Author: reliefweb.int | 28 August 2019
"Ten thousand asylum seekers are now living in cramped conditions in a camp that was designed for 3,500 people. With no proper accommodation or even sleeping bags to face the fast approaching winter, the safety of these desperate people is now at risk", says Benedicte Giæver, Executive Director of NORCAP.
NORCAP experts are working on the response and report that daily arrivals have reached record heights of 8 boats per day on Lesvos alone. Very few are being transferred to the mainland because of the lack of available space and conditions are deteriorating rapidly. Last weekend, a teenage boy died after having been stabbed by another boy inside what is supposed to be a safe zone for children.
"Our experts are comparing the current camp conditions to the one at the beginning of the crisis in 2015. There is a huge lack of accommodation, health facilities, even proper food. The frustration among the asylum seekers is at the tipping point. People are crammed into huge tents, afraid for their safety, not knowing the person sleeping next to them at night. Despite the EU having provided funding to the Greek government to support in this crisis, it is not enough with the huge number of arrivals we have now," Giæver says. Read more>>>