It was obvious that the EU Hotspot is unprepared for a COVID-19-outbreak.
It was a question of time when the first case occurs. The authorities in Vial on Chios encouraged protection seekers to wear masks. But didn’t distribute any. Even more: in Vial barely any staff member of any authority was wearing masks or any other type of protection.
Some days ago, it was the day: it was reported that a woman is tested positive.
Today it was confirmed that an employee of the European Asylum Support Office - EASO is positive on the virus. After the person was on vacation. The answer of the authorities is: to lock the camp and to close the services inside until at least 25 August. Close the camp?
Effectively this means, letting the virus spread inside. Among extremely vulnerable persons, that have no option to socially distance or to even wash their hands on a regular basis. They sleep in tents on the bare ground. And now they are terrified of getting seriously ill and suffer or die. And they are terrified for a good reason. ItNew is the foreseeable catastrophe. And shows more than a simple failure. It shows the sheer indifference for the lives of human beings.
Reference: Newspaper article from POLITISCHIOS - Translation: Alexandra Nikolara
Report from Dimitris Boukis
about the visit in MORIA REFUGEE CAMP, 17 February 2020, Lesvos, GREECE.
On Monday, February 17, 2020 Martina Waterloos, Kerstin Kosh and Dimitris Boukis visited the «refugee camp» in Moria on the Greek Island of Lesvos. Lesvos is the third biggest island in Greece with a coastline of 370km. It is home to approximately 100,000 residents and is only a few miles away from the SW coast of Turkey, making it the main “refugee gate” to Europe in the SE Mediterranean sea.
> read more > PDF-Document
Bericht über die Reise nach Lesbos und Chios
von Martina Wasserloos-Strunk
… Mein Reisebericht vom Besuch in zwei der großen griechischen Flüchtlingslager ist möglicherweise nicht ganz objektiv. Nein – er ist ganz sicher nicht objektiv. Er ist sauwütend. Ich bin erschüttert und wütend darüber, dass so etwas in meinem Europa möglich ist. Mehr noch als manche andere Reise hat mir diese vor Augen geführt, wie privilegiert wir sind und wie viel Energie von uns darauf verwendet wird, diese Privilegien abzusichern.
> read more > PDF-Document