Misery in the camps: Uno pushes for better conditions in Greek refugee camps

"We can not accept that people live in such adverse conditions and are subjected to violence and exploitation": UNO Refugee Commissioner Filippo Grandi has urged Greece to improve the "miserable" conditions in refugee camps on the Aegean Islands.

According to the Greek government, more than 39,000 people are staying in refugee camps in the Greek islands of Lesbos, Samos, Chios, Leros and Kos, and hundreds are coming daily (read a report on the misery in the camps). In the refugee camp in Moria on Lesbos, visited by Grandi, there are 13,000 refugees - three times the actual capacity of the camp.

The head of the aid organization Doctors Without Borders, Christos Christou, said that particularly vulnerable refugees should urgently be removed from the completely overcrowded camps. The appalling living conditions would be the same in war zones or after natural disasters, Christou said on Wednesday in Brussels. The politics of the European states lead to "immeasurable" suffering.

The conservative government in Athens announced last week the closure of three refugee camps on the Aegean Islands. The clearly overcrowded warehouses are to be replaced by new closed facilities with capacity of at least 5,000 people each. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also announced the relocation of more than 4,000 unaccompanied minor refugees after the other EU countries refused to accept 3,000 of the minors.