Fires in the Moria camp: solidarity with all the victims
Emmaus Europe and Emmaus International express their solidarity with all the victims of the fires in the Moria camp on the Island of Lesbos. It is yet another trauma on the difficult path from exile to an asylum that Europe is doing everything to avoid giving them.
We have long denounced the policies of registering applications in “hotspots” far from our continent or outsourcing outside Europe as they do not give real access to rights for asylum seekers and make them suffer from inhumane living conditions in camps that receive 4 times more people than they can accommodate.
The EU and each of its member countries must now urgently find a dignified solution to accommodate these 12,000 refugees, not just a few hundred unaccompanied minors; this meanness is unworthy of our values. Many local authorities are ready to help, in conjunction with the civil societies in their territory. They affirm this in their alliance sealed in October 2019 (“Alliance Migrations”, launched at the initiative of Emmaus International and the OCU, see the open letter: an alternative migration policy is possible”) to jointly defend the feasibility of alternative migration policies.
The new Pact for Migration and Asylum being drawn up by the European Commission could include this closure of hotspots and distribution across all European countries. Europe should allow everyone to apply for asylum wherever they want, as requested by Emmaus Europe in its contribution to the Pact roadmap.
Emmaus Europe has also signed two petitions to call for the immediate evacuation of the Moria camp. Join our call, sign the petitions and share widely:
