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Photos: Europe’s migrant barrier nears breaking point in Lesbos

Lesbos is facing a fourth summer of crisis. It is one of five Greek islands near the coast of Turkey being used by the European Union to form a barrier to migration after more than a million came through here in 2015-16. But with 7,000 inhabitants, the Moria refugee camp on this island is now at more than 300% capacity. Asylum seekers complain of backlogs stretching years in clearing their cases and islanders are angry hauling the weight of the camps, missing out on the tourism boom helping the country’s financial crisis.

Updated on: May 14, 2018 11:37 AM IST

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Newly arrived migrants and refugees wait to be registered at Moria Camp, on Lesbos, Greece. At the heart of Moria is a dark rectangular building ringed with police guards and razor wire. Taking photographs of it is prohibited. It’s here that thousands of migrants are interviewed by asylum officers — and ultimately informed whether they will ever be allowed to leave the island. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

Updated on May 14, 2018 11:37 AM

Newly arrived migrants and refugees wait to be registered at Moria Camp, on Lesbos, Greece. At the heart of Moria is a dark rectangular building ringed with police guards and razor wire. Taking photographs of it is prohibited. It’s here that thousands of migrants are interviewed by asylum officers — and ultimately informed whether they will ever be allowed to leave the island. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

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A woman walks with her baby as migrants and refugees wait outside UNHCR offices in Moria. Lesbos is facing a fourth summer of crisis. It’s one of five Greek islands near the coast of Turkey being used by the European Union to form a barrier to migration after more than a million people came through here in 2015-16. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

Updated on May 14, 2018 11:37 AM

A woman walks with her baby as migrants and refugees wait outside UNHCR offices in Moria. Lesbos is facing a fourth summer of crisis. It’s one of five Greek islands near the coast of Turkey being used by the European Union to form a barrier to migration after more than a million people came through here in 2015-16. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

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With 7,000 inhabitants, the camp is at more than 300% capacity, and outbreaks of violence are increasingly common. Even so, more keep arriving: The number of island arrivals has surged this year from about 50 a day in 2017 to around 200 a day in recent weeks. Asylum applications are backed up by nearly three years, according to Lesbos’ regional governor. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

Updated on May 14, 2018 11:37 AM

With 7,000 inhabitants, the camp is at more than 300% capacity, and outbreaks of violence are increasingly common. Even so, more keep arriving: The number of island arrivals has surged this year from about 50 a day in 2017 to around 200 a day in recent weeks. Asylum applications are backed up by nearly three years, according to Lesbos’ regional governor. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

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Hasan, from Deir ez-Zor in Syria, who arrived in Greece six months ago, sits behind the net of his tent at a makeshift camp outside the official camp of Moria. Amnesty observers recently visited island camps, and found hundreds of people sleeping in makeshift tents, children sleeping in unsupervised sites, and some resting in fields they say were overrun by rats. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

Updated on May 14, 2018 11:37 AM

Hasan, from Deir ez-Zor in Syria, who arrived in Greece six months ago, sits behind the net of his tent at a makeshift camp outside the official camp of Moria. Amnesty observers recently visited island camps, and found hundreds of people sleeping in makeshift tents, children sleeping in unsupervised sites, and some resting in fields they say were overrun by rats. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

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A Syrian man reads inside his tent outside Moria. Currently, asylum seekers on five Aegean Sea islands — Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Leros, and Kos — are banned from travelling on to the Greek mainland as part of the EU’s “containment policy.” That’s causing severe overcrowding at the islands’ camps, and the government has faced legal challenges and protests against the measure. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

Updated on May 14, 2018 11:37 AM

A Syrian man reads inside his tent outside Moria. Currently, asylum seekers on five Aegean Sea islands — Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Leros, and Kos — are banned from travelling on to the Greek mainland as part of the EU’s “containment policy.” That’s causing severe overcrowding at the islands’ camps, and the government has faced legal challenges and protests against the measure. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

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Refugees and migrants sit on the top of a container at a makeshift camp on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos. Meanwhile, to try to bypass the islands, an even higher number of migrants and refugees are now crossing Greece’s heavily militarized land border with Turkey in the northeast of the country. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

Updated on May 14, 2018 11:37 AM

Refugees and migrants sit on the top of a container at a makeshift camp on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos. Meanwhile, to try to bypass the islands, an even higher number of migrants and refugees are now crossing Greece’s heavily militarized land border with Turkey in the northeast of the country. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

