Advance Relief Efforts for Refugees in Greece

Throughout the last three months, our teams on Lesvos and Ritsona have faced some of the most difficult situations we have encountered in over four years of providing a humanitarian response in Greece. Thanks to your help, we  continued working tirelessly to support people arriving on the north shore of Lesvos, and provide psychosocial support for youth and children in the Ritsona Camp. 

In the first week of January, Ritsona Camp underwent a significant expansion, which increased the number of residents from 950 at the end of December 2019 to around 3,000 in the beginning of March. This increased the demand for our services, and the number of participants in our spaces - the YES, a hub of creative activity, sport, and conversation, has been hosting 125 to 135 people every day, almost double the number of people we welcomed to the space in December. At the Child Friendly Space, we have also been welcoming many more children every day, and we have been fortunate to welcome new Resident Volunteers as well as short-term volunteers. 

During December, Lighthouse Relief assisted 2034 people arriving on the north shore of Lesvos, and in January, we supported 834 people. However, on January 31st, Stage 2, the facility hosting asylum seekers upon arrival was closed down, leaving them without shelter upon arrival. We immediately shifted our operations to ensure that we could continue supporting people on arrival, establishing a distribution team that would provide blankets, clothes, and dry food to people in the freezing weather. 

At the end of February and early March, tensions escalated precipitously across the island of Lesvos, and amidst the ongoing situation, we made the difficult decision to temporarily pause our primary operations and evacuate our volunteers. We continue to find ways that we can support the local community on the north shore until we can fully resume our activities. During this time, we have been horrified by the human rights violations we have witnessed or heard about -- threats, violence and accusations directed at humanitarian workers, journalists, asylum seekers, and members of the local community who are supportive of asylum seekers. We vehemently call on the European Union to uphold basic human rights and relocate people trapped on the Aegean Islands. To read our full statement, you can visit us online here.  

Despite these ongoing challenges to our operations, we are committed to continue offering a dignified humanitarian response. With the European Union’s failure to provide safe passage for people who are fleeing conflict and persecution, your continuous support is more vital than ever.