Over the last five years there has been many articles written about the refugee crisis, the suffering of people fleeing war, inhuman living conditions, human rights violations, the abuse of power and a political game played on the backs of vulnerable people. Europe seems not capable, or not willing, to act in accordance to its own laws and regulations, laws that was made while Europe was still in ruins, we seems to have forgotten the words “ never again”, or at least the meaning of them.
The biggest mass movement of people in Europe since the Second World War, and we started to build fences, camps surrounded by barbed wire, where we let children, women and men live under inhuman conditions, neglected by the outside world, the lack of basic needs are extreme, but we don’t seem to care, and we starts to defend the politics that put them there in the first place. We starts to refer to “them” as numbers, statistics, percentage, we divide them into the once we want, and the once we don’t want, based on the geographical location where they where born, their religion, skin color and gender. We dehumanize people, we strip them off all their rights as humans, and we forget that we once said “never again”..
We all seems to be having some kind of amnesia, we have put the same kind of people to rule today’s Europe, that we fought 80 years ago to get rid of. Deep down we all knows what is going on, but for some reason most people choose to look the other way, as long as our way of life isn’t at risk, we won’t rock the boat, hopefully it all will magically go away. What we don’t realize is that one day they might come for us as well, your neighbor, your friends, your family. One day perhaps your life is put in a box that says “unwanted”, by then it would be to late to act. We should be very careful about what we wish for, the violations of human rights and international laws are not “their” problem, it’s also ours, it will eventually effect all of us.
We have all seen pictures from the inhuman camps in Greece, but it seems it’s not enough to make us act, because it’s not personal, it’s just some people, degraded in to numbers and statistics. We don’t realize that they are really people, no different from us, with feelings, dreams for the future, hopes, the need to feel wanted, that they have a value. A mother in the new camp on Lesvos said that she was glad that they moved most unaccompanied minors to the mainland, but we mustn’t forget that there are thousands of children left in this inhuman camp. She said that the only way she could help her own children was to commit suicide, perhaps then they would have a chance of a life in freedom, try to step into her shoes..
Perhaps we should take a closer look on the people living in this camp, get down an personal, perhaps then we will realize that they are just like us, they could easily be our family, friends, neighbor or work college.
The Almousa family of 8 people are from Syria, and lives in a tent in the middle of the new camp in Kara Tepe, six children from the age of 2 to 10 years old. Can you imagine having to live on seven square feet, in a summer tent, without flooring, insulation or heating with your six children, watching them freeze every night. They get some food once a day, but not hardly enough to feed the family, they haven’t had a shower for the last 4 weeks, because there is no running water in the camp. Whenever it rains, mud water are flooding the tent, soaking what little they have, because the tents are put directly on the ground, without pallets or gravel underneath. The is no drainage in the camp, sewage mixes with the rain water contaminates anything that comes in contact with it. And this is the best Europe could offer, blessed by the UNHCR.
Is this an “upgrade” from Moria, I would say quite the opposite, it’s a yet another attempt to treat people seeking protection and refuge in Europe inn the most despicable way, without any concern of their best interest, it’s “Moria the sequel”, a hell in the making, and we just let it happen, again..
The pictures are shared with the approval of the Almosa family, they still live in the worst refugee camp in Europe, these children are suffering because we decided to look the other way..
Is this personal enough to make you care, I doubt it, perhaps when children are freezing to death in this camp you will care, or perhaps not..
What have we become..
Pictures by Yousif Alshewaili