Human Rights Watch has blasted the Greek government over its handling of asylum-seekers on the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos.
The group said the overcrowded Moria camp, which hosts over 12,000 refugees and migrants, has been transformed into a “prison-like setting, rife with risk of heightened tensions and violence”.
Conditions at the camp, which the group visited in July, are “squalid and insanitary” and there is a “desperate need for improved health care and sanitation”, it said.
It also criticised the government’s ongoing detention of hundreds of refugees and migrants under the Migration Code, with some being held for up to 18 months and detained children denied access to education and health care.
The group called on Greece to take immediate steps to alleviate the situation on the island, including providing essential services and safe accommodation to those in need, lifting the detainment regime, and providing meaningful access to asylum.