http://infomobile.w2eu.net/2015/10/11/moria-lesbos-disastrous-conditions-in-the-future-hot-spot-while-un-high-commissioner-for-refugees-visits-the-island/
Moria / Lesbos: Chaotic registration queues leave refugees in future Hot
Spot under inhumane conditions for hours
Published on October 15, 2015 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: 2015,
greece, Hot Spot, Lebos, lesvos, Moria, registration, vulnerable groups.
++No welcome for refugees in Moria++ Hot Spot feared to become
deportation machinery++
Hot Spot to be inaugurated on Friday, October 15, 2015 in Moria camp
while registration procedures are malfunctioning, there is no
identification system for vulnerable groups in place and living
conditions are inhumane and degrading. The lack of basic needs provision
leaves refugees unprotected waiting in the registration queues for hours
and days.
A father is standing in the police field near registration gates
observing the queue / copyright: Salinia Stroux
A father is standing in the police field near registration gates
observing the queue / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Meanwhile within the last days Lesbos welcomed many high ranking
officials including Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Austrian
Chancellor Faymann, UN High Commissioner Guterrez and a US delegation of
senators accompanied by the US ambassador in Athens David Pierce. On
Friday Martin Schultz, President of the European Parliament is expected
to visit the island with Dimitris Avramopoulos the EU Commissioner for
Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship and Luxemburgs Minister of
Foreign affairs Asselborn. The island currently attracts once again the
worlds attention as the first “Hot Spot” in Greece is planned to open in
presence of the official visitors and Greek Migration Minister Mouzalas
in Moria on Friday, October 15, only shortly after the first days of
functioning of the Hot Spot in Lampedusa, Italy. Within the next week a
first small group of Syrian refugees are already planned to be relocated
to Luxemburg.
Dozens of children are sleeping on the arms of the parents in the queue
/ copyright: Salinia Stroux
Dozens of children are sleeping on the arms of the parents in the queue
/ copyright: Salinia Stroux
The identification detention centre Moria will be turned to the Hot Spot
on Lesbos island after concluding a pilot phase which lasted for the
last days supported by 53 specialists from Frontex. Tomorrow another 600
Frontex officers will arrive to start working in the Hot Spot. Already
today 12 registration machines donated by Germany have been brought to
the island to be used in Moria.
It is highly critical that until today it is unclear, how the Hot Spots
will function in detail and that it is unknown what will happen after
registration and screening to both population groups: The once assessed
eligible as protection seekers and the rest whose deportation will be in
plan. The only thing clear is that a few protection seekers will be send
to Europe for asylum while many others will be deported to their home
countries.
Daily registration numbers (careful: not numbers of arrivals!) have
risen to 3,500, while neither the problem of food provision for the
camps of Moria and Kara Tepe has been solved yet, nor are there
sufficient tents, blankets or dry clothes for the wet newcomers. At the
same time the limited support structures inside Moria are available only
to a part of the refugee population (the Syrians and some Non-Syrians
who have been already registered) and only at specific working hours
while the refugee boats arrive at the shores of the island at any point
of time during day and night.
No identification of vulnerable groups is in process, neither
prioritized access / copyright: Salinia Stroux
No identification of vulnerable groups is in process, neither
prioritized access / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Mister Jafar has arrived to Lesbos on Tuesday with his whole family.
They are 11 persons, children and adults. He reached Moria at 20:00
o’clock. “It is crucial that we could leave all together. How horrible
is it to leave your beloved behind if their lives are in danger?” He is
standing next to the queue for Non-Syrian families. With severe pain in
his legs that draw back to an accident and multiple bone fractures the
tall man with the crutches is not able to hold up against the pushing
people in the row. The women, teenagers and children of his family sleep
aside in a field of olive trees which is strewn with garbage. Every here
and there small groups of people have lit fires sitting nearby to warm
themselves.
