Refugees finally moved after fire - 28th September 2020

Migrants and refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos are finally being moved after a fire at their camp last week.

Seventy female police officers were brought to the island to organise the move. The new camp, Kara Tepe, is near Lesbos' main town, Mytilene. The residents are being tested for coronavirus when they enter. The government plans to keep those with Covid-19 separate from the rest of the camp.

Fire broke out at three sites within the Moria refugee camp last week. Strong winds meant that it did not take long for the camp to be completely destroyed. Many people then attempted to travel with their belongings to the nearest town. However, the police had blocked the roads. Families have now been sleeping rough for over a week with little food, water or shelter.

Many refugees are reluctant to remain on the island, as the previous camp was run-down and overcrowded. Moria was built to accommodate three thousand people but, at the time of the fire, it was accommodating over twelve thousand people.

Since the 2015 migrant crisis, the number of refugees arriving on Greek islands near Turkey has fallen considerably. However, many Greek camps and similar camps in Italy are overcrowded with poor living conditions. Greece and Italy have said that wealthy northern European countries are not sharing the responsibility. Germany has agreed to take in over 1,500 migrants from 408 families with refugee status. They will also accept more than 100 unaccompanied children.

Besides Germany, no other country is willing to take large numbers of refugees. Many members of the European Union disagree with the idea of taking a set number of migrants. The EU commission will attempt to address this issue in the coming weeks.