EU leaders must recognize that by trapping migrants indefinitely on Greek islands they only prolong the suffering of those who survived war and persecution at home, the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) chief said Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th November, 2019) EU leaders must recognize that by trapping migrants indefinitely on Greek islands they only prolong the suffering of those who survived war and persecution at home, the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) chief said Wednesday.Christos Christou, the health charity's president, said in an open letter addressed directly to European leaders that their 2016 deal with Turkey to stop migrants from embarking on perilous trips to Europe was a mistake from its conception and only created an "endemic cycle of human suffering."
"This human tragedy needs to stop. Stop this deliberate collective punishment of people in search of safety in Europe," he told Europe's key policymakers.
Christou said that children who were mutilated in Afghanistan and other conflict zones before escaping to the EU southern frontier were broken there by appalling conditions, driven "over the edge" to self-harm and thoughts of suicide.
The situation in the camps only got worse in the past four years, he said, and is now comparable to what MSF sees in areas ravaged by wars and natural disasters. Three people died in Moria over the past three months as Greece considers turning other hot spots into mass detention centers.
"No political reasoning can justify measures that deliberately and consciously inflict harm - and we have repeatedly warned you these policies do. Stop ignoring it, stop pretending that they don't," he stressed.
Christou urged the leaders to "break, once and for all, the cycle of suffering on the Greek islands" by ending the policy of containment. He said those most vulnerable must be urgently evacuated and distributed among EU nations, a proposal that has so far fallen on deaf ears in many EU counties.
