NGOs call for Lesvos migrant camps to stay open

More than 160 nongovernmental organizations and other groups have written a joint appeal to the Greek authorities to reverse a decision to close two reception centers for migrants and refugees on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos – the PIKPA and Kara Tepe camps.

In the letter, the groups describe the camps as “the only dignified options” for hosting migrants on Lesvos, noting that the two facilities have offered shelter and protection to thousands of migrants over the past five years.

Another concern highlighted by the NGOs is that it remains unclear where the residents of those two camps will go in the event that they close.

Their relocation to the temporary facility that was hastily set up last month after the notoriously overcrowded Moria camp was destroyed by a series of fires “would put their physical and mental health at risk and must be avoided at all costs,” the letter said.

The signatories of the letter including Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, SolidarityNow and ARSIS.