Public Project
The first step to Europe
During the months of October to December 2015, at the beginning of the so-called refugee crisis, I went to Lesbos, a Greek island 10 km from Turkey, to document the emergency event that was taking place. While I was there, I saw from 2000 to 3000 people every day arriving at the beach of Skala Skamineas.They had fled conflict zones, had embarked on inflatable boats and scrapping boats from the Turkish coasts risking their lives to reach European territory.
Despite the European Union being aware of the situation, they ignored the issue without offering any help, relying on volunteers, citizens from all over the world and NGOs, to assist those who arrived disoriented, fleeing and in a situation of absolute vulnerability. Europe ended up paying 3,000 million euros to Turkey to retain the migratory flow and preventmigrants from arriving in our continent.
At first, Greece allowed many of these people to move to the peninsula, but later it closed the passage turning Lesbos into a kind of prison where tens of thousands of migrants stayed in refugee camps without having the chance to leave. The Moria refugee camp has become the largest in Europe, crowded with thousands of people who, even today, are still unable to obtain asylum or return to their country.
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