Disasters around the world are more closely linked than we might think

Climate catastrophes, pandemics and other crises ultimately stem from the same root causes, a United Nations University report finds.

    

Climate change increases the risk of extreme weather and some pests that destroy crops

A cold snap in Texas. A locust swarm in East Africa. A fish in China that survived the extinction of the dinosaurs but succumbed irreversibly to humans last year.

Though separated by borders and oceans, and affecting individual species or entire ecosystems and communities, disasters like these have more in common than people realize or plan for. This is a key finding of a report published Wednesday by the United Nations University (UNU). The scientists found some of the worst disasters over the past two years overlapped to make each other worse. In many cases, they were fueled by the same human actions.

"When people see disasters in the news, they often seem far away," said Zita Sebesvari, a senior scientist at UNU and a lead author of the report. "But even disasters that occur thousands of kilometers apart are often related to one another."

Tropical cyclones, growing stronger as the planet heats up, have caused extra devastation due to the coronavirus pandemic

Overlapping crises

Three root causes affected most of the events in the UNU analysis: burning fossil fuels, poor management of risk and placing too little value on the environment in decision-making.

Many of the disasters recorded were linked to extreme weather. In Vietnam, a cascade of nine separate storms, heavy rains and floods wrought havoc across the country over the space of just two months. A deadly cyclone in Bangladesh, turbocharged by climate change, struck land while workers quarantined in cyclone shelters during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Events like these "feed into each other," said Jack O'Connor, a senior scientist at UNU and a lead author of the report. If emergency shelters are being used to protect people from extreme weather and house coronavirus patients, fewer people can — or want to — use them. Those who do are more exposed to the virus. And then when the cyclone strikes, it damages hospitals and disrupts supply lines needed to treat patients.

"You don't design your cyclone response with a pandemic in mind," said O'Connor. "But this is the kind of thing that we're going to need to start doing."

Early evacuations could have saved lives when floods struck central Europe in July

Increasingly extreme weather

The UNU report comes a week after the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) published an analysis showing that a weather-related disaster occurred every day on average over the past 50 years. Each day, the report found, disasters from hurricanes to droughts had killed 115 people and caused $202 million (€170 million) in losses.

The overall death toll from extreme weather, however, is falling, even as humans burn fossil fuels and heat the planet — mostly because of advances in forecasting and early-warning systems. These allow governments to evacuate people out of harm's way before extreme weather events strike. As a result, devastating storms and floods are killing fewer people — yet displacing more.

But it is unclear if that relationship will hold as the planet warms and more catastrophes overlap with each other.

Human influence has likely already increased the chance of "compound extreme events" since the 1950s, according to a landmark report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in August. Heatwaves and droughts, for instance, are striking in unison more often across the world. In some regions, similar trends can be seen for heavy rain and storm surges, or fire conditions.

Should the planet heat 4 degrees Celsius (around 7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial temperatures, heat waves that used to hit once every 50 years can be expected to scorch the land 39 times more often, according to IPCC projections. The planet has already warmed 1.1 C. Though world leaders have pledged to limit warming to ideally 1.5 C by the end of the century, their current policies are on track to double that. 

Scientists project that heat waves, droughts and wildfires will strike together more often

Ecological and climate crises

The UNU report highlights three specific examples of ecological crises that are also closely tied to climate change.

About 25% of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia was severely bleached last year. Coral reefs will decline by 70% to 90% percent if global warming hits 1.5 C. Virtually all the world's reefs would be lost with warming of 2 C.

But while climate change is the main driver, the resilience of a reef can also depend on stresses such as pollution and overfishing, said O'Connor, who trained as a marine scientist and has seen coral reefs before and after bleaching.

"It's like 'Finding Nemo' ... it's full of color and life," said O'Connor, referring to the popular Pixar film about fish. "When you visit a reef that's bleached due to rising ocean temperatures, all the color is gone. Everything has gone white. But not only that, it's like a graveyard: All the animals have moved out."

In the Amazon rainforest, swathes of trees have been burned to satisfy the global demand for meat, whether to clear land to graze livestock or grow soy for their feed. This has reduced the amount of carbon pollution the forest could store out of the atmosphere. Some studies suggest deforestation and global warming will accelerate forest dieback to a tipping point where the Amazon flips into dry savannah.

