DESPERATE MIGRANTS ON LESBOS HAVE TRIED TO END THEIR LIVES

▶ Dangerous conditions at Greek island camp are re-traumatising refugees, new report claims

Campaigners have warned of a mental health emergency on the Greek island of Lesbos after a report revealed alarming numbers of migrants there tried to commit suicide.

The International Rescue Committee, which published the report yesterday, appealed to Greece to improve conditions in the Moria refugee camp, which it said did not meet humanitarian standards.

The charity set up a mental health clinic on the Aegean island this year and found that 30 per cent of those treated had attempted suicide, while 60 per cent had considered it.

Its report quoted Ahmad, 35, an Iraqi father of four: “Several times I have attempted suicide. The only reason I am glad I didn’t succeed is because of the children.”

More than 8,500 refugees are staying at Moria – nearly three times as many as the former military base was designed to hold. Most of the migrants are from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

“They have seen terrible things,” Martha Roussou, the report’s author, told The National. “They may have been tortured or seen family killed.

“Many of them already come traumatised and then they expect to find protection when they reach Europe but end up in terrible conditions that exacerbate any trauma they have.”

The aid group said 84 people shared one shower, while 72 shared one toilet. Sewage from this overwhelmed system has flowed on to children’s mattresses.

Women and girls at the camp are particularly vulnerable and often avoid visiting the toilets for fear of being attacked.

“I am afraid for my children. I don’t have my husband with me to keep them safe,” Syrian mother of three Hanan said in the report.

“A neighbour’s 11-yearold girl went missing. They attacked her here. They raped her. One woman, travelling alone – they raped her too.”

The report said 50 per cent of patients at the Lesbos clinic – two thirds of them women – had experienced violence or sexual violence.

“As long as our clients continue to live in Moria, it will be difficult for them to make progress for they will be stuck in a vicious circle of hopelessness and distress,” it said.

The Athens government pledged to move 2,000 asylum seekers from Lesbos to the Greek mainland by the end of this month.

On Monday, Migration Minister Dimitras Vitsas said about 900 people were taken to centres outside Lesbos this month and another 1,000 migrants would be transferred this week.

But with boats carrying more refugees and asylum seekers arriving close to Lesbos every week, the Red Cross said that Greece and the rest of the EU must keep moving migrants to suitable accommodation and avoid more overcrowding.

“As EU leaders consider socalled control centres across Europe, conditions on the Greek islands must give them pause,” Red Cross representative Imogen Sudbery said.

“The focus right now must be on ways to ensure greater, more effective responsibility sharing across the EU for those who continue to arrive, not just to Greece but to Spain and Italy as well.”

Women and girls at the camp are particularly vulnerable and often avoid visiting the toilets for fear of being attacked