Greece: More Refugees Arrive in Lesbos

DW (English)

The refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos is all but full, still more than 1300 people have been arriving every month since July 2023.

Transcript

00:00 Emanuel Lojang radiates positivity.

00:06 That's not always easy for a migrant on Lesbos.

00:10 Lojang works as a volunteer in the Parea Community Centre on the Greek island, which has been

00:16 an asylum hotspot for years.

00:19 The centre here is run by NGOs.

00:21 Lojang is helping with security, like here at lunch, and as a translator.

00:28 He's from South Sudan and arrived on Lesbos five months ago.

00:32 He's applied for asylum and for relocation to another EU country.

00:36 He knows that many people here get stuck in the asylum process.

00:40 Some are in bureaucratic limbo for years, even though the EU told us that efficient,

00:46 fast and fair asylum procedures are critical.

00:49 The hardest thing that we are facing inside the camp is only about the process.

00:52 It's only about the process, the delayment of the asylum process.

00:56 And we have no other option.

00:58 We have nowhere to go.

00:59 We can't go back and we can't go ahead, unless you finish your process.

01:04 The community centre is right next to the migrant camp on Lesbos.

01:08 For many of the people stranded on the island, the centre is a refuge and a lifeline.

01:14 They can do laundry here, attend classes, or just relax.

01:20 Working as part of a team has given Emanuel Lojang's life on Lesbos some structure and

01:25 purpose.

01:27 At first I used to be inside the camp without doing anything.

01:30 I used to be inside the camp without doing anything and I started experiencing a lot

01:35 of stress because just from morning to evening I have nowhere to go and I have nothing to

01:42 do.

01:43 So since I joined and since I started working here, I'm seeing myself, I'm comfortable

01:47 and even I'm happy at the same time.

01:49 In South Sudan, the 27-year-old studied political science.

01:53 He wanted to shape his country's future after a long civil war and worked for an opposition

01:58 party and as an anti-corruption activist.

02:01 That put him in danger, he says.

02:03 He prefers not to give details.

02:08 If you have any misunderstanding with anyone who is in the government, the person immediately

02:13 will target you and the person will do anything to you.

02:16 At night you will not sleep.

02:17 Whenever you are sleeping at night, you will just, you will not have a peaceful mind of

02:23 sleeping because anything will happen to you.

02:27 Anything will just happen just from nowhere.

02:32 Emanuel Lojang decided to leave South Sudan.

02:35 He fled to Turkey and then found a smuggler boat to bring him across the Mediterranean

02:39 to Lesbos.

02:42 Summer has brought a huge wave of new arrivals here.

02:45 Local statistics show the camp is already over capacity.

02:49 Since July, more than 1,300 people have arrived each month, over four times more than before.

02:56 The Greek authorities rejected our request for access to the camp, saying they currently

03:01 have too much work due to mass arrivals.

03:04 But the NGO Europe Cares, which runs the nearby community centre, is concerned that the situation

03:09 in Lesbos could deteriorate.

03:12 With so many new arrivals, the housing capacity of the camp is decreasing more and more.

03:17 They started to use also drop hosts, which are huge tents where people are living together

03:22 in smaller rooms, where the hygiene conditions are a lot worse than in the other housing

03:27 units and there is no AC, no fan, so it is really hot inside as well.

03:33 The NGO workers report that some refugees here don't have enough to eat in the camp.

03:38 They say every week over 400 people pick up food packages at the centre.

03:43 In May, the Greek migration ministry decided that the camp will no longer feed people whose

03:48 asylum requests are not currently being processed.

03:52 This is a way to encourage people to leave the camp faster, so that there is more space

03:59 for the new arrivals, since the camp capacity is limited.

04:02 For us the most important thing is to provide a sense of community, a sense of belonging

04:06 to the people.

04:07 It is really important to make them feel humanised and seen in a context which makes them feel

04:12 constantly like numbers, constantly like their rights don't count, their lives don't count.

04:17 They are just described as an invasion, as a flaw, as a flux, as numbers, but not as

04:21 actual people.

04:24 Emmanuel Lojang started learning to play guitar on Lesbos.

04:29 He hopes that if he gets asylum in Europe, he can finish his studies.

04:33 He might even try to go into politics.

04:36 Music helps Lojang to keep up his spirits, he says.

04:39 He wants the lyrics to his songs to give comfort and courage to his fellow migrants, to all

04:45 those stuck waiting for asylum in Europe.

04:48 "Zaman ta ta wajah, inshallah khuloshi bukhun khwais."

04:53 "The main condition is permanent, don't think too much, everything is having time.

04:58 So if the time comes, everything will be fine."

05:02 (upbeat music)

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