The Stream

Does anyone care about the Moria refugees?

On Monday, September 28 at 19:30 GMT:
For weeks, thousands of people have been without shelter after fires destroyed the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. Men, women and children have been forced to sleep out on roadsides, in open spaces and even graveyards.

The Greek government and UN agencies are working to address the emergency and accommodate the displaced amid tricky EU politics and a local population increasingly losing patience with the situation.

Authorities say the fires, which broke out on September 8, were set by refugees who had grown angry over coronavirus restrictions in the camp. Refugee advocates had said the restrictions made an already squalid and unsanitary living environment more hazardous. Since the blaze, the World Health Organization has dispatched emergency teams to Lesbos to combat any uptick in COVID-19 caused by the displacement.

Originally built to hold no more than 3,000 people, Moria became the largest refugee settlement in Europe, housing nearly 13,000 refugees at its peak.

bIn this episode of The Stream, we ask a panel of experts what can be done to solve the crisis. We will also examine whether there is political will to find a long-term solution.

On this episode of The Stream, we are joined by:
Eva Cosse, @Eva_Cosse
Greece Researcher, Human Rights Watch
https://www.hrw.org/

Philippe Leclerc, @UNHCRGreece
Greece Representative, UNHCR
https://www.unhcr.org/gr/

Stefanie Dekker, @StefanieDekker
Al Jazeera English Correspondent