Greece is to close the migrant camps on the islands and replace them with closed detention centers, the government announced on Wednesday. The new centers, planned for next year, would make it easier to control the flow of asylum seekers.
This camp is not Moria: Even though set up right outside the notorious Moria refugee camp, living conditions at the "CampUS" migrant camp are significantly better than inside Moria. "CampUS" is run by a Dutch NGO, Movement on the Ground, which puts a focus on community and empowerment.
Afghan migrant Samiullah is one of many who have arrived on the Greek island of Lesbos in recent months. Samiullah complains of abuse in Turkey, but his decision to migrate to Greece was also based on rumors that are circulating among migrant groups in Turkey. Here is Samiullah's story.
Many migrants at the Moria refugee camp on Lesbos have experienced horrific things during their treacherous journeys to Greece. One Afghan couple we met in early October told us they almost lost their son.
Selsela used to be an actress and singer in Afghanistan. Now she is living in a makeshift camp on Lesbos, Greece, as a refugee. "If I could go back in time I would prefer death over coming here," she says.
The Moria refugee camp on Lesbos, Greece, was designed for 3,000 people. There's currently over 13,000 people living there. InfoMigrants visited the camp in October 2019.
Humanitarian efforts and media attention have picked up following the arrival of over 10,000 refugees and migrants in Greece last month. But the situation on the ground remains critical and experts are skeptical it will change any time soon. InfoMigrants’ reporters Aasim Saleem and Amanullah Jawad were in Greece to find out more.
Greece’s infamous Moria Refugee Camp currently houses over 13,000 people. With daily arrivals, the area around the camp is also home to hundreds more who live in official and unofficial camps. Despite all its administrative and humanitarian challenges, life goes on somehow. InfoMigrants reporters Aasim Saleem and Amanullah Jawad took pictures that depict life in and around the camp.
Two days after a migrant woman died in the Moria refugee camp on Lesbos, 215 migrants arrived on the mainland on Tuesday by ferry as part of government efforts to tackle massive overcrowding in the camp. Other measures include speeding up asylum applications and returning 10,000 migrants to Turkey.
A deadly fire has prompted calls to improve conditions at Greece's severely overcrowded Moria refugee camp. Some people have referred to the facility as nothing short of "hell."
The Greek government wants to start returning thousands of migrants to Turkey following a deadly fire which broke out at an overcrowded camp. Officials called for action to ease pressure on overcrowded migrant camps.
The constant influx of refugees and migrants by boat to the shores of Greece's eastern Aegean islands from Turkey continues at an alarming rate this week, with close to 700 people arriving on Lesbos, Chios, and Samos in the past 48 hours.