MSF Luxembourg Joins Call for EU Migration Policy Change in Greece

The Luxembourg branch of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has joined the international medical organisation in its demands for changes to EU migration policy in Greece.

The MSF has called on European leaders to take action to put an end to the policy of confinement on the Greek islands, points of entry for migrants on European soil, and to ensure the immediate evacuation of all vulnerable people, especially children, to adequate housing in Greece or elsewhere in the EU.

According to the organisation, over the last three years, the EU-Turkey agreement has trapped thousands of men, women and children in overcrowded areas in unsanitary, degrading and dangerous conditions. As a result of the agreement, some 12,000 men, women and children are currently stranded on these five islands. Due to extreme overcrowding in Vathy camp in Samos, conditions have deteriorated considerably in recent months, prompting MSF to send a medical team back to the island. The camp is currently home to more than 4,112 people in a space planned for 648. Among them are no less than 79 unaccompanied minors, as well as pregnant women, the elderly and people with chronic diseases, according to the organisation.

MSF teams are also working on the islands of Lesbos and Chios, where they claim camps are about to implode. The Moria camp on Lesbos hosts 5,225 people in a space initially planned for 3,100 and in Vial camp on Chios, 1,361 people are accommodated for 1,014 places. There, as in Samos, MSF doctors treat patients with conditions related to living conditions and lengthy asylum procedures.

On the mainland, thousands of migrants, who arrived in Greece after the EU-Turkey agreement, live in camps or temporary housing managed by the UN or other NGOs, while others sleep in squats or on the street. All face obstacles to accessing medical care and so MSF psychology teams work to provide mental support to these people. The housing issue is one of the main concerns of patients according to the psychologists.

Since 1996, MSF has been providing medical and humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers and migrants in Greece. In 2014, MSF expanded its activities in Greece to meet the needs of an increasing number of asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants arriving on the islands and mainland from Turkey.