Coronavirus lockdowns made it harder for firefighters to battle blazes in the Amazon rainforest

In the Yangtze River, China, the Chinese paddlefish was wiped out last year after decades of overfishing, pollution and the construction of several dams that cut the species off from its spawning ground upstream. As is the case with the coral reefs, the loss of a species in an ecosystem can be enough to bring the whole system crashing down.

A balancing act

The report's findings highlight how policymakers are able to narrow in on a handful of "win-win solutions" to prevent disasters, like reducing emissions or designing infrastructure with greater respect for nature. In both the Amazon and the Yangtze, the authors wrote, people altered landscapes to harness economically valuable resources, yet too often failed to account for the environmental costs.

This report also reflects on the cost of ignoring those links between disasters and pushing solutions that make other extremes worse. The dams that contributed to the death of the Chinese paddlefish, for instance, generate clean electricity and provide an alternative to burning fossil fuels. In some cases, the trade-off may not be worth it. In others, targeted policies can offset the damage.

"We can't afford anymore to take short-sighted solutions that end up biting us later on," said O'Connor. "We need to be better." 

IN PICTURES: DEADLY EXTREME WEATHER SHOCKS THE WORLD 

Fierce flash floods in Europe

Unprecedented flooding — caused by two months' worth of rainfall in two days — has resulted in devastating damage in central Europe, leaving at least 226 people dead in Germany and Belgium. Narrow valley streams swelled into raging floods in the space of hours, wiping out centuries-old communities. Rebuilding the ruined homes, businesses and infrastructure is expected to cost

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Climate protesters with disabilities get creative

People with disabilities can be particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change — so why shouldn't they be at the forefront of climate activism?

Having a disability has not prevented people from becoming active in the climate protest movement

When Cecile Lecomte joined the anti-nuclear movement nearly two decades ago, she was a national climbing champion and quickly began to apply her sporting skills to environmental activism with treetop protests. But for the last three years, scaling trees has been a very different endeavor.

Lecomte lives with rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic inflammation of the joints. It's a painful, progressive disease with acute flare-ups. "This, of course, makes me see the world a little differently," she says.

These days, she must meticulously organize her life around her pain and limited mobility. "Planning is difficult because sometimes I have a phase where I'm doing well, and sometimes a phase where I can't do anything at all and need help with everything."

Cecile Lecomte aims high with her environmental activism

Getting creative

Taking part in protests now raises a host of questions: How will I get there? Will there be stairs? But the disease hasn't put a stop to her activism.

In fact, it hasn't even kept her on the ground. Lecomte can't put weight on her joints, but she can move them — when the pain isn't at its worst. So, she adapted her technique. Now, she climbs with the help of a pulley and so requires far less strength.

"I really like the challenge of climbing and seeing what I still might be able to do," she says.

At first, many doubted she would be able to maintain her climbing protests. But she was determined to prove them wrong.

"It's mind-blowing what a person can adapt to and how often that potential is not seen by society, and they say, 'You're disabled, you can't do anything,'" she says. She now shares her techniques with other environmental activists with disabilities.

Up in the treetops: For this, Lecomte has developed a special climbing technique

Fighting for inclusion

Lecomte says one reason she's been able to keep going is the close network she'd already established before she became ill — people who were committed to making their activism inclusive.

But Lecomte has had to leave some activist groups. "There was no awareness of my concerns and not much willingness to think about where there might be problems," she says, adding that the ableism manifests not only in people underestimating what a person with a disability can achieve, but also excluding them or treating them with suspicion.

Sasha Kosanic, a geographer at John Moores University in the UK who also has a physical disability, is researching the consequences of climate change for disabled people and hopes her work can help environmental activists with disabilities to advocate for inclusion.

"My aim is not only to fill in the gap in scientific research," she says, "but also to inform policymakers and activists on what should be done next in order to better understand climate change impacts on disabled populations."

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World in Progress: Disability and disaster — making emergency plans inclusive

Extreme weather linked to climate change can be particularly dangerous for the elderly and people with disabilities. It may be more difficult for them to evacuate, and they may not be able to access or interpret warning systems.