The families queue is located in a dusty road full of mud and water /
copyright: Salinia Stroux
The families queue is located in a dusty road full of mud and water /
copyright: Salinia Stroux
In the dark one can see on the second sight bodies of the sleeping
crunched in thin clothes, seldom in blankets or sleeping bags. Mr. Jafar
watches the family line moving back and forth. Newcomers are pushing
from the back and the side. Every now and then one can here shouting
voices as small arguments raise out of the anxious cloud. The queue of
the single men among which one can identify easily many underage boys,
reaches half way down the hill. Upwards along the family queue women and
men are standing in the mud as water continiously rinses from a water
tap a few meters away. A young Afghan man is organizing both lines
almost by himself. He is very busy. With a polite smile or in exchange a
serious look he controls hundreds of people almost without shouting.
Along the family queue he has constructed a human chain to control the
crowd. “My wife is also in this queue.
Refugees sleep in the olive field nearby / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Refugees sleep in the olive field nearby / copyright: Salinia Stroux
There are about 70 meters left between her and the gate. As long as we
are outside I will help out here. And I really hope someone will take
over as soon as I have to get in for registration.” He smiles. “You know
what my profession is? I am a satellite engineer. I was organizing the
queues in the ISAF camp in Afghanistan.
Hours without access to anything... / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Hours without access to anything… / copyright: Salinia Stroux
300 different nationalities of people. I know how to deal with people.”
He has rolled up his sleeves as he seems feeling hot while constantly
moving back and forth between the lines. Near the fence an old lady is
sitting on a narrow stripe of dry earth waiting aside the queue. She is
feeling cold. Suddenly her son appears. The ineloquent man lifts her
slowly up and guides her over into the queue. She sits now on the dry
cement floor leaning on the fence of the gate. There are dozens of
mothers waiting aside the queue and sitting with their babies in their
arms on the floor. “Do you have something to eat? Do you have some
water?” Two or three ask.
Tonight no one has a tent. The people are not allowed to pass into Moria
as long as they aren’t registered. The single men will not get the
permission at all. The tents inside the camp are long full with Syrian
families. They can’t cover the needs of all.
Refugees have endured all night in and next to the queue / copyright:
Salinia Stroux
Refugees have endured all night in and next to the queue / copyright:
Salinia Stroux
The next day – Wednesday – at 1pm Mr. Jafar finally gets out of the
registration with his freshly printed documents. “We waited all night
long. I didn’t close my eyes even for a minute.” He still seems better
today. Many families of the night before are around. They all spent the
night outside without access to toilettes, tents or food.
Alina and Nabila hope to get reunited with their parents as soon as
possible / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Alina and Nabila hope to get reunited with their parents as soon as
possible / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Some meters away three other families sit on the earth. A 12-year-old
with her sister come over. “I am alone with my sister,” the younger
says. “We came with our auntie, because our parents were deported on the
border between Iran and Afghanistan. We had to escape from the border
guards as they are shooting. It is very dangerous. I cried a lot.” The
two girls are well protected with the family of their aunt, but they are
desperately thinking about ways to bring their parents and siblings as
soon as possible. “My father is almost blind. We have lost all our
money. They will not be able to start this journey again. We have to
find a way to bring them legally.”
Uncle and nephew separated by law / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Uncle and nephew separated by law / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Meanwhile near the registration tract of the Syrians outside of the
First Reception Centers gates a man is communicating through the fence
to his nephew. Authorities separated them as according to the law only
parents are recognized as legal guardians. The two desperately try to
plan how to find each other again after the uncertain period of about
two weeks when the minor will be transferred to an open reception
centre. Registration procedures changed within the last days and an
increasing number of unaccompanied minors gets identified, dozens get
separated from their relatives as they do not travel with their core
families.
The queue is not moving for hours ( copyright: Salinia Stroux
The queue is not moving for hours ( copyright: Salinia Stroux
It is Thursday morning. Kara Tepe camp gets successively more crowded.
Hundreds of newly arriving Syrians are waiting for their transfer to
Moria in order to get registered. The registration system is
encountering again problems. Busses stop for hours transporting refugees
to the registration camp. In the night the queue of the Non-Syrians on
the backside of Moria has grown. Single men now stand in a line almost
all the street down. Upwards the queue of the families leads along the
dusty road deep into the fields. Many young men gave up and sit in the
olive fields around fires to warm themselves. Some try to register since
two days. The families in front of the line say they wait since the
morning at 4am when they arrived in Moria. Others say they are queueing
since more than one day. “We had reached the front of the line when
chaos broke out suddenly and we ended up again in the end of the queue.
