Author: eu.rescue.org | 17 December 2020
Almost five years on from the establishment of five EU-funded Reception and Identification Centres (RICs) or ‘hotspots’ on the Greek islands, nearly 15,000 people remain stranded in these camps.
Having survived harrowing journeys to Europe, they find themselves trapped in dangerous, overcrowded and inhumane living conditions for months, and many for as long as two years.
People who came in search of safety are instead further traumatised by their present and anxious about their future. In September 2018, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) published ‘Unprotected, Unsupported, Uncertain’. This report detailed the shortcomings at the heart of the EU’s asylum and migration policies and their detrimental impact on the mental health of asylum-seekers living in Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesvos. Two years later, this new IRC report finds that the situation has worsened significantly. It draws on fresh data spanning two and a half years to October 2020.