When western Germany was hit with lethal floods in July, 12 residents died at a care facility for those with disabilities in Sinzig near Ahrweiler because they were not evacuated in time. And this was not an isolated case. In July 2020, 14 people died in a nursing home in Kuma, Japan, during a flood because they were not evacuated, according to Human Rights Watch.

Turning 'weakness' into a strength

Leon Müller* is in his early 30s and lives in western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Müller has taken part in protests by Ende Gelände, a climate activist group that uses civil disobedience and occupies German coal mines. Because he draws a lot of attention as an environmental activist with an electric wheelchair and respirator, he prefers to remain anonymous.

Ende Gelände set up an inclusion task force two years ago to make its gatherings more accessible. But Müller says the police they confront often appear inadequately trained to deal with activists with disabilities.

Police are not trained to deal with environmental activists with disabilities, says Müller

One activist he has protested alongside has a disability that affects her gestures and facial expressions. "I've witnessed more than once that police are very uneasy and would prefer to talk to someone other than her," he says.

Often, officers send paramedics instead of dealing with the activists themselves — and not always with a better outcome. "Once, paramedics were on the verge of lifting me out of my wheelchair, despite the fact that I was on a ventilator," risking damage to the breathing equipment, Müller says.

But his heavy wheelchair also has advantages during blockades. "The police don't just carry off an electric wheelchair," he says. "I see to it that my supposed weaknesses can be used to our advantage."

Different platforms for different voices

For other activists with disabilities, these challenges have simply inspired more creative ways of making their voices heard.

Samuel Flach from Munich also uses a wheelchair. The 29-year-old is paraplegic and has been involved in environmental activism for some time. He's used to being in the thick of protests and confrontations with police.

With drama and drumming skills: Samuel Flach at theater rehearsals in the Dannenröder Forest

But when he came to the Dannenröder Forest occupation — where activists were camped out in the treetops in a bid to protect a tract of ancient forest threatened by a highway expansion in Hesse — he had to think outside the box.

"I can't climb trees, and physically I just can't keep up at all," he recalls thinking. "So what could I do?"

With friends, Flach founded a theater group for climate justice, using "Theater of the Oppressed," a form of interactive theater used to dissect and challenge power structures to promote political change.

They developed a play called High in the Trees, based on the Dannenröder protests. It premiered with the European theater network Resilient Revolt at a festival in Slovenia in August.

In the middle of it all as part of the troupe: Flach and fellow activists during 

rehearsals at the Ne Festival in Slovenia

It was Flach's third festival, and he's noticed positive developments over the years when it comes to inclusivity. For instance, there are more wheelchair ramps on the festival grounds. He also speaks to festival organizers about his needs beforehand.

Although it was the theater group's first big performance at the festival, he wasn't nervous.

"I know a lot of people there and they know me. My wheelchair isn't really a focus anymore."

German court: Clearing Hambach Forest treehouses 'illegal'

A German court has ruled that authorities acted illegally by removing environmental activists' treehouses from Hambach Forest. The ruling came after one former treehouse dweller lodged a complaint.

The clearance of treehouses like this one in Hambach Forest was illegal, a court has ruled

The forcible removal in 2018 of treehouses built and lived in by environmental activists in Hambach Forest was against the law, a court in the western German city of Cologne ruled on Wednesday.

Environmentalists had been living in the last remnant of the ancient forest, located between the western cities of Cologne and Aachen, for years in a bid to stop it being destroyed to make way for the extension of an open-cast lignite mine.

The activists argued that expanding the mine and clearing the environmentally valuable forest were pointless in view of Germany's intention to abandon using coal as an energy source by 2038 at the latest.

The court said that the argument used by authorities at the time — that the treehouses violated rules on fire safety — was a pretext for removing the activists and preventing them from stopping the expansion of the mine.

The ruling came in response to a complaint by one former treehouse resident, according to the German DPA news agency.

The operation provoked a massive protest

Order from on high  

The order to clear the forest originally came from the government of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the state in which the forest is situated, though the city of Kerpen and the district of Düren were charged with carrying out the clearance.

The police operation, one of the largest-ever in the state, to clear the forest in September 2018 drew massive media attention. The death of a journalist who fell through a walkway between the trees added to the widespread public outrage, though the accident was not a direct result of the authorities' action. In all, 86 treehouses were removed.

Activists have since moved back into the forest. For the time being, the forest is safe, with no current plans to clear it for the mine's expansion.

