Unprotected, Unsupported, Uncertain: Recommendations to Improve the Mental Health of Asylum Seekers on Lesvos

Asylum seekers living at Moria, the reception and identification center on the Greek island of Lesbos, are under enormous mental strain. With no choice but to live in unacceptable conditions, with little concrete information about their futures and long waits to have their asylum claims heard, suicide rates among clients of the International Rescue Committee mental health center are astonishingly high: 30 percent of our clients have attempted suicide. 60 percent have considered attempting suicide.

Over the past six months, the IRC has been gathering the testimony of clients who attend our mental health center in Mytilene, the capital of Lesbos. This brief outlines the IRC's findings and puts forward recommendations for the Greek local and central government, European Union leaders and donors, to ensure that all asylum seekers at Moria in need of mental health services are able to access it and that living conditions do not trigger or exacerbate existing trauma.