6
mojatu.com
News & Sports
LIFE IN A REFUGEE CAMP, AN INTERVIEW WITH FABRICE, RESIDENT OF MORIA 2.0 IN LESVOS, GREECE By Ophelie Lawson On September last year, after fire ravaged the old refugee camp Moria, Europe’s largest refugee camp, located on the Greek island of Lesvos, a new temporary camp was built: the temporary reception and identification centre known as Mavrovouni, or Moria 2.0. It has been 7 months now since the opening of that camp, and what was supposed to be a temporary solution is slowly becoming a permanent one. I spoke with Fabrice, who I met on the island of Lesvos back in 2019, and who’s been living in the new camp since it was built, and also a former resident of the old Moria camp. Fabrice came to Europe asking for asylum in February 2019, fleeing persecution in his country of origin, hoping for safety. Instead, he has had two rejections to his asylum claim and has been trapped on the island, living in the worst conditions of a refugee camp, for over 2 years now. Fabrice, you have been in Lesvos for almost two years now and you have been living in the new Moria camp since September of last year, have the conditions of the camp improved since September or since the European commissioner, Ylva Johansson went to Lesvos and promised better conditions? Yes, it’s been two years now that I have been on the island, the old camp was harder than living in hell, the life of every person could end in any seconds there. There was crime, violence, rape, theft, fire, no decent sanitary or hygienic conditions, static situations on administrative procedures. It was like in a jungle, everyone made his own laws as they heard it. All of this was happening right in front of the eyes of the Greek authorities who were incompetent and incapable of solving our problems. Because there was a constant flow of new people, I don’t know if when they see us piling up and dying it did them good, until the camp was set on fire. For the new camp, things started better. Now things seem to be a bit more neglected. When she [The European commissioner] came to visit us, we didn’t even have time to approach her. The locals of the island did, they had opportunities to yell at her and ask her how much longer asylum seekers would be kept on the island until they are assessed and evacuated to the continent.
For us asylum seekers who were supposed to have a chance to talk to her, unfortunately, we were not given such an opportunity. She was only shown the important places of the camp through a guided tour. She did not even have time to talk with women, young people and community leaders for them to explain some of our daily difficulties. Her visit did not improve anything for us, the administrative procedures continued in the same slow pace, complicated accommodation conditions, hygienic and sanitary situation always the same. In fact, after this, single women and families who were housed in containers with few conditions to cope with, for instance, bad weather, were relocated in tents made of weak fabric. The money that the EU had spent is much more for the infrastructure of their country, asylum seekers are not beneficiaries, our situation continues just the same and is getting worst. Convoys and transfers to take people out of the camp and to the mainland are not happening as often. Now if you are done with the asylum procedures you have to organise your departure from the island by your own means, you have to buy a plane ticket or a boat ticket to go elsewhere, that’s the reality. How is life in the new camp? Is there a lot of change in daily life and routine from the beginning? Life in the new camp is still as always: stressful, everything can change overnight, the security situation is still starting to worry us little by little, there is insecurity that is starting to gain ground, there have already been a few cases of rape, thefts and assaults, people stealing phones. Electricity in the camp is still very unstable, the food is not well cooked. Women and children exposed to very unsanitary conditions and likely to contract all kinds of germs and infections. Continuous negative decisions, wave of rejections to asylum claims in all communities. NGOs have reported the presence of lead exposure in the area, which is expected to impact and put in danger several people but no one is talking about it, so the situation is deteriorating slowly, in silence. No one is paying attention. Read more: rb.gy/yqjd2t