The Hambach surface mine, operated by energy giant RWE, is the largest of its kind in Europe. The company has argued that removing the forest was necessary to meet Germany's energy needs. A number of villages have also fallen victim to the mine and its continued expansion.

The court's ruling is not final and can be appealed by all parties.

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'Staff wanted' as pandemic forces hospitality workers to rethink

There are huge staff shortages in Berlin’s restaurants, bars and hotels. The post-pandemic phenomenon is being seen across Europe and elsewhere, including in the US, as workers leave the challenging sector for good.

There has been a huge drop in the number of workers in the restaurant sector

Diners who recently returned to Berlin's restaurants are likely to have noticed a plethora of "staff wanted" signs in the windows of the reopened eateries.

As the long emergence from lockdown continues, Germany's gastronomy and hospitality sector is experiencing a serious shortfall in workers, particularly waiting and kitchen staff.

Restaurants have spent large portions of the past 18 months either fully or partially closed, but owners' relief at being able to reopen has been tempered by the lack of workers.

"It has been difficult because during the lockdown we only needed a small staff: one in the kitchen and one out front to serve the customers for takeaway," says Jonathan O'Reilly, proprietor of Crazy Bastard Kitchen in Berlin's Neukölln district. "Going from that to serving 30 or 40 people at tables means we had to double service staff quickly."

Sebastian Werner Knight (left) and Jonathan O'Reilly outside their restaurant

 Crazy Bastard Kitchen in Berlin's Neukölln district.

Rebecca Lynch, who runs Salt n Bone in the district of Prenzlauer Berg, says she has never experienced such difficulty finding staff. She spent more than €2,000 ($2,300) on job ads alone during the summer months.

"Normally, we would get 20 or 30 applications for a waiting position," she said. "This time it was silent. We got applications from people who weren't even in the country, who would only relocate if we found them an apartment."

Dramatic shortage of workers

"The staff shortage in the hospitality industry is dramatic," Jonas Bohl, spokesman for Germany's Food, Beverages and Catering Union (NGG), told DW. "In the past year alone, around 300,000 employees left the industry. Many will not come back."

The employment picture in the sector has indeed been dramatically upended by the pandemic. According to figures from the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (DEHOGA), a trade body, the number of those employed in German restaurants and hotels fell by around 15% between the start of the pandemic and September 2020.

These figures are backed up by the NGG, the workers' union, which estimates that around one in six workers (300,000) have left. The question now is how many of those will come back.

Over the past few months, proprietors such as O'Reilly and Lynch have been tentatively watching to see if the full reopening of business would encourage more applications.

However, just when more staff were needed, fewer seemed to be available. "During July and August, suddenly people were able to travel again," said O'Reilly. "People wanted to take holidays. Some hadn't seen their families in two years."

The staff shortages have been a feature of post-lockdown life in many countries, including in the US (pictured)

The situation is not unique to Germany. Across Europe, the hospitality sector is experiencing a serious staff shortage. Likewise, in the United States, the post-lockdown environment has seen a major lack of workers in the services sector.

Lockdown lifestyle changes

As well as the issue of people taking long-awaited holidays, both O'Reilly and Lynch have recognized a potentially permanent pivot away from the industry by workers who enjoyed a different way of life during long lockdowns.

"A lot of people realized they hated working nights and weekends and that actually working for Zalando (an E-commerce fashion company) from 9 to 5 wasn't the worst thing," says Lynch. "This sector is very stressful. It isn't very secure because you are relying on tips and not actual recognized taxable money. I can understand why a lot of them are not coming back."

O'Reilly, who expanded his restaurant during the winter lockdown says it's demanding work. "It is late nights and not as well paid as office jobs. People had the time to stop and think if this is what they want to do, and a lot of people shifted careers during the lockdown. That's totally understandable and a great thing. There weren't that many people thinking: 'I can't wait for the lockdown to end so I can get back to work really hard in the kitchen.'"

O'Reilly and Lynch prioritize worker rights and conditions in their restaurants. But they say that is far from common across the sector.

"I have heard horror stories about places that don't pay benefits," says O'Reilly. "They have everyone on 'mini jobs' but they are actually working way more than they are supposed to so benefits don't have to be paid. A lot are paying cash in hand."

