Since the signing of agreements between Europe and Turkey in 2016, vulnerable migrants have continuously been blocked at the borders and unable to escape the overcrowded and uninhabitable detention camps
It has been 70 years since the signing of the Geneva Convention Refugee Status, and little to no progress has been made regarding the wellbeing of refugees. After listening to the stories of those who have been trapped on the island of Lesbos, suffered unjustifiable violence at the borders, and have forcefully been separated from their families, it is confirmed that the treatment and conditions of refugees have only deteriorated, especially within the Greek Islands.
Since March 2016, with the signing of the EU/Turkey agreement and the start of the hotspot policy, Europe has continued to block people at its borders, detaining them in overcrowded detention camps with inhospitable living conditions.
In September 2020, a fire destroyed the Moria camp on the island of Lesbos. After the camp’s destruction, many European institutions promised to use this event as an opportunity to completely abandon camps like Moria. However, a second, temporary camp was built, Mavrovouni. Like the others, this camp was overcrowded, lacked proper sanitation, and put refugees at a constant risk for violence. The construction of a new camp is scheduled for this September, which Europe has financed with 76 million euros. This new camp will host all asylum seekers on the island including the most vulnerable refugees previously housed in protected spaces. The camp will be built close to a landfill in an isolated area, ultimately lacking services to the outside field and connections with inhabited centers.
Instead of being an asylum where refugees can seek protection and aid, the camps of the Aegean Island have essentially become detention centers. In these camps, thousands of people seeking help are being trapped, sometimes waiting for years to receive even a response —this has devastating effects on their mental health. Today, more than 5,500 people are stranded on the island of Lesbos.
The September 2020 European Pact on asylum and immigration, fails to give a glimpse of the future where refugees receive proper care. At the basis of the procedures envisaged in the proposal, it is clear that a real analysis of the vulnerabilities of those who ask to enter Europe is reduced to the bone. Favored, instead, are containment and deterrence policies through a more rapid processing of requests for asylum and an intensification of returns.
In fact – as many of the women we assist in Lesbos tell our local INTERSOS aid workers – it is common for existing vulnerabilities to go unnoticed, contributing to the rejection of asylum applications. Asylum interviews are the first opportunity to reveal incidents of violence and it is essential that they are carried out with the utmost attention and care. “When women who have survived violence receive rejection of their asylum application, their emotional and mental state can deteriorate abruptly,” explains Clotilde Scolamiero, INTERSOS project manager in Lesbos. “Rejection reinforces their feelings of distrust and despair, even provoking suicidal thoughts. Many of these women have survived merciless violence and torture and have been trapped on Lesbos for years, without protection, access to adequate services, and often suffering from chronic illness or recurring flashbacks to their traumatic experiences. Furthermore, in the camps they continue to be exposed to violence on a daily basis”.
All this is further aggravated by national laws. As of 2020 in Greece, those who obtain refugee status lose the right to any financial aid received up to that moment and are forced to leave their reception accommodation within a maximum of 30 days. Those who see their asylum application accepted, therefore, find themselves with even less support to start a process of integration and risk ending up homeless and in conditions of poverty.
Finally, on 7 June, Greece decreed Turkey as a safe third country also for asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Somalia. In Lesbos, 65% of asylum seekers are Afghan nationals and 8% Somali. This means that more than 4,000 people risk being deported to Turkey, a country where their rights will not be respected. In fact, to those who come from non-European countries, Turkey does not recognize refugee status in compliance with the Geneva Convention, but a “conditional” status that does not recognize certain rights such as family reunification.