Our son is 1 month old. He is feverish. We didn’t sleep since several days.
Hundreds of unregistered sleep in the fields / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Hundreds of unregistered sleep in the fields / copyright: Salinia Stroux
My wife had a cesarean. She cannot stand the cold. I am afraid she will
faint.” Dozens of parents with babies not older than 6 months are stand
in the queue that goes 200 meters far. Some babies are dressed in wet
clothes. “My daughter fell in the sea twice. We urgently need something
dry to put on her. She will get sick! We also do not have anything to
feed her. My wife has no mother milk.” Every very now and then along the
queue refugee have lit fires along the queue. They are holding their wet
clothes over it to dry them. Refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka
and Eritrea queue here tonight. A young mother is holding her babies
pampers over a fire. “We fell in the sea. Our bags fell in the sea.
Everything is wet. We are wet.”
Families sleep in the queue / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Families sleep in the queue / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Around 5am registration seems to have halted. In the mens queue most
people are sitting aside the road trying to sleep a few minutes. They
sit near by each other, the heads resting on their arms while one is
trying to warm the other. The whole road uphill is covered with bodies
of the sleeping and waiting. In the very end of the family queue is a
fire. Next to it there sits a family with a 2 months old baby. “When
will they re-start registration they ask? We are cold. We are hungry.
There is not even a toilette we can use,” the father says.
The "waiting area" for the Non-Syrians at Moria / copyright: Salinia Stroux
The “waiting area” for the Non-Syrians at Moria / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Hundreds of refugees are all over the area, fires and smoke mark the
territory which is covered by garbage. Completely wet clothes are
hanging over the fences trying to dry. Around 6am the police shift
changes. With the arrival of the officers all the people wake up.
Suddenly the whole line is moving. People stand up in hope to finally
move on for some meters, to get some meters closer to the documents that
will allow them to leave, but also to access toilettes, tents and
doctors provided only for people inside the camp.
Moria / Lesbos: Chaotic registration queues leave refugees in future Hot
Spot under inhumane conditions for hours
Published on October 15, 2015 in Uncategorized. Closed Tags: 2015,
greece, Hot Spot, Lebos, lesvos, Moria, registration, vulnerable groups.
++No welcome for refugees in Moria++ Hot Spot feared to become
deportation machinery++
Hot Spot to be inaugurated on Friday, October 15, 2015 in Moria camp
while registration procedures are malfunctioning, there is no
identification system for vulnerable groups in place and living
conditions are inhumane and degrading. The lack of basic needs provision
leaves refugees unprotected waiting in the registration queues for hours
and days.
A father is standing in the police field near registration gates
observing the queue / copyright: Salinia Stroux
A father is standing in the police field near registration gates
observing the queue / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Meanwhile within the last days Lesbos welcomed many high ranking
officials including Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Austrian
Chancellor Faymann, UN High Commissioner Guterrez and a US delegation of
senators accompanied by the US ambassador in Athens David Pierce. On
Friday Martin Schultz, President of the European Parliament is expected
to visit the island with Dimitris Avramopoulos the EU Commissioner for
Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship and Luxemburgs Minister of
Foreign affairs Asselborn. The island currently attracts once again the
worlds attention as the first “Hot Spot” in Greece is planned to open in
presence of the official visitors and Greek Migration Minister Mouzalas
in Moria on Friday, October 15, only shortly after the first days of
functioning of the Hot Spot in Lampedusa, Italy. Within the next week a
first small group of Syrian refugees are already planned to be relocated
to Luxemburg.
Dozens of children are sleeping on the arms of the parents in the queue
/ copyright: Salinia Stroux
Dozens of children are sleeping on the arms of the parents in the queue
/ copyright: Salinia Stroux
The identification detention centre Moria will be turned to the Hot Spot
on Lesbos island after concluding a pilot phase which lasted for the
last days supported by 53 specialists from Frontex. Tomorrow another 600
Frontex officers will arrive to start working in the Hot Spot. Already
today 12 registration machines donated by Germany have been brought to
the island to be used in Moria.
