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For Immediate Release
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WASHINGTON
Weak coordination and severe shortages in facilities and staffing are creating dreadful conditions for the hundreds of refugees and migrants arriving every day on the Greek island of Lesvos, which is seeing the highest number of arrivals in Greece, Amnesty International said after a research team returned from the island.
Overloaded, under-resourced authorities are failing to cope with the dramatic increase in the number of people arriving on the island (33,000 since 1 August) and must rely on local volunteers, NGO activists, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and tourists to step into the massive breach. The vast majority are fleeing conflict in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria - 90% of those arriving in 2015 according to UNHCR.
"The arduous odyssey faced by people fleeing conflict does not end on Greece's shores. Forced to walk long distances in searing heat and stay in squalid camps or out in the open, refugees and asylum seekers see little alternative but to continue their journey, contributing to the disaster we've seen on the Macedonian border in recent days," said Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia.
"This is not just a Greek tragedy, but a Europe-wide crisis. It is unfolding before the eyes of short-sighted European leaders who prioritize securing borders over helping survivors of conflict. The world is seeing the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War. What Europe's borders need is not fences but safe entry points for refugees, and facilities to receive them with dignity."
On 24 August, police on Lesvos told Amnesty International that they estimate that more than 33,000 refugees and migrants had arrived on the island since 1 August. Hundreds more are arriving every day - 1,450 on the night of 10-11 August alone.
While Kos, Chios and other Greek islands in the Aegean have also received refugees and migrants crossing over via Turkey, Lesvos has received the highest number: more than 93,000 already in 2015, more than seven times the 12,187 arrivals in all of 2014. More than 160,000 migrants and refugees have entered Greece as a whole so far this year, compared to 45,412 in all of 2014.
Overcrowded, squalid conditions
Amnesty International observed very poor, unsanitary conditions and overcrowding at the Moria immigration detention centre on Lesvos, including overflown toilets, lack of sheets and blankets, filthy and old mattresses and broken beds. Police on Lesvos said they lack the funds to improve conditions.
A refugee from Afghanistan told Amnesty International:
"Words cannot describe [the conditions] ... it smells ... there is no soap, no clothes and everything is broken. ... There is nothing for the small children, not even milk ... [the police] shout a lot ... Yesterday morning they cut the electricity and until lunch time we had no electricity and it was smelling a lot in our rooms [so we slept outside]...".
People waiting outside the overcrowded centre for space to free up have been staying in tents, underneath nets from olive groves, or enduring 35-degree heat with no shelter at all.
Syrian refugees housed in tents in a car park
Syrian refugees arriving on Lesvos are being sent to the separate Kara Tepe camp, where they wait one to two days for documents that allow them to travel onwards to Athens. Kara Tepe is an informal, unmanaged camp set up by the local mayor on a car park.
Intended for 500 people, it is very overcrowded with more than 1,500 people staying there at a time. There are not enough tents, toilets or showers. Food is distributed by police and NGOs, with little coordination from Greek authorities. It falls to the NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres to clear the garbage and clean and maintain the toilets and showers.
Migrants and refugees forced to walk for miles
With only four buses available to transport the hundreds of people coming ashore every day, most have to walk the up to 70 km journey from the island's northern shores to the reception centre in the capital, Mytilene.
Amnesty International witnessed more than 100 mainly Syrian and Afghan refugees, including families with small children and elderly people, walk to the point of collapse in temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius. In the absence of help from the authorities, locals, tourists and activists gave them water and food.
Syrian refugees told Amnesty International how arduous the journey was for families and the elderly:
"There are women with babies and there is no bus ... We are young and we will make it but what about them?"
Understaffing prolongs ordeal
Once they arrive in the island's capital Mytilene, people wait to be registered by the coastguard. Amnesty International witnessed lines of around 200 people waiting in welting heat. There are neither interpreters to help the coastguard process arrivals nor enough volunteer doctors to examine any beyond the most urgent cases.
Members of the Greek Coastguard told Amnesty International they have only 10 staff to register the hundreds of refugees arriving daily, though they receive support from NGOs who provide information and medical assistance.
