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There are over a thousand unaccompanied minors living in Moria Camp, vulnerable to violence, neglect, and mental distress as they wait months for a determination on their immigration status — often with no end in sight.
Despite a Human Rights Watch campaign last November calling for swifter action and protections for minors, and the introduction of the “No Child Alone” policy by Greek Prime Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, tangible change has not taken effect. In Febuary hundreds of migrants protested shifting and nebulous immigration laws, insufficient resources, and escalating violence within the camps. The protests were led by youth, suffering in isolation, who have risked their lives and financial security in pursuit of safety, education, and opportunity.
These children are slipping through the cracks of an already overwhelmed system. Moria, a military base which was built to shelter 2,000, is now the transient home to over 20,000 migrants, sprawling outside the camp’s fences and into what is locally known as the “Jungle,” where immigrants live without infrastructure or protection. Many have expressed a strong desire to go home. But their lives are in limbo. Months pass as their situation stagnates.