Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

The International Cooperation Service of the AMB is launching a new emergency project in Lesbos and continues to develop the projects that it has already carried out in the past. This way, the AMB keeps its commitment with this Aegean Sea island, which is deeply affected by the so called "refuge crisis" and threatened by the global pandemic of COVID-19.

The refuge situation worsened in the last weeks with the arrival of many people coming from Turkey. The refugee camps and settlements are overcrowded and they lack the structure and resources necessary to face this situation. One example is the Moria camp, which has capacity for 3,000 people and is currently sheltering more than 19,000 refugees.

The COVID-19 appearence in camps and settlements is making the situation even more complex, since they are overcrowded and lack the conditions and resources necessary to face it.

In addition, some far-right radical groups are also causing a series of actions of intolerance and xenophobia against the refugees, the NGOs and the journalists.

The new project, carried out together with the NGO Lesvos Solidarity  and to which the AMB will allocate €150,000, aims at facing these three serious problems that converge in the island and seeks to guarantee the right to health and the protection of the refugees in Lesbos. The project is specially addressed to Moria and Pikpa camps.

In order to make it possible, they will work in three main axes, prioritising the support to the refugee camps in front of the COVID-19 health crisis:

1. Health in relation to COVID-19 pandemic. Development and execution of prevention, detection and management protocols for possible COVID-19 positives, with a gender approach. Healthcare providers, psychosocial support professionals and COVID-19 prevention teams will personally assist refugees and will provide camps with medicines and prevention and disinfection equipments.
2. Safety plan and fire prevention plan. A safety protocol for everybody will be implemented, fire extinguishers will be installed, there will be simulations and guards will look out for general safety. This strategy will be developed in Pikpa camp, an alternative settlement that shelters the most vulnerable refugees: people with serious diseases, victims of torture or violence, unaccompanied minors and pregnant women, among others.
3. Political impact and awareness. Concurrently with the two previous axes, we will work with Greek and European institutions in order to set commitments and strategies to protect the refugiees from COVID-19 and from human rights violations. Moreover, we will carry out sensitivity actions with local population.