Island refugee crisis demands emergency plan
Amnesty International is calling on Greek authorities, with urgent EU financial and logistical support, to set up an emergency response to manage the crisis on Lesvos and other Greek islands. Authorities need to urgently open the new First Reception Centre in Moria and to provide:
- More staff in mobile first reception units as well as more police, coastguards, and interpreters to help deal with new arrivals.
- More buses to transport people to Mytilene, the Moria detention centre and Kara Tepe camp.
- Better conditions at the informal camps and at the port, with basic services such as health care, shelter, water and more toilets and showers.
- Effectively and quickly use EU funds to improve reception conditions.
- Official management for informal camps that have been setup to deal with the influx of people.
- New reception centres in the north of Lesvos where most refugees and migrants are arriving.
"The economic and refugee crises are converging on Lesvos and the other islands of the Aegean, with refugees and migrants paying the price," said Gauri van Gulik.
"Announced EU funds can help Greece respond, but it is becoming clear that Greece also needs operational support to put these funds to use. Even more importantly, Europe needs to relieve pressure off Greece in the longer term by providing more safe and legal routes into Europe for those who need protection. As long as it fails to do so, Europe is directly responsible for what is unfolding on Lesvos and other frontline points of the refugee crisis."
Background: Crisis also increases pressure in Macedonia and Serbia
The crisis in Greece also increases pressure in Macedonia and Serbia, as thousands leave Greece and pass through the western Balkans to re-enter the European Union in Hungary. Amnesty International has documented failed asylum systems and human rights violations along this route recently. Late last week, Macedonia declared a state of emergency along the Greek border as thousands of mainly Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi refugees and asylum-seekers were trapped at the border.
Early this morning, a boat carrying 15 refugees capsized near Skala Sykamias on Lesvos. According to unconfirmed reports, following a search-and-rescue operation eight refugees have been rescued, two have drowned and the coastguard is still looking for six more people,
On 25 June 2015, Amnesty International warned that Greek islands were struggling with the influx of refugees and called on EU leaders to act.
Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights for all. Our supporters are outraged by human rights abuses but inspired by hope for a better world - so we work to improve human rights through campaigning and international solidarity. We have more than 2.2 million members and subscribers in more than 150 countries and regions and we coordinate this support to act for justice on a wide range of issues.
LATEST NEWS
Green Job Creation Projected to 'Offset' Fossil Fuel Job Losses in GOP States
Four academics led by Dartmouth College engineering professor Erin Mayfield found that shifting to a net-zero economy could create millions of jobs in low-carbon sectors—enough to "offset" losses in the declining fossil fuel industry, not only in the aggregate but also in most dirty energy-producing states, which tend to be GOP strongholds.
"Total employment in the nationwide U.S. energy sector could double or even triple by 2050 to meet the demand for wind turbines, solar panels, and transmission lines," Carbon Brief reported. Such growth in clean power generation and dissemination "would outweigh losses in most of the country's fossil fuel-rich regions, as oil, coal, and gas operations close down."
The study adds to mounting evidence that so-called "red" states now dominated by Republicans and fossil fuel interests—including particularly sunny and windy ones like Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming—stand to reap the biggest rewards from the green industrial policy provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act passed by congressional Democrats and signed into law by President Joe Biden last year.
At the same time, the authors acknowledge that some GOP-controlled dirty energy-producing states, such as North Dakota, are likely to see net decreases in energy sector employment, and they stress that "many communities will still require help to ensure a 'just transition' away from fossil fuels," as Carbon Brief noted.
In their paper, Mayfield and her three co-authors—Jesse Jenkins, Eric Larson, and Chris Greig, all of whom work at Princeton University—estimate how energy-related employment in the U.S. would change depending on different emission reduction contexts.
To simulate "labor market pathways of large-scale, low-carbon energy-supply infrastructure development," the team developed the Decarbonization Employment and Energy Systems (DEERS) model, which combines myriad economic and energy data, and then applied it to four alternative scenarios from the 2021 Net-Zero America report they were all involved in writing.
