Thousands of asylum seekers, aid workers, United Nations, Greek, and European Union staff may be at risk of lead poisoning. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has reported these concerns regarding the new camp for migrants and asylum seekers in Mavrovouni, in the far south of the Peloponnese, approximately 260km from Athens.

The camp was established on a military polygon by the Greek authorities. Shooting ranges are known to be polluted with lead bullets, however authorities did not complete adequate testing on the soil prior to transferring migrants to the site in September 2020. Evidence obtained by migrants traveling to the site has also shown that authorities may not have cleared unexploded mortar shells and light arms ammunition.

Belkis Wille, Human Rights Watch's senior crisis and conflict researcher, explained that putting thousands of migrant adults and children, along with aid workers, on top of a former firing range without taking the necessary measures to ensure they would not be exposed to toxic lead is inconceivable. Wille continued to state that “the Greek authorities should promptly carry out a full assessment of the site of lead levels in the soil and disseminate the results”.

In November and early December 2020, HRW interviewed individuals living in the camp, aid workers, and medical and environmental experts who reviewed academic studies on the risk of lead pollution. HRW did not have access to perform on-site analysis, but to validate the location of the shooting range, it analysed photographs and videos of the site and satellite images.

In late November 2020, the Ministry of Asylum and Migration started construction work on the Mavrovouni camp site. The construction operation became necessary after fires broke out at the beginning of September 2020 within the Moria camp, which housed 12,767 migrants, most of whom were women and children. Officials established Mavrovouni as a temporary camp in a matter of days and told people they would start constructing a new permanent camp to be used by June 2021. Currently there are 7,517 Afghan and Syrian nationals living in Mavrovouni.

The Greek minister denies pollution. In response to letters from Human Rights Watch, in a letter dated 19 November, Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarachi claimed that the camp “had no lead contamination” but offered no evidence to support the assertion. Mitarachi reported that the government decided to perform a month-long soil test with the European Commission but did not reveal the purpose of the test, the areas to be tested, or the methodology.

On 1 December, a representative of the Greek army, confirmed his intention to respond to a letter received by Human Rights Watch on 4 November 2020, raising urgent concerns. However, no adequate response was obtained.

The Secretary-General for the Resettlement of Asylum Seekers, Manos Logothetis, challenged the possibility of lead contamination in the camp on 6 December but also stated that no soil tests results for lead were released.

To outline, the Greek government [in Greek] should release test results about lead contamination in new migrant camp in order to protect the health of asylum seekers.

Cristina is a student at the Alma Mater Studiourum - University of Bologna, undertaking a Master's in International Cooperation on Human rights and Intercultural Heritage. She is a UN volunteer and a volunteer for the project EuRoPe, sponsored by the municipality of Ravenna. She is currently doing an internship at the Mission of Italy to the UN in Geneva.

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