Lockdowns may have resulted in permanent changes to the hospitality sector, particularly in terms 

of the treatment of workers

Bohl, from the workers' union, lays much of the blame for the current crisis on restaurants themselves, as well as on DEHOGA.

"For far too long, employers and their association have done far too little to make the industry more attractive," he told DW. "Wages were and are too low, working hours too long and the quality of training too poor. These past failures are now hurting the industry."

DEHOGA did not respond to a DW request for comment. In an interview last month with a trade journal, Ingrid Hartges, general manager of DEHOGA, focused on the need for lockdowns to end but also acknowledged the need for better working conditions.

"It is more important than ever to show respect and appreciation for employees," said Hartges. "This also includes appropriate remuneration. Good communication and a trusting, pleasant working atmosphere are extremely important."

Slow return to normality

While the "staff wanted" signs are likely to be needed for some time to come, there are some indications that the apparently permanent end of lockdown is bringing workers back.

Lynch says that universities finally returning to in-person classes again is huge for the sector, as hospitality has long relied on students' willingness to take on part-time work. She also sees the gradual return of backpacking holidaymakers, willing to work during short stints of travel abroad, as vital.

"I do see light at the end of the tunnel," she said. "I have had this staff drought for months and months, but since September 1 I have received more job applications in a week than I have in the last six months!

Opinion: Jair Bolsonaro tests Brazil's democracy

A president who calls his supporters out to the streets on the national holiday and indirectly threatens to stage a military coup should face impeachment proceedings, writes says DW's Philipp Lichterbeck.

   

Bolsonaro likes to praise family values and the nation but is mainly interested in protecting himself

Jair Bolsonaro stopped governing a while back. In three years, his government has inaugurated a few local infrastructure projects and liberalized gun laws, which has led to a sharp increase in arms sales in a country that is already notoriously violent. Apart from that, Brazil's president has promoted the ongoing destruction of the Amazon rainforest and mismanaged the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed almost 600,000 people in the country so far.

Under his watch, society has become even more polarized and the country has witnessed the worst attacks on democracy since the 1988 constitution came into effect.

What's left to do for someone who has nothing but disasters to show for his work? Someone whose poll ratings have plummeted because people are seeing poverty spread and prices increase? For Bolsonaro, the tactic is to find excuses, to blame others, to search for distractions and to lie.

There is no other way of interpreting the mass rallies that took place on Brazil's recent Independence Day. He indicated that Brazilians could decide what they felt about him and his government by turning out en masse, and he even made indirect threats to stage a putsch.

He said if enough people turned up, it would be a clear indication that he had the support of the people. He also claimed that this would be a vote of no confidence in the Supreme Court, with which he is in a locked battle. He would have a mandate from the people to close down the court, and also Congress, he stated.

Brazil in the grip of collective delirium

Bolsonaro thus put Brazil to the test for egomaniacal reasons. The fact that thousands of Brazilians should take to the street to call for a putsch on this day of all days is darkly ironic. It is a sign of the collective delirium that has Brazil in its grip.

For the president, the whole circus was largely about image. He called the rallies to show how much support he allegedly enjoys and so he could use the pictures of him amid thousands of fans to argue that the negative polls are wrong and that if he loses next year's elections, it will be down to fraud.

Bolsonarism clearly has a distorted understanding of democracy, instead of a balance of three powers, the movement sees the president's autocracy as superior to the legislature and the judiciary.

On Independence Day, Bolsonaro himself threatened the chief justices and told them that they had to play according to the rules of the constitution or else there would be consequences. Though, of course, he is the one who keeps breaking the rules. It is not up to him to issue ultimatums to other constitutional bodies. On the contrary: The president should be kept in check by the judiciary and parliament. Therefore, at this point, impeachment proceedings ought to be initiated against Bolsonaro.

Followers of Bolsonarism are fanatical

It is difficult to assess how strong Bolsonarism still is in Brazil, but what is certain is that its followers are fanatical. As if murmuring a prayer, they constantly say that they stand for god, the nation and the family (as well as against communism, wherever it might be hiding). They repeated this trinity on Independence Day as well: God, nation, family. But these are not political projects; they are open concepts. Brazil's tragedy is that they have been hijacked by Bolsonarism, which has appropriated them to divide society.

