Greece's migration minister has told a German newspaper that the temporary reception facility on Lesbos is 'largely' equipped for winter. Despite some improvements, however, images from residents in the camp show miserable conditions.
A number of NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, have urged the Greek government to be transparent about the details of the risks of lead poisoning at a migrant camp on Lesbos. They also urged for migrants to be evacuated as a precautionary measure.
Greece's government came under heavy criticism from all sides on Sunday, December 13, after the "tent city" migrant camp on the island of Lesbos was flooded for the third time following two days of heavy rainfall across the country.
Eighteen associations promoting the health rights of migrants and refugees have appealed to European governments and to EMPs to change the model of large holding centers in the new European pact on migration and asylum. Large centers, they said in the recent appeal, "have devastating effects on the mental health of refugees and asylum seekers."
Human Rights Watch has said that thousands of asylum seekers, aid workers and international personnel may be at risk of lead poisoning at the new migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. The camp was constructed on a former military firing range after the Moria camp burned down.
After Greece's largest refugee camp was destroyed by a fire in September 2020, some 13,000 people were forced to make a home elsewhere. Around half of that group have been living in a makeshift overflow camp called Kara Tepe, where they say survival is even more difficult.
Greece has announced that 7,200 migrants stuck in temporary accommodation since the blaze at the Moria camp in September will be moved to permanent accommodation by September 2021. The European Commission will support the Greek government with the building project.
Conditions in the new migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos are becoming more difficult as winter approaches. Many still have to wash in the sea or with containers of water in "showers" they have built themselves.
A fire broke outside the Vathy refugee and migrant camp the Greek island of Samos in the early hours of Monday. About 15 tents were reported to have burned down. However, no one was injured, according to information by the migration ministry.
Police have cleared the small community-run PIKPA migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. The facility had been created to provide a safe haven for particularly vulnerable refugees and migrants. The nearly 80 people living at PIKPA will be transferred to the Kara Tepe camp.
Another flight bringing migrants, refugees and asylum seekers from Greece landed in the northern German city of Hanover on Thursday. A total of 66 people will be distributed across Germany, according to the German interior ministry.
A mental health crisis among asylum seekers from the former Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos is worsening. InfoMigrants has learned that in the new tent facility, even young children are receiving psychiatric treatment and medication to deal with ongoing trauma.