As winter sets in, the overcrowded Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos is reaching a dangerous breaking point, with the number of migrants nearing 17,000 in a facility built to accommodate just 3,000 people. Footage filmed last Thursday and Friday shows the crammed 'Olive Grove,' the unofficial annex to the main camp area, where tents and makeshift huts have sprung up to host individuals and families who have fled conflict.
The Olive Grove, also known as the 'Jungle,' is now home to thousands of migrants who are seeking shelter outside the gates of Moria, where barbed wire and a heavy police presence keep the two facilities separated.
Families with children share plastic tents pitched in the mud and cook on stoves located just outside; and also collect firewood to heat their shelters. The electricity system is unreliable and residents use small heaters to fight the cold, which can lead to the outbreak of fires. Last week, a 27-year-old woman died in a blaze which started inside a container in another makeshift camp, Kara Tepe.
As the new centre-right Greek government recently tightened access to healthcare for migrants, Moria residents can only knock at the doors of the Doctors Without Borders (MsF) clinic, located just outside the main gate of Moria.
"We are not able any more to cope with the situation," said MsF Project Coordinator at the Moria clinic, Marco Sandrone. "The electrical system in the camp is extremely weak, already now there are constant blackouts, people won't have any possibility of warming up themselves, so this overall living conditions, the lack of toilets, the lack of showers, a dignified place to live, this is what today is totally lacking in Moria. Winter will be even more difficult and dramatic for these families, for these children."
To complicate the situation, the government is planning to re-examine the camp system in a bid to decongest the island, alongside Chios and Samos, and transfer around 20,000 migrants to closed facilities as early as the start of 2020.
The high presence of unaccompanied minors, both inside the main camp and at the Olive Grove, is an additional cause of concern for Msf.
"Out of 17,000 people, 6,000 are minors. 1,200 are unaccompanied minors. This is the most vulnerable population that need to get medical treatment and here on the island the medical treatment they need is not available," says Sandrone.
"We see it every day here at our clinic in Moria how the mental health condition of these children is impacted by the living conditions," he adds, saying that some children in Moria have stopped eating, sleeping and playing. There have even been cases of children as young as 10 attempting suicide.
NGOs are demanding the Greek government and EU step in and have called for mainland transfers, but strongly oppose the plan of closed camps.
"All the medical care is provided by NGOs and volunteer groups of doctors; this is unacceptable. We ask the Greek government to transfer all the vulnerable cases from Moria to the mainland, but not simply transfer them to other camps, with the same lack of services. They need to be transferred to places with proper accommodation," Sandrone warned.
Four years after the migration crisis reached its peak in 2015, this is expected to be the worst winter in terms of numbers housed on Lesbos, with the influx of migrants crossing this six-mile (9.7 km) stretch of sea from Turkey continuing each day.
Video ID: 20191213-004
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