{"id":588,"date":"2016-07-25T14:37:09","date_gmt":"2016-07-25T14:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/globalreporting\/?p=588"},"modified":"2020-07-02T19:52:26","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T19:52:26","slug":"moria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/globalreporting2016\/2016\/07\/25\/moria\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the wire"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Amanda Blanco <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

For those trapped inside of the place known as Moria, razor wire doubles as clothesline. Jeans and t-shirts drape over barbed\u00a0spindles, and makeshift tents crafted\u00a0from blankets use the fence as support.<\/p>\n

Located on the Greek island of Lesbos, Moria was established in late September 2013 as a registration site for refugees who arrived on its azure\u00a0shores seeking asylum. Greek\u00a0officials meant it to be\u00a0a short-term home and temporary sanctuary, not a long-term detention center. But since the signing of the EU-Turkey agreement\u00a0in March 2016, that has become its destiny.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"IMG_0674\"

Refugees inside Moria hang laundry on the barbed-wire fences that surround the camp.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the past, asylum seekers left\u00a0Moria as soon as they were registered. The process took a few days at most.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a good flow when the borders were still open,\u201d explained\u00a0Illektra Koutsoumani,\u00a0a spokesperson for the French charity M\u00e9decins du Monde (Doctors of the World), who has worked at Moria since December 2015.<\/p>\n

As she spoke, Koutsoumani\u00a0sat in the shade of a food truck, opposite\u00a0Moria’s main gate, absently sweeping\u00a0her brown hair into a bun. The movement revealed a group logo emblazoned \u00a0on her \u00a0khaki vest: \u00a0A dove holding an olive branch in its beak. The dove\u2019s wings were\u00a0spread, giving the appearance of a first-aid cross. The vest doubles as her admission ticket past the security guards and high fences that surround the camp.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0689\"

The entrance gate of Moria<\/p><\/div>\n

Koutsoumani explained how the EU-Turkey deal, which barred migrants from continuing on along the refugee trail to northern Europe, sparked\u00a0radical changes at\u00a0\u00a0Moria.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest problem we had in the first few months was the lack of communication,\u201d she said. \u00a0Newly arrived\u00a0refugees \u00a0did not know\u00a0why they were forced to remain inside\u00a0the camp, or when they would be released.<\/p>\n

After a series of recent disturbances, camp authorities began allowing residents\u00a0detained for 25 days or longer to leave the camp, but not the island.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems a bit arbitrary, 25 days,\u201d Koutsoumani said with a half-smile. \u201cYou get the impression that things are a bit random.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of Moria\u2019s residents, which now number more than 2,000, have been living at the site for three to four months.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0697\"

The living spaces of refugees being detained<\/p><\/div>\n

Before the camp’s gates closed, a different\u00a0French charity,\u00a0M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res (MSF), provided much of the center’s medical care. That changed in March, when MSF Head of Mission Marie Elisabeth Ingres publically declared the\u00a0newly imposed system unfair and inhumane.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not allow our assistance to be instrumentalized for a mass expulsion operation, and we refuse to be part of a system that has no regard for the humanitarian or protection needs of asylum seekers and migrants,\u201d she said in a March press release.<\/p>\n

Koutsoumani said that\u00a0M\u00e9decins du Monde\u00a0chose to remain at\u00a0Moria for the sake of the refugees and now has\u00a0two clinics there, \u00a0with seven doctors and eight nurses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt that now their need would be even stronger,\u201d she said. \u00a0Although the United Nation High Command on Refugees also released a statement \u00a0in March announcing that it was leaving\u00a0Moria as well, Koutsoumani said\u00a0the organization\u00a0remains\u00a0at the camp.<\/p>\n

Even so, not all has gone smoothly, Koutsoumani explained, leaning suntanned\u00a0arms on a\u00a0plastic table. Just three months earlier, she said, a full-fledged riot erupted.<\/p>\n

It was one week before Easter, \u00a0she said, when Syrian boys\u00a0began chanting “freedom” in Arabic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were 180 teenagers locked up for over 60 days,\u201d she recalled, adding grimly that reports were\u00a0circulating at the\u00a0time of alleged police violence against juveniles.\u00a0\u201cYou could see that it was an outbreak of anger, a release.\u201d<\/p>\n

The camp became so violent\u00a0that all charity\u00a0workers fled\u00a0for the night. Koutsoumani said she returned the next\u00a0day and found that the situation had calmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe injuries were extreme,\u201d she said. \u201cYou could see brain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite all that the migrants\u00a0have endured\u2014 war-torn homelands, human\u00a0smugglers, drownings, rough conditions at Moria–Koutsoumani said the refugees have one greater fear:\u00a0being forgotten.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Amanda Blanco For those trapped inside of the place known as Moria, razor wire doubles as clothesline. Jeans and t-shirts drape over barbed\u00a0spindles, and makeshift tents crafted\u00a0from blankets use the fence as support. Located on the Greek island of Lesbos, Moria was established in late September 2013 as a registration site for refugees who<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":596,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/commons.princeton.edu\/globalreporting2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2016\/07\/IMG_0694.jpg?fit=5184%2C3456&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s7wyBy-moria","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":573,"url":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/globalreporting2016\/2016\/07\/19\/island-hospitality-refugee-style\/","url_meta":{"origin":588,"position":0},"title":"Island hospitality, refugee style","author":"amark","date":"July 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"By Alexandra Markovich The office of the mayor of Mytilene, the capital of Lesbos island, overlooks the Aegean Sea. 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