Thus, the president can divert attention from his dismal record and pursue his real goal: To maintain power and protect himself from prosecution. Let us not forget that what triggered his anger was the Supreme Court's actions against politicians and YouTubers sympathetic to him who had incited violence. The judiciary is also investigating his sons for long-term corruption. The evidence against them is staggering and Bolsonaro himself is likely to be targeted by prosecutors at some stage.

Brazil's president has literally declared himself to be the country's godsent savior. It is no wonder that a man capable of such delusions could have instrumentalized the country's Independence Day for his own personal advantage.

Brazil can only hope that Bolsonaro doesn't continue to wreak more havoc during the rest of his term or that he is soon deposed.

German police secretly bought NSO Pegasus spyware

Sources have confirmed media reports that federal criminal police purchased and used the controversial Israeli surveillance spyware despite lawyers' objections.



NSO makes Pegasus spyware favored by governments and intelligence agencies worldwide

The German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) bought notorious Pegasus spyware from the Israeli firm NSO in 2019, it was revealed Tuesday.

The federal government informed the Interior Committee of the Bundestag of the purchase in a closed-doors session, parliament sources said. That confirmed earlier reports published in German newspaper Die Zeit.

The software was procured under "the utmost secrecy," according to Die Zeit, despite the hesitations of lawyers as the surveillance tool can do much more than German privacy laws permit.

However, the version purchased by the BKA had certain functions blocked to prevent abuse, security circles told the paper ­— although it is unclear how that works on a practical level.

The revelations were a result of joint research by Die Zeit as well as daily Süddeutsche Zeitung and public broadcasters NDR and WDR.
What has the German government said?

According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, BKA Vice President Martina Link confirmed to lawmakers that her organization had purchased the software. In late 2020, the BKA acquired a version of the Pegasus Trojan virus software. It has been used in select operations concerning terrorism and organized crime since March of this year.

Germany's Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that security services are only permitted to use spyware on the cellphones and computers of surveillance targets in special cases, and can only initiate certain types of operations.

While the rule of law has placed limits, the technology available has grown seemingly limitless.



The German government has been asked specifically about the use of NSO spyware three times in recent years and has largely refused to account for its use or subject itself to scrutiny for it.

In a written statement to an official inquiry, Left Party lawmaker Martina Renner was told the parliament's right to information conflicted with the "confidentiality interests justified by the welfare of the state in exceptional cases."


Why are NSO and Pegasus controversial?

NSO sells the Pegasus surveillance tool to police and intelligence agencies globally. The tool itself is powerful enough that it can spy on iPhones and Android smartphones in real time, enable the microphone and video functions to record conversations and settings, read location data and bypass encryption on chat messages.

The BKA began its negotiations with NSO in 2017. For years, the BKA had made use of its own in-house surveillance software, but it became cumbersome and outdated, which is why authorities turned to NSO.


Among the targets of NSO Pegasus software: Emmanuel Macron

Pegasus makes use of vulnerabilities in the security of smartphones to open a privacy-violating Pandora's box of surveillance tools. More troubling yet is who has been targeted by governments around the world that have purchased the tool.

In July, a consortium of news organizations including Die Zeit reported on the extensive abuses of the technology drawn from a list of potential targets in 2016 that included more than 50,000 phone numbers.

Among the targets were human rights activists, journalists and lawyers as well as a dozen heads of state and several government ministers and senior diplomats.

Technical analysis of the cellphones of several of these individuals revealed the phones had been successfully hacked using Pegasus software.
How has Germany reacted?

Green Party member of parliament Konstantin von Notz called it a "nightmare for the rule of law." He demanding "full clarification" from the federal government as to who "specifically bears responsibility for the purchase and use of the spy software."

Frank Überall, the chairman of the German Journalists' Association, said the union wanted to know "whether journalists were spied on without their knowledge, whether their sources are still safe."

Überall called the BKA's action "incomprehensible" and added Interior Minister Horst Seehofer should "lay his cards on the table."

ar/rt (AFP, epd)

Lesbos after Moria fire: 'People are still living in tents by the sea'

The infamous Moria refugee camp on the Greek island Lesbos burned down one year ago. Living conditions for migrants living there have hardly improved.


