Last week a fire tore across Moria camp, on Lesvos, where 12-13,000 refugees have been living. In conditions which were already desperate, people have now lost their possessions and have been left with nowhere to sleep as their tents have been burnt in the fire. Access to medical care, food and clean water has been cut off. And cases of Covid have already been reported.
The Greek authorities are trying to persuade former residents of the camp to move to a new temporary site. The resulting protests have been met with teargas by the police.
It was already pretty clear that the conditions in Moria camp, which was built to house 3,000 people, were untenable. If nothing else, this should be the wake-up call for Europe to develop a new approach to resettling the people fleeing to its borders. So far, 10 countries have offered to resettle 400 unaccompanied minors. This is not enough.
Over 200 organisations across the EU are calling for governments to evacuate and provide shelter to the former residents of Moria, and to create a more humane asylum system in the EU. To support the campaign, you can sign this petition:
And you can write to your MP using this template:
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