Greece vows to improve conditions at migrant camps

ATHENS: Greece’s migration minister has pledged to improve living conditions for migrants in camps on islands in the Aegean Sea, where arrivals have doubled this summer.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Monday that chronic overcrowding at camps on the island on Lesbos had led to dire health consequences.

“We will make every effort to improve the living conditions on the East Aegean islands,” Migration Minister Dimitris Vitsas told Greek radio station 24/7 on Tuesday.

He said migrant arrivals had almost doubled this summer compared to last year on the islands of Lesbos, Kos, Samos, Chios and Leros, which serve as gateways to Europe for migrants travelling from Turkish shores.

Government data on Monday showed that there were over 11,000 refugees and migrants on Lesbos, including nearly 9,000 in Moria, almost triple the nominal capacity.

MSF said its teams “are seeing cases each week of teenagers who try to commit suicide or self-harm, and are responding to numerous critical incidents as a result of violence, child self-harm and lack of access to urgent medical care”.

Vitsas, along with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, was set to meet with European migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos yesterday to address the situation.