It is highly critical that until today it is unclear, how the Hot Spots
will function in detail and that it is unknown what will happen after
registration and screening to both population groups: The once assessed
eligible as protection seekers and the rest whose deportation will be in
plan. The only thing clear is that a few protection seekers will be send
to Europe for asylum while many others will be deported to their home
countries.
Daily registration numbers (careful: not numbers of arrivals!) have
risen to 3,500, while neither the problem of food provision for the
camps of Moria and Kara Tepe has been solved yet, nor are there
sufficient tents, blankets or dry clothes for the wet newcomers. At the
same time the limited support structures inside Moria are available only
to a part of the refugee population (the Syrians and some Non-Syrians
who have been already registered) and only at specific working hours
while the refugee boats arrive at the shores of the island at any point
of time during day and night.
No identification of vulnerable groups is in process, neither
prioritized access / copyright: Salinia Stroux
No identification of vulnerable groups is in process, neither
prioritized access / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Mister Jafar has arrived to Lesbos on Tuesday with his whole family.
They are 11 persons, children and adults. He reached Moria at 20:00
o’clock. “It is crucial that we could leave all together. How horrible
is it to leave your beloved behind if their lives are in danger?” He is
standing next to the queue for Non-Syrian families. With severe pain in
his legs that draw back to an accident and multiple bone fractures the
tall man with the crutches is not able to hold up against the pushing
people in the row. The women, teenagers and children of his family sleep
aside in a field of olive trees which is strewn with garbage. Every here
and there small groups of people have lit fires sitting nearby to warm
themselves.
The families queue is located in a dusty road full of mud and water /
copyright: Salinia Stroux
The families queue is located in a dusty road full of mud and water /
copyright: Salinia Stroux
In the dark one can see on the second sight bodies of the sleeping
crunched in thin clothes, seldom in blankets or sleeping bags. Mr. Jafar
watches the family line moving back and forth. Newcomers are pushing
from the back and the side. Every now and then one can here shouting
voices as small arguments raise out of the anxious cloud. The queue of
the single men among which one can identify easily many underage boys,
reaches half way down the hill. Upwards along the family queue women and
men are standing in the mud as water continiously rinses from a water
tap a few meters away. A young Afghan man is organizing both lines
almost by himself. He is very busy. With a polite smile or in exchange a
serious look he controls hundreds of people almost without shouting.
Along the family queue he has constructed a human chain to control the
crowd. “My wife is also in this queue.
Refugees sleep in the olive field nearby / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Refugees sleep in the olive field nearby / copyright: Salinia Stroux
There are about 70 meters left between her and the gate. As long as we
are outside I will help out here. And I really hope someone will take
over as soon as I have to get in for registration.” He smiles. “You know
what my profession is? I am a satellite engineer. I was organizing the
queues in the ISAF camp in Afghanistan.
Hours without access to anything... / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Hours without access to anything… / copyright: Salinia Stroux
300 different nationalities of people. I know how to deal with people.”
He has rolled up his sleeves as he seems feeling hot while constantly
moving back and forth between the lines. Near the fence an old lady is
sitting on a narrow stripe of dry earth waiting aside the queue. She is
feeling cold. Suddenly her son appears. The ineloquent man lifts her
slowly up and guides her over into the queue. She sits now on the dry
cement floor leaning on the fence of the gate. There are dozens of
mothers waiting aside the queue and sitting with their babies in their
arms on the floor. “Do you have something to eat? Do you have some
water?” Two or three ask.
Tonight no one has a tent. The people are not allowed to pass into Moria
as long as they aren’t registered. The single men will not get the
permission at all. The tents inside the camp are long full with Syrian
families. They can’t cover the needs of all.
Refugees have endured all night in and next to the queue / copyright:
Salinia Stroux
Refugees have endured all night in and next to the queue / copyright:
Salinia Stroux
The next day – Wednesday – at 1pm Mr. Jafar finally gets out of the
registration with his freshly printed documents. “We waited all night
long. I didn’t close my eyes even for a minute.” He still seems better
today. Many families of the night before are around. They all spent the
night outside without access to toilettes, tents or food.
