Scottish photographer and Visura member, Emily Macinnes, is taking-over the Open Society Foundations' Instagram this week with her smart and emotional documentary and portrait work, sharing the voices of some of the 11,500 refugees and migrants currently stuck in Idomeni, a small village on the Greek-Macedonia border. Please follow along!
Amina, 36, a Yazidi Kurd from the Sinjar province in Iraq, sits in the middle of the road during a protest where dozens of people blocked the highway between Idomeni and Thessaloniki. Although it is evident the protests will not directly open the border it remains one of the few ways that those stranded in Idomeni feel their voices can be heard - desperate that Europe does not forget about them.
Amina was on her way to meet her husband, who has already applied for asylum in Germany, when Macedonia (FYROM) officially closed its border. Now she is worried that she will be returned to Turkey "“ a country which has repressed the political and cultural rights of the Kurdish people since the Turkish War of Independence and who continue to persecute, torture and murder Kurds within its borders.
In direct response to the EU-Turkey deal struck on March 20th Greece has already began the deportation of hundreds of refugees from the islands of Lesvos and Chios back to Turkey. -Emily Macinnes
Follow @opensocietyfoundations on Instagram, where each week a new photographer takes-over the account to share personal photo projects from around the world. Projects explore different aspects of human rights and the human condition with a focus on justice and equality. We are always looking for new photographers to takeover the account. We pay a stipend as a way to help support these important projects.