Fire in the Greek island of Samos. Contenta (MSF): “600 people evacuated and assisted by civil society. No fatalities”

Some 600 – and not 5,000 – people were evacuated last night after a fire broke out outside the Vathy migrant camp on the Greek Samos island. Some people were brought to the public hospital with stabbing injuries but no deaths or burns were reported as a result of the blaze, whose causes have yet to be determined. SIR was updated on the situation on the ground from Athens by Andrea Contenta, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) humanitarian worker who follows the projects in Samos. A new fire broke out last night after the one that set ablaze the Moria camp in Lesbos two weeks ago, reflecting the explosive and near-collapse situation on the Aegean islands. According to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, the blaze is linked to clashes between refugees that broke out in the afternoon. “Six hundred people were forced to evacuate their tents and spent the night in facilities and buildings made available by NGOs and local residents – said Contenta -. Tents and basic necessities will be distributed tomorrow night, once again supplied by civil society.” More than 18,000 people arrived in the Aegean Islands between August and September, mostly Syrian and Afghan families, twice as many as those arriving in the same period last year. By September 9, 2019, almost 32,000 people had officially arrived in Lesbos, Samos and Chios, 28,000 of whom are presently hosted in 5 hotspots with a refugee capacity of just over 6,000 people. Vathy’s migrant camp in Samos was built to hold a capacity of 648 people but it currently houses 6.000 people living in external tents and makeshift housing units, without hygienic services or water, exposed to high-risk sanitary conditions. Half of them are women and children, including over 300 unaccompanied minors. Over 13,000 people are living in the Moira migrant camp in Lesvos, built to accommodate 3,000. 42% of them are children aged between 7 and 12, including almost 1,000 unaccompanied children and youths. This is the situation three and a half years after the agreements between the EU and Turkey: over 32,000 people are trapped in the Greek islands in sub-human conditions. This is happening while the Turkish military offensive against the Kurds in north-eastern Syria is underway. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is apparently using refugees’ lives as a political bargaining chip: “The international community should either join our efforts or begin admitting refugees”; he wrote in an editorial published in the Wall Street Journal. MSF broadcast footage of the blaze and destruction in the Vathy migrant camp.

On the alert for the conflict in Kurdistan.  Médecins sans frontières remains “on the alert” over the tensions in the region, on the opposite side of the sea. “It must also be said that Erdogan is not responsible for the departure of migrant boats – Contenta pointed out – there is a much greater problem. We have not seen any changes in arrivals until now, but perhaps it is still too soon for this kind of analysis. Once again, if priority is given to borders rather than to people’s health and safety, the situation will not be resolved”. We have been dealing with a “serious and worrying” situation over the last three and a half years as a result of the agreements between the European Union and Turkey.”

“Holding on to an agreement that has had negative effects on thousands of people so far means being completely blind and disregarding their needs.”

“To keep repeating that passages and crossings are being secured – he went on – is utterly misleading. In fact, the opposite has happened over the last few years: people continue to die at sea, to be trapped on both sides of the border. Obviously, they are driven to follow increasingly risky routes.”

Lack of political will and long-term planning. In his view, the overcrowded situation of migrant camps in Greek islands, “is chiefly due to the lack of long-term planning, whereas so far the situation has only been addressed in terms of emergency.” It is necessary to extend the discussion to the whole of Europe: agreements should be renegotiated and the problems of arrivals should be tackled with a shared approach.” In fact, the Malta summit held in the last few weeks involved only four European countries. “No progress has been made on the Greek islands to date”, he said. “What is needed at the moment, as an emergency solution, is to move people somewhere else. The migrant camps in Greece continue being overcrowded.”

“It’s time to rediscuss this faulty model that doesn’t work. People can’t continue being accumulated or rejected as if they were items in a warehouse.”

In general, he concluded, “there will be no breakthrough without the joint political commitment of European countries. This phenomenon will not be resolved with migrant camps, tents or emergency solutions. There is no shortage of resources or funds. We are speaking of a high number of people, but by no means unmanageable. In the world there are migratory flows that affect millions of people. It is very disappointing to see that Europe is unable to cope with a few hundred thousand.”