The transition scenarios, which assume varying levels of electrification and renewable energy supply, are as follows:
- High electrification by 2050 and without renewable deployment constraints (E+);
- Moderate electrification by 2050 and without renewable deployment constraints (E-);
- High electrification by 2050 and with 100% of energy derived from renewable sources by 2050 (E + RE+); and
- High electrification by 2050 and with renewable deployment constrained to current capacity expansion rates (E + RE-).
The authors expect overall energy sector employment to climb in all four scenarios, although net job gains are limited under E+ RE- conditions in which the deployment of renewables is constrained.
"We find that a net-zero transition supports an annual average of approximately 3 million direct energy jobs or $200 billion in wages during the first decade, and approximately 4-8 million direct energy jobs or $200-500 billion during the 2040s," they wrote. "The modeled supply-side energy workforce represents 1.5% of the total U.S. labor force in 2020, increasing to 2.5-5% by mid-century."
As Carbon Brief reported: "The number of energy-related jobs roughly doubles in both the 'high electrification' (E+) and 'less-high electrification' (E-) scenarios, which focus on the extent to which transport and buildings are electrified by 2050. The largest growth is seen in the E + RE+ scenario, which features high electrification and a 100% renewable power system by 2050."
"Notably, the research finds that many fossil fuel jobs would have been lost even in the absence of new climate policy," the outlet noted. "It suggests there would be a drop of one-third by 2050, as coal and gas are driven out of the market by cheaper wind and solar."
According to Mayfield and her colleagues, "In most states, job losses in declining fossil fuel sectors are offset by an increasing number of energy jobs in low-carbon sectors."
Carbon Brief observed that "this is particularly evident in Republican-voting states, which have larger energy workforces. In the E+ scenario, these states would lose around 700,000 fossil fuel jobs but gain 1.7 million low-carbon energy jobs between 2025 and 2050."
The outlet created a chart to visualize the paper's projection of rising energy-related employment under the E+ scenario in "red" states that voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020 and "blue" states that backed Biden.
In their paper, Mayfield and her colleagues cite the example of Texas, a GOP stronghold that is simultaneously the nation's top fossil fuel-producing state and its top generator of electricity from wind and solar.
As Carbon Brief pointed out:
By 2025 in the E+ scenario, around 480,000 of the state's 660,000-strong energy workforce are employed in the fossil fuel sector, more than 72% of the total. Within 25 years, many of these jobs would be lost as the number of fossil fuel employees falls to 123,000.
Yet the state would still see a big uptick in energy sector employment by 2050. The modeling suggests Texas would have around 778,000 energy jobs in 2050, with around 84% employed in low-carbon industries.
Despite this, Inside Climate News reported last month that Texas Republicans recently introduced legislation "intended to punish renewable energy and boost fossil fuels, including a measure that would increase the amount of gas-fired electricity generated by the state by upwards of 10 gigawatts and one that would limit the development of renewable energy in the state based on how much natural gas generation is also being built."
For decades, Republicans have couched their opposition to climate policies in the language of protecting the jobs of fossil fuel workers. In many cases, GOP candidates perceived to be defending the interests of dirty energy-producing communities have been rewarded by voters in those localities.
While Trump's stated support for coal workers benefited him politically in 2016, employment in the sector still fell by a quarter during his reign. Biden, by contrast, has made clear that "creating jobs and tackling climate change go hand in hand."
Evidence is growing that the clean energy transition is poised to be a major job-creator rather than a job-killer as suggested by right-wing lawmakers.
It remains to be seen whether the political allegiances of fossil fuel workers—who have previously expressed interest in moving into the green sector—will change to reflect the fact that Democrats, not Republicans, are most aggressively fighting to boost energy sector employment.
Of course, there are other important factors to consider in addition to the quantity of low-carbon jobs created, as the authors of the paper acknowledge. The quality of green sector work—whether it is unionized and high-paying, for instance, or precarious and poorly remunerated—will play a large role in determining public support for the shift to renewables.
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