Refugees pushed to the edge of survival on the Greek island of Samos

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Refugees pushed to the edge of survival on the Greek island of Samos

Author: Alice Greenway | bostonglobe.com | 15 November 2018

MORIA, GREECE - SEPTEMBER 24: Children play at a makeshift camp outside of Moria Reception center at Moria Refugee Camp on September 24, 2018 in Moria, Greece. On Monday 24th of September, 444 migrants were moved to Athens from Moria, Greeces largest migrant camp situated on the Island of Lesbos. Despite this, more than 10,000 people still reside in the overcrowded camp, which has the capacity to host only 3000 people, with more arriving from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and The DRC each week. The camp is filled with rubbish, psychological trauma goes untreated and unsanitary conditions and violence are commonplace. Since 2015 the EU has allocated more than 1.6bn Euros to address the crisis but little of this money has been dispersed. (Photo by Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)

With 4,600 refugees crammed into a detention center built for 650, the camp on this rugged island is more overcrowded than it has ever been. The simple fact is that people no longer fit. Instead of being given shelter, hundreds of men, women, and children are left to scrounge a place for themselves on the steep, scrabbly hillside.

Europe has turned a blind eye, preferring instead to focus on treaties and fences designed to keep refugees out. But still people come. In Samos, a surge of more than 1,892 arrivals in October has pushed an already broken system to the edge. Read more>>>