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Children play as a woman walks inside the camp at Moria. The Greek parliament is now debating draft legislation aimed at easing pressure on the islands. Under the proposal, migrants would be allowed to move to camps on the Greek mainland, but they would remain under restriction and could be banned from leaving the regions of the country where they are placed. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

Updated on May 14, 2018 11:37 AM

Children play as a woman walks inside the camp at Moria. The Greek parliament is now debating draft legislation aimed at easing pressure on the islands. Under the proposal, migrants would be allowed to move to camps on the Greek mainland, but they would remain under restriction and could be banned from leaving the regions of the country where they are placed. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

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The plan has drawn fire from human rights groups, which argue that containment is to blame for poor living conditions on the islands. “This situation causes distress, violates people’s rights, and insults the dignity of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. It’s an open wound for Greece and human rights,” Dimitra Spatharidou, from the Greek office of Amnesty International, told a parliamentary committee. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

Updated on May 14, 2018 11:37 AM

The plan has drawn fire from human rights groups, which argue that containment is to blame for poor living conditions on the islands. “This situation causes distress, violates people’s rights, and insults the dignity of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. It’s an open wound for Greece and human rights,” Dimitra Spatharidou, from the Greek office of Amnesty International, told a parliamentary committee. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

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A woman looks out of a window of a prefabricated house in the sector of Moria Camp reserved to single women travelling alone. “We saw dozens of men with papers in their hand saying they were suffering from depression, anxiety disorders, and had suicidal dispositions; terrified women at risk of sexual violence in a European country that should be providing them with safety,” Spatharidou said. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

Updated on May 14, 2018 11:37 AM

A woman looks out of a window of a prefabricated house in the sector of Moria Camp reserved to single women travelling alone. “We saw dozens of men with papers in their hand saying they were suffering from depression, anxiety disorders, and had suicidal dispositions; terrified women at risk of sexual violence in a European country that should be providing them with safety,” Spatharidou said. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

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Refugees burn garbage in an old Greek army machine-gun nest. Spread over a hillside, Moria’s shoebox-shaped trailers and tents are home to refugees from Syria, Iraq, Congo, and over 50 other regions of war and hardship. The camp, crowded but still generally kept in good order, spills into the neighbouring fields, where asylum seekers — mostly African men — have little hope of leaving. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

Updated on May 14, 2018 11:37 AM

Refugees burn garbage in an old Greek army machine-gun nest. Spread over a hillside, Moria’s shoebox-shaped trailers and tents are home to refugees from Syria, Iraq, Congo, and over 50 other regions of war and hardship. The camp, crowded but still generally kept in good order, spills into the neighbouring fields, where asylum seekers — mostly African men — have little hope of leaving. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

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An Ethiopian Christian priest blesses another refugee during a Sunday Mass outside an orthodox church near Moria camp. The island containment policy started two years ago, when the massive flow of migrants was halted. Dimitris Vitsas, Greece’s migration minister, told parliament the new measures will need several months to take full effect. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

Updated on May 14, 2018 11:37 AM

An Ethiopian Christian priest blesses another refugee during a Sunday Mass outside an orthodox church near Moria camp. The island containment policy started two years ago, when the massive flow of migrants was halted. Dimitris Vitsas, Greece’s migration minister, told parliament the new measures will need several months to take full effect. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

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Islanders hold a placard which reads in Greek “SOS Moria. Solution now”, in a protest during a visit by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Residents complain about petty crimes that have risen since the camps opened, and others say their good will toward people fleeing war had been exploited by Greek and European policymakers. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

Updated on May 14, 2018 11:37 AM

Islanders hold a placard which reads in Greek “SOS Moria. Solution now”, in a protest during a visit by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Residents complain about petty crimes that have risen since the camps opened, and others say their good will toward people fleeing war had been exploited by Greek and European policymakers. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

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Many are angry to be missing out on a tourism boom that’s helping the country emerge from a decade of financial crisis. “We all welcomed the refugees. But there is a problem and it has to be taken seriously ... We have a good quality of life here and it’s been taken away,” said Akis Argiropoulos, a hotel manager. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

Updated on May 14, 2018 11:37 AM

Many are angry to be missing out on a tourism boom that’s helping the country emerge from a decade of financial crisis. “We all welcomed the refugees. But there is a problem and it has to be taken seriously ... We have a good quality of life here and it’s been taken away,” said Akis Argiropoulos, a hotel manager. (Petros Giannakouris / AP)

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