A year of waiting and vulnerability for the people of Lesbos since the European "No More Morias"
A half-built temporary centre. Showers where, if you want water, you take it in tubs. Endless circles of rejected asylum applications. Children treated as adults without the possibility of going to school. And the constant reliving of past and present traumas.
This is the reality that refugees and asylum seekers in the Mavrovouni migrant reception centre on the Greek island of Lesbos have been living for a year now. One year since the European Union reacted after the fires that destroyed Europe's largest refugee camp, Moria, by declaring the slogan "No more Morias" and urging a fresh start in European migration policy.
A few kilometres off the Turkish coast, Lesbos is one of the largest islands in Greece, known for its famous alcoholic drink ouzo, similar to Turkish aniseed or raki. However, it is also remembered as the island that hosted up to 20,000 migrants in the Moria camp. It is important to remember that last year, when Moria was at its busiest, the island of Lesbos had a population of just over 100,000.
Located in an abandoned former military firing range facing the Aegean Sea, the Mavrovouni reception centre for asylum seekers is characterised by a dusty and stony ground that makes mobility difficult - especially for wheelchair users in the camp -, a noticeable increase in police presence compared to Moria, and the temporary nature of its existence. It is specifically this last point that conditions everything. Mavrovouni was created as an emergency response to the fires of 8 and 9 September last year, a response to the precariousness of the people who lived there and who found themselves on the streets from one day to the next. I spent 10 days sleeping in the street with my clothes on, not knowing what was going to happen to me", says a Congolese asylum seeker who lived in Moria until the fires. It is because of this temporariness that the centre is still under construction. Why invest large sums of money, man-hours and logistics if it is temporary? The apparent solution is simple: if the people who were taken in on an emergency basis are to be moved to other centres on the island, in Greece or between European countries, public funding should not be invested. The EU earmarked 5 million euros in November to fund improvements to electricity, water and wastewater management at this centre, setting aside 121 million euros for the construction of three reception and reception centres on the islands of Samos, Kos and Leros. The reality, however, is different.
"Those who live in the reception centres on Lesbos call it home not for a few days or months, but for years," says European People's Party MEP Maria Walsh, who visited the camp on the day marking one year since the fires in Moria. "I couldn't bear to live there for more than a day," she concludes.
The lack of dignity and respect for human rights is the campaign that the US organisation with programmes on Lesbos, International Rescue Committee (IRC), has launched in recent days: the harsh living conditions in Mavrovouni for the past year have endangered the physical and mental health of the nearly 4,000 refugees and asylum seekers living there.
For the past year, women, girls, boys, families and young people have been living in limbo, waiting for what seems like it will never come: answers and solutions.
The centre of Mavrovouni is an open space that, because of its location, was flooded at the end of last year, bringing water up to their knees, leaving people holding their most precious belongings in their arms, standing inside their flooded tents for hours. And the rains are not the only external inconvenience. Last month Greece suffered a heatwave of over 40 degrees Celsius and heavy fires that made it very difficult to stay in this centre without trees or shade.
Mavrovouni is the centre where the toilets have no locks, are mixed, despite complaints from women, are far from the tents and containers where people live and are the focus of violence that goes unreported to the police, who spend the night outside the door, according to organisations working on the ground. "I saved myself and my mental health in Moria thanks to all the activities I could do there: I would get up and go jogging, then I would go to yoga or manicure classes, and then I would help out as a volunteer. Now in Mavrovouni there are no activities, there is nothing you can do but sit and wait", criticises a young sub-Saharan woman from the centre.
Inside the camp we can't cook, we don't rest because we always have to be alert, you can leave your tent, but where do you go? We have nothing to do, nowhere to go", says a discouraged young man from Togo, whose first asylum application was rejected because there were no interpreters in his mother tongue, preventing him from telling his story and presenting his case for protection.
Added to this widespread situation is the ministerial decision issued by the Greek Ministry declaring that Turkey is a safe country for asylum seekers from five countries such as Afghanistan, Syria, or Somalia. This means that an Afghan who arrives in Greece and submits an application for international protection will not be granted, regardless of whether the Taliban are after them or not, will be rejected and will have to return to Turkey - the country through which Lesbos is usually accessed - so that migration management is outsourced and the person is transferred to any European country, thus helping to decongest the first receiving countries such as Spain, Italy and Greece. It is important to mention that more than 60% of the people in Mavrovouni are Afghans, which is why this resolution is in the spotlight for organisations supporting migrants in Lesbos.
One of the key criticisms of both the MEP and the International Rescue Committee is the damage that these living conditions are doing to the people living in Mavrovouni. Their reports indicate that for the past year, since the fire in Moria, almost 100% of the people they work with have been suffering from uninterrupted depression, stress and anxiety, and they fear that, if these people are not treated urgently, they could move from symptoms to permanent trauma.
There are several factors that explain this deterioration in the mental health of the inhabitants of Mavrovouni. First, the constant presence of the sea for people who have put their lives at risk in unsafe boats to reach European territory. "The presence of the sea for these people is the constant visualisation of a trauma, of a painful experience that is related to disappointments, frustrations and unfortunately even deaths," says IRC's mental health psychologist Olga Moutesidou.
Added to this are the health restrictions stemming from COVID-19, as well as the lack of transparency about Greek administrative processes. "There are people who spend the day in their tent, without going out, in case someone goes to give them relevant information about their case in person and they miss the opportunity", says social worker Eleni Tezapsidou, from the Refugee Info programme, which works as a bridge between the Greek administration and asylum seekers, promoting people's empowerment through access to information.
Despite the difficult living conditions, the European Commissioner for Migration Ylva Johansson's promise of "No More Morias" and the relocation programme for vulnerable people through a European solidarity mechanism, many people in Lesvos are still struggling to make a living in Europe. At IRC's social integration centre, English, Greek and computer classes are held daily. "The changing trends have surprised us a lot: just as in 2016, migrants wanted to learn English or German, now we have a waiting list for Greek courses," says social educator Irini Spyrelli. "This means that refugees and asylum seekers from Lesbos now see their future in Greece, and that they are willing to learn this language if it opens doors for them to find a flat to live in or a job," she concludes.
"I fled my country because of political persecution. I was kidnapped and imprisoned, and now I suffer from epilepsy. But I have never considered myself a vulnerable person and I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me," shares a Congolese asylum seeker. "Since I have been in Lesbos, I have studied programming and business, and I dream of being able to leave here, to reach the United States to create my own business and to be able to return to my country to be part of political, economic and social change".
Amidst the hardships of the Mavrovouni reception centre, two Afghan women chat with each other in their garden. The entrance to their container is lined with flowers and plants, one of the only green spots in the camp. "All these people are capable of anything, they have survived the worst experiences, and they continue to do so in Lesbos. They just need a chance to create a better life for themselves and to integrate into society", says IRC, an organisation that is calling on the European Union and the Greek government to provide dignified and humane conditions for the nearly 4,000 people still living in Mavrovouni.