Pikpa camp or Lesbos Solidarity, was a privately-run refugee camp, located on the Neapoli area near Mytilene, Lesbos. It had a capacity of 100-120 people, though it hosted hundreds more during times of acute need. [1] Its aim was to support the most vulnerable refugees who pass through Mytilene: families with children, the disabled, women who are pregnant, and the injured. The camp focused on humanitarian aid and on providing for the various needs of refugees, including food, medical assistance, clothing, and psychological support. [2] [1] [3] [4]
The site of the PIKPA village was originally a children's summer camp. [5] In 2012 it was transformed by the Lesvos Solidarity Network (and with the help of local authorities) into "The Village of Altogether"—a safe haven for vulnerable refugees. [5]
In 2016, Lesvos Solidarity registered as an NGO to further organize resources following the growing refugee crisis on Lesbos arising from the March 2016 EU-Turkey agreement. That same year, the UN Refugee Agency recognized a leader of the Pikpa Camp, Efi Latsoudi, with its Nansen Refugee Award. [6] [5] [7]
On 29 October 2020, its threatened sudden closure was at the last minute postponed, although the authorities stated that it would be closed "as soon as possible". [8] The next day the closure was enforced, and occupants were transferred to the "old" Kara Tepe Refugee Camp. [9]
Other refugee camps on Lesbos:
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 20,305 staff working in 136 countries as of December 2023.
A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as a result of who they are, what they believe in or say, or because of armed conflict, violence or serious public disorder." Such a person may be called an asylum seeker until granted refugee status by a contracting state or by the UNHCR if they formally make a claim for asylum.
Mytilene is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University of the Aegean. It was founded in the 11th century BC.
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced people. Usually, refugees seek asylum after they have escaped war in their home countries, but some camps also house environmental and economic migrants. Camps with over a hundred thousand people are common, but as of 2012, the average-sized camp housed around 11,400. They are usually built and run by a government, the United Nations, international organizations, or non-governmental organization. Unofficial refugee camps, such as Idomeni in Greece or the Calais jungle in France, are where refugees are largely left without the support of governments or international organizations.
Mithymna is a town and former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2019 local government reform it is part of the municipality of West Lesbos, of which it is a municipal unit. Before 1919, its official name was Μόλυβος - Molyvos; that name dates back to the end of the Byzantine Era, but is still in common use today.
Lesbos or Lesvos is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of 1,633 km2 (631 sq mi), with approximately 400 kilometres of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the eighth largest in the Mediterranean. It is separated from Asia Minor by the narrow Mytilini Strait. On the southeastern coast is the island's capital and largest city, Mytilene (Μυτιλήνη), whose name is also used for the island as a whole. Lesbos is a separate regional unit with the seat in Mytilene, which is also the capital of the larger North Aegean region. The region includes the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Ikaria, Lemnos, and Samos. The total population of the island was 83,755 in 2021. A third of Lesbians live in the capital, while the remainder are concentrated in small towns and villages. The largest are Plomari, Kalloni, the Gera Villages, Agiassos, Eresos, and Molyvos.
Skala Eresou, also transliterated as Skala Eressou, is a seaside village on the island of Lesbos, Greece, as a part of the community of Eresos. Since the 1980s, it has become a popular destination for lesbian tourists.
Syrian refugee camp and shelters are temporary settlements built to receive internally displaced people and refugees of the Syrian Civil War. Of the estimated 7 million persons displaced within Syria, only a small minority live in camps or collective shelters. Similarly, of the 8 million refugees, only about 10 percent live in refugee camps, with the vast majority living in both urban and rural areas of neighboring countries. Beside Syrians, they include Iraqis, Palestinians, Kurds, Yazidis, individuals from Somalia, and a minority of those who fled the Yemeni and Sudanese civil wars.
Alison Thompson is a global humanitarian volunteer and the Founder of Third Wave Volunteers, a United States–based nonprofit that responds to disasters and crises around the world. She was born in Sutherland Shire, Sydney, Australia.
Kara Tepe is a refugee camp that was located in the area of Mavrovouni in Peloponnese, Greece. The camp is managed by the Municipality of Mytilene and UNHCR in collaboration with the NGOs that operate there; among them are IRC, Médecins du Monde, METAdrasi, SOS Villages, Caritas, Movement on the Ground and Because we Carry. Médecins Sans Frontières has a clinic in Mytilini that serves patients from the Kara Tepe camp who are referred to them by outreach teams.
Spyros Galinos was a Greek politician who served as Mayor of Lesbos from May 2014 to September 2019.
Mória Reception and Identification Centre, better known as Mória Refugee Camp, or just "Mória", was founded in January 2013 and served as the largest refugee camp in Europe until it was burned down in September 2020. It was located outside the village of Moria near Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Enclosed with barbed wire and a chain-link fence, the military camp served as a European Union “hotspot”. It was described by Human Rights Watch as an open air prison.
The temporary Kara Tepe camp is a refugee camp located in the area of Mavrovouni, north of Mytilene on the island of Lesvos, Greece, which was constructed following fires which destroyed Moria refugee camp on and after 8 September 2020. It is located next to, although separated from, the other, longstanding Kara Tepe Refugee Camp which still houses a number of asylum seekers.
borderline-europe - human rights without borders e. V. is a non-governmental organisation which, through independent investigations and public relations work, advocates the protection of human rights, especially at the EU's external borders. It is based in Berlin and has two branches, on the islands of Sicily and Lesbos. The organisation was founded in 2007 by Judith Gleitze, Harald Glöde, Stefan Schmidt and Elias Bierdel. In 2012 borderline-europe was awarded the Aachen Peace Prize. Its founding was at least partly a response to the 2004 case of the German rescue ship ‘Cap Anamur’ in which, after the rescue of 37 men in distress at sea, the ship's captain, Stefan Schmidt, and the organisation's chairman, Elias Bierdel were arrested and held in Italy before being acquitted, 5 years later, of aiding and abetting irregular entry.
Proem-Aid is a Spanish NGO which operates in the Mediterranean Sea with the aims of aiding and rescuing those in distress on the water. It was formed by a group of emergency service workers who volunteered their time and expertise, and initially operated off Lesbos beginning in December 2015 before also starting an operation in the central Mediterranean in September 2017.
Efi Latsoudi is a human rights activist working both to assist refugees and migrants and to bury those who die in migration attempts. In 2016, Latsoudi was awarded the UN Nansen Award.
Konstantinos Mitragas is a Greek businessman, sea captain and the secretary-general of the Hellenic Rescue Team that supports refugees arriving in Lesvos. He collected the Nansen Refugee Award in 2016 on behalf of the Hellenic Rescue Team.
Sarah Mardini, alternative spelling Sara Mardini, is a Syrian former competition swimmer, lifeguard and human rights activist. Fleeing her country in 2015 during the Syrian civil war with her sister, Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini, they pulled their boat with other refugees towards the Mediterranean coast of Greece, saving themselves and the other passengers. Continuing their journey across the Balkans, they reached Berlin, Germany, the same year. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2023, alongside her sister.
Seán Binder is a German-born Irish human rights activist and certified rescue diver who has spent most of his life in Ireland. The son of a refugee father from Vietnam and a German mother, he grew up in Ireland and later studied at universities in Dublin and London. From 2017 to 2018, he volunteered with a humanitarian non-governmental organization on Lesbos island, Greece, assisting refugees arriving in small boats from the nearby Turkish coast.