Alina and Nabila hope to get reunited with their parents as soon as
possible / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Alina and Nabila hope to get reunited with their parents as soon as
possible / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Some meters away three other families sit on the earth. A 12-year-old
with her sister come over. “I am alone with my sister,” the younger
says. “We came with our auntie, because our parents were deported on the
border between Iran and Afghanistan. We had to escape from the border
guards as they are shooting. It is very dangerous. I cried a lot.” The
two girls are well protected with the family of their aunt, but they are
desperately thinking about ways to bring their parents and siblings as
soon as possible. “My father is almost blind. We have lost all our
money. They will not be able to start this journey again. We have to
find a way to bring them legally.”
Uncle and nephew separated by law / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Uncle and nephew separated by law / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Meanwhile near the registration tract of the Syrians outside of the
First Reception Centers gates a man is communicating through the fence
to his nephew. Authorities separated them as according to the law only
parents are recognized as legal guardians. The two desperately try to
plan how to find each other again after the uncertain period of about
two weeks when the minor will be transferred to an open reception
centre. Registration procedures changed within the last days and an
increasing number of unaccompanied minors gets identified, dozens get
separated from their relatives as they do not travel with their core
families.
The queue is not moving for hours ( copyright: Salinia Stroux
The queue is not moving for hours ( copyright: Salinia Stroux
It is Thursday morning. Kara Tepe camp gets successively more crowded.
Hundreds of newly arriving Syrians are waiting for their transfer to
Moria in order to get registered. The registration system is
encountering again problems. Busses stop for hours transporting refugees
to the registration camp. In the night the queue of the Non-Syrians on
the backside of Moria has grown. Single men now stand in a line almost
all the street down. Upwards the queue of the families leads along the
dusty road deep into the fields. Many young men gave up and sit in the
olive fields around fires to warm themselves. Some try to register since
two days. The families in front of the line say they wait since the
morning at 4am when they arrived in Moria. Others say they are queueing
since more than one day. “We had reached the front of the line when
chaos broke out suddenly and we ended up again in the end of the queue.
Our son is 1 month old. He is feverish. We didn’t sleep since several days.
Hundreds of unregistered sleep in the fields / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Hundreds of unregistered sleep in the fields / copyright: Salinia Stroux
My wife had a cesarean. She cannot stand the cold. I am afraid she will
faint.” Dozens of parents with babies not older than 6 months are stand
in the queue that goes 200 meters far. Some babies are dressed in wet
clothes. “My daughter fell in the sea twice. We urgently need something
dry to put on her. She will get sick! We also do not have anything to
feed her. My wife has no mother milk.” Every very now and then along the
queue refugee have lit fires along the queue. They are holding their wet
clothes over it to dry them. Refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka
and Eritrea queue here tonight. A young mother is holding her babies
pampers over a fire. “We fell in the sea. Our bags fell in the sea.
Everything is wet. We are wet.”
Families sleep in the queue / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Families sleep in the queue / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Around 5am registration seems to have halted. In the mens queue most
people are sitting aside the road trying to sleep a few minutes. They
sit near by each other, the heads resting on their arms while one is
trying to warm the other. The whole road uphill is covered with bodies
of the sleeping and waiting. In the very end of the family queue is a
fire. Next to it there sits a family with a 2 months old baby. “When
will they re-start registration they ask? We are cold. We are hungry.
There is not even a toilette we can use,” the father says.
The "waiting area" for the Non-Syrians at Moria / copyright: Salinia Stroux
The “waiting area” for the Non-Syrians at Moria / copyright: Salinia Stroux
Hundreds of refugees are all over the area, fires and smoke mark the
territory which is covered by garbage. Completely wet clothes are
hanging over the fences trying to dry. Around 6am the police shift
changes. With the arrival of the officers all the people wake up.
Suddenly the whole line is moving. People stand up in hope to finally
move on for some meters, to get some meters closer to the documents that
will allow them to leave, but also to access toilettes, tents and
doctors provided only for people inside the camp.