Migrants held on Greek islands continue to live in crammed camps without access to proper sanitation services or water, the executive director of Tersos Hellas, a migrant aid charity, told Sputnik
ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th April, 2021) Migrants held on Greek islands continue to live in crammed camps without access to proper sanitation services or water, the executive director of Tersos Hellas, a migrant aid charity, told Sputnik.
"There are fewer migrants and refugees on Greek islands but the conditions they are held in are as bad as ever. The situation is horrific," Apostolos Veizis said.
Veizis, the former head of Doctors Without Borders' mission in Greece, estimated the migrant population on the islands at 13,000, with most camps holding several times their capacity.
"People are living in very poor conditions, in camps that do not provide adequate access to water and nutrition. Nothing has changed. Hygiene and sanitary services are poor," he said.
The overcrowded camps on Samos are holding 3,000 people, despite having enough capacity for 648, and are grappling with a coronavirus outbreak. Conditions on Lesbos have hardly improved since the Moria camp burned down in September.
Veizis said that he did not trust the Greek and EU authorities with building better camps. He argued that there was no "political will" to improve migrants' lives, five years after they came ashore in Greece.
