Another young victim of the EU’s border regime is lost at sea

A search has now been suspended for a ten-year-old girl who went missing during a crossing from Turkey to Greece on 13 February. She is from Afghanistan, and was attempting the journey to the island of Lesbos with her family, in a dinghy carrying 52 people. Rescuers have stopped searching for her due to poor weather conditions in the area.
Refugees embarking on the sea crossing from Turkey to Lesbos pay a lot of money for a place in a flimsy rubber dinghy, crowded with people.
A Canary journalist in Lesbos spoke to volunteers on the ground, who believe that the boat came into contact with rocks. The coastline around northern Lesbos is incredibly dangerous, with jagged rocks and water that changes depth suddenly. If a dinghy hits the rocks, it can begin to deflate. This often leads to people immediately trying to evacuate.
No safe passage
Lighthouse Relief, an NGO based on Lesbos, was the first organisation to arrive at the scene. It has a round-the-clock team of volunteers who respond to all boat landings on the northern shore. Its team expressed frustration, saying:
More than three years after the death of [Kurdish child refugee] Alan Kurdi shook the world, prompting empty promises of safe passage and humanitarian admission, those of us working in these border regions see that little has changed. It is unacceptable and heartbreaking that we should still have to witness scenes like these played out on Europe’s doorstep.
In March 2016, The EU-Turkey Deal was signed, allowing the deportation of people from Greece to Turkey, unless they could prove that Turkey was not a safe place for them. At the same time, the EU promised to provide a safe and legal way out of Turkey. But Amnesty International wrote in 2017 that the number of Syrian refugees transferred from Turkey to the EU had been “negligible”. And it seems there is still virtually no option for a ‘safe and legal’ passage out of Turkey.
Meanwhile, those making the crossings remain at great risk. This tweet from search and rescue team Refugee Rescue illustrates the danger posed by the cold:
Read on...
Support us and go ad-free
A baby with blue lips and a waterlogged dinghy; it was a close call this morning as 48 people arrived to the east of Cape Korakas. Their dinghy started taking on water early in the journey, and people were freezing once they arrived on Greek shores.#safepassage pic.twitter.com/SrFKSgvLgO
— Refugee Rescue (@RefugeeRescueUK) February 11, 2019
According to the United Nations, 213 people arrived on Lesbos from 4 to 10 February. And 2,348 people have arrived in Greece by sea so far in 2019. The vast majority of people came from Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq – all places suffering immense violence as a result of Western invasions and Western-backed wars. And at least 208 people have died while crossing the Mediterranean in the first five weeks of 2019.
The refugee crisis may not get as much media coverage nowadays. But it most certainly has not gone away. Governments must end their destructive border regimes, accept refugees with open arms, and stop fuelling wars around the world. Because this suffering has already gone on for way too long.
Featured image via – Wikimedia Commons
Support us and go ad-freeGet involved
- Volunteer with, or donate to, Lighthouse Relief. The organisation has a team of emergency response volunteers who respond to all boat landings on the northern shore. They operate day and night boat-spotting shifts, and work with other organisations in the area to ensure arrivals are supported in overnight transit. The NGO also provides psychosocial support to refugees in the Ritsona camp on mainland Greece.
- Find out more about volunteering on Lesbos.
We know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support
The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.
The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.
So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.
-
Show Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to leave a comment.Join the conversationPlease read our comment moderation policy here.