Greece’s Biggest Migrant Camp Is a Mental Health Crisis, Aid Groups Say

ATHENS, Greece — Aid groups are warning of a growing safety and mental health crisis in Greece’s largest migrant camp, a combustible place where violence, attempted suicide, untreated psychological trauma, and unsanitary conditions are commonplace, even as the government takes steps to relieve dangerous overcrowding.

At the Moria camp on the island of Lesbos, “more than 8,500 people are crammed into a site which only has the capacity to host 3,100,” the International Rescue Committee, one of the aid groups operating there, stated in a report released Tuesday.

There is just one shower for every 84 people and one toilet for every 72 people, it said, and “the sewage system is so overwhelmed that raw sewage has been known to reach the mattresses where children sleep.”

The alarms about conditions on Lesbos came as other European countries are taking increasingly tough stands against migrants.

On Monday, Italy’s government adopted a proposal by the hard-line, anti-immigrant interior minister, Matteo Salvini, to cut the number of asylum-seekers it admits and double the amount of time the authorities can hold migrants in detention, awaiting deportation.

And on Tuesday, France refused to allow a ship operated by aid groups, carrying migrants who were rescued from the Mediterranean Sea, to dock in Marseille.

Conditions in the Moria camp have drawn condemnation for years, but the complaints have grown more urgent as the thinly spread aid workers have recounted assaults and suicide attempts even by preadolescent children. They have warned of a serious threat of major rioting.

Last week, the group Doctors Without Borders issued a statement describing “severe deterioration of health and mental health” and “frequent violence in all its forms” in the camp, where many people have fled violence in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The week before, 19 aid groups signed a joint letter calling on the Greek government to correct “the shameful conditions” at Moria.

The International Rescue Committee said its overwhelmed mental health clinic at the camp had been able to treat only 126 people this year — and that 30 percent of them had attempted suicide and a total of 60 percent had considered it.

“The only reason I am glad I didn’t succeed is because of my children,” the report quoted Ahmad, a 35-year-old Iraqi father of four, as saying.

Lesbos, an island of around 86,000 residents, came under enormous pressure in 2015 when it became the main gateway to Europe for nearly 1 million migrants. Even with international aid, the flood of people strained the resources of Greece, a small country that was still struggling to emerge from its economic crisis.

Arrivals have slowed significantly since then, but the burden on Moria and other Greek camps has not eased. The processing of asylum applications is slow, other countries have made it harder for migrants who travel through Greece to cross their borders, and officials have made it tougher for migrants to win permission to relocate to the Greek mainland.

Earlier this month, regional officials responsible for the southern Aegean Islands threatened to close Moria unless Greece’s central government improved conditions.

Last Friday, after talks between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the European migration commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, authorities moved 100 migrants from the camp to facilities in northern Greece. On Monday, 444 more were moved, and an additional 1,000 will be relocated by the end of the week, Migration Minister Dimitris Vitsas told Greek radio on Tuesday, adding that people would also be moved out of crowded centers on the islands of Samos and Chios.

“The goal is to relocate 6,000 to 7,000 people to mainland Greece by November,” he said. “There needs to be redistribution across Europe,” he added, but some other countries have resisted a European Union plan to share the burden.

The International Rescue Committee’s Greece director, Jana Frey, said she welcomed the government’s effort, but added: “It comes far too late.” The camps in northern Greece were already nearly full, she said.

In many European countries, anti-migrant sentiment rose even as the flow of people declined, contributing to gains by right-wing parties. In Italy, the League party, headed by Salvini, and the anti-establishment Five Star movement made gains in elections this year, formed a coalition, and entered government for the first time.

On Monday, the Italian Cabinet adopted an emergency decree, drafted by Salvini, that would eliminate some grounds for migrants to be permitted to remain in Italy, like fleeing anti-gay persecution, and allow the authorities to detain migrants for up to 180 days, rather than 90. To take effect, the decree must be approved by Parliament — where the governing coalition has a large majority — and President Sergio Mattarella.

“This is a step towards making Italy safer,” Salvini tweeted.

Although the number of migrants attempting the hazardous sea journey from Libya to Southern Europe has fallen, the route has become even deadlier, and European countries continue to argue over who should be responsible for rescuing those who are shipwrecked.

After Italy refused permission for rescue ships to dock, this summer, European countries bickered over the fate of one vessel, the Aquarius, carrying more than 600 people. The ship ultimately landed in Spain, and its passengers were taken in by multiple countries.

On Monday, the Aquarius, operated by SOS Méditerranée and Doctors Without Borders, asked permission to dock in Marseille and disembark 58 migrants, including 17 women and 18 minors.

Bruno Le Maire, France’s economy minister, said on Tuesday that “for now” his government was refusing, “because if we want to have a coherent policy on migration, we have to respect European rules.”

“A boat with migrants on board must head to the closest European coast,” Le Maire told the BFM TV news channel. “Today, the port of Marseille is not the closest.” French authorities have said the Aquarius should instead head to the island of Malta.

On Tuesday, Portugal said that it would take in 10 of the people on the Aquarius as part of a deal with France and Spain, but it was unclear if an agreement had been reached.

The ship was registered in Panama, and the group that operates it said Panama had revoked its registration, under pressure from Italy. They appealed to other European countries to help them find a new registration.