The fire, however cynically, also awakened hope. Europe was waking up. The inhuman conditions and human rights violations in the camps on Europe’s external borders and the unfeasibility of border countries being the first country of arrival and responsible for the reception and asylum procedure of many thousands of people arriving every year became visible. From north to south and from left to right, the call for change sounds: No more Morias.

Four years later, new camps have been built on the five largest Greek islands in the Aegean, which are similar to prisons in almost everything. These camps and the border procedures designed to get people through their asylum procedures as quickly as possible are the blueprint for the new European border policy set out in the European Migration Pact concluded earlier this year.

Reception facilities in new camps with strict restrictions have changed. What has not changed is the harrowing lack of facilities such as health care, the inhumanity of the system, and the structural violations of human rights.

The context continues to change. For the first time in years, most people arriving at Mavrovouni refugee camp on Lesvos are from Syria. They are fleeing Turkey, where more than three million Syrian refugees stay. Pressure is mounting there: Syrians face systematic discrimination and exclusion and, increasingly, violence.

Another change is that fewer people are staying on the five islands. More and more people are arriving on the many smaller islands in the Aegean where there are no registration centres or reception facilities. From here, they are taken to camps on the mainland. Flight routes are changing in response to changing border policies. The short crossing between Turkey and Lesvos is strictly guarded, and boats are stopped and pushed back as much as possible. On the southern route, which leads to Kos and Crete, for example, this is less easy, and even more so on the many smaller islands. Dangerous because the risk of not being seen and rescued in case of distress is also higher on these routes.

In addition, we still see a rapid ‘flow’ of people on Lesvos and the four other islands. Asylum procedures are sometimes completed at lightning speed – the ‘fast track procedure’ from the Migration Pact – and people are sent on to camps on the mainland as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, there is no adequate care in any camp. On Lesvos and in Athens, I spoke to other medical organisations. Only a handful remain. We discussed how to cope with the situation. Besides Lesvos, can we provide care on the other islands? What is possible on the mainland? We are mapping the situation. In the coming months, we will explore ways to ensure that people on the other islands also have access to healthcare. We are looking at how we can spread our efforts. With fewer people in the different camps, and therefore less demand for care, we can manage with smaller teams. We are exploring providing care with mobile deployment.

Our hopes for structural improvement in the short term are small. We focus our hopes on that where we ourselves can make a difference: providing care with humanity where people need it. We hope to be of significance on other islands this year on a small scale. That is what we are focusing on. For that, we need you. Your voluntary commitment, your financial contributions. Because only together we make a difference. Because we have to and because we can.

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