One year ago: Refugees flee the flames at the Moria camp

When a fire destroyed the Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos on September 8, 2020, it was not the first time flames tore through Europe's largest refugee camp. But this blaze left more than 12,000 homeless shortly before the arrival of winter, and many are still living in temporary accommodations.

A few camp residents started the fire, presumably out of frustration and despair. They could no longer stand living in what they referred to as "hell." The Greek authorities showed no leniency: four young migrants were arrested and each was sentenced to 10 years in prison each for arson.


The 'temporary' Mavrovouni camp in April 2021

At the same time, Kyriakos Mitsotakis' conservative government promised a new beginning in Greek refugee policy, pledging that overcrowded camps like Moria, what had been called the "shame of Europe," would be shut down.

New camps were already planned, he said. But in the interim, an emergency camp would be set up on Mavrovouni beach, not far from the island's capital, Mytilene. The refugees and migrants from Moria were to settle there for a few months.

But the Greek saying goes, nothing lasts longer than a temporary solution, and, to this day, refugees are still holed up in the Mavrovouni tent camp.


The Kara Tepe camp was closed in April 2021

Kara Tepe, a nearby shelter that could have offered at least some of the migrants better living conditions, was shut down in April 2021 on government orders. A new camp for several thousand people is scheduled to be built soon in the more remote Plati region as a replacement. The Greek government has received millions of euros in EU funding for the construction of modern camps.

Beaurocratic hurdles

Originally, the Plati camp was supposed to be ready to welcome refugees in the fall of 2021. The delay is due to resentment among the population and bureaucratic obstacles, said Angeliki Dimitriadi, a political scientist and migration researcher at the Athens-based ELIAMEP think tank.

"Permits for electricity and water lines, the transport of building materials, even the legally required tenders take a lot of time — not only on Lesbos," Dimitriadi told DW.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in Greece, about 3,500 asylum-seekers currently live on Lesbos, most of them Afghans. Before the Moria fire, the island housed more than 17,000 refugees. Thousands of migrants have been transferred to the Greek mainland since then, either because their asylum applications were approved or because they were recognized as "vulnerable persons" in need of special protection.


Some unaccompanied minors were flown out to Germany

Local politicians on Lesbos exerted pressure to ensure that new arrivals would not stay on the island for long. Unaccompanied minors and other "vulnerable persons" who landed on Lesbos were resettled elsewhere in Europe under an EU-funded program.
Fewer people but the same problems

"The very fact that so many people are no longer crammed into such a small space has improved living conditions on Lesbos," Dimitriadis conceded, but she added the fundamental problems are unchanged. "People are still living in tents, right by the sea. When it rains, the makeshift camp is flooded. In the summer, the heat is unbearable."

"With the number of refugees on Lesbos down, now would be the time to start construction and repair work at the Mavrovouni camp before winter sets in," UNHCR spokeswoman Stella Nanou told DW.


Greek border police patrol a steel fence on the border with Turkey

At present, however, "effective border protection" is the top priority. In early July, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis told parliament that the number of new arrivals to Lesbos and the other eastern Aegean islands has dropped by 96% over the past 12 months.

"This government has regained control of the refugee crisis," the conservative politician said. His remark came as a dig against the left-wing SYRIZA party, which was in power until 2019 and which the conservatives accused of naive open borders policies.
'Thankless job on the external border'

In June 2017, long before the change of government in Athens, the left-leaning Efimerida ton Syntakton reported on illegal rejections of asylum-seekers by the Greek authorities at the country's borders, so-called "pushbacks." In the years since, there have been more reports alleging pushbacks of migrants. The UNHCR considers some of the evidence to be credible and recommends that the Greek government establish an independent control mechanism.

The Greek government has denied all accusations. The EU is threatening to block further funding for the Greek coast guard — the only means of pressure the EU Commission has, according to Dimitriadis.

"Without backing in Europe, the tough Greek policy would probably not be possible. Basically, the other Europeans are pleased that the Greeks are taking on this thankless job on the external border," she said.

This article has been translated from German

HELL ON EARTH — GREECE'S MORIA REFUGEE CAMP AND ITS TORTURED HISTORY
The night it all burned down
Fire broke out in a number of spots around the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos late on the night of Tuesday, September 8. That has led authorities to suspect arson. Some in the camp have suggested locals set the fires but there are other reports that point to migrants themselves. 123456789101112