Learning from Lesbos

---

Learning from Lesbos

Lessons from the IRC’s Early Emergency Response in the  

Urban Areas of Lesbos between September 2015 and March 2016

International Rescue Committee | NOVEMBER 2016

---

---

Learning from Lesbos

Lessons from the IRC’s Early Emergency Response in the  

Urban Areas of Lesbos between September 2015 and March 2016

International Rescue Committee | NOVEMBER 2016

front cover: In Mytilene, migrants and refugees set up tents near the  

pier where ferries to mainland Greece embark. 

Tyler Jump/IRC

opposite page: A young girl watches the ferry in Mytilene port.

Tyler Jump/IRC

©2016 International Rescue Committee

3 Bloomsbury Place, London WC1A 2QL, UK | Rescue-uk.org | Rescue.org

Table of Contents

3

 

Executive Summary 

9

 Introduction 

13

 

Key Findings 

21

 

Recommendations  

23

 

Annex A:  Detailed Methodology

25

 

Annex B:  Interviews

26

 

Annex C:  Monthly Refugee Arrivals on Lesbos

27

 

Defining Urban 

27

 References

28

 Acknowledgements 

---

Learning from Lesbos 

2

TU

R

K

EY

G

R

EEC

E

TURKISH

MAINLAND

TURKISH

MAINLAND

Aphrodite

MOLYVOS

(MITHYMNA)

OXY

EFTHALOU

APANEMO

MANTAMADOS

SKALA SIKAMANEAS

KALLONI

MYTILENE

Pikpa

Kara Tepe

Moria

LESBOS

 

Less than 10 km from the Turkish mainland, 

a large island and an administrative centre, 

Lesbos is uniquely attractive as an unauthorised 

entry point into the European Union.

 

Migrants and refugees typically gather in Izmir, 

where they connect with people smugglers. 

They are then bussed to a remote coastal location, 

where they are put on flimsy inflatable craft to make 

the sea journey to Lesbos.

 

After landing on the north coast of Lesbos, 

refugees and migrants congregate for buses to 

Mytilene, where, eventually, they begin the registration 

process and wait in shelter sites for authorisation to 

make their way by ferry to Athens and beyond.

10 km

Assembly points

where refugees gather after 

disembarking their boats on their 

journey to Mytilene to register

Shelter sites

Bus route

N

LESBOS

GREECE

ATHENS

IZMIR

TURKEY

100 km

 

Although a large island, 

Lesbos is mountainous and 

largely covered in semi-desert scrubland.

 

Extensive olive groves occupy much of the rest

of the island and there are also large pine forests.

 

The resident population is 

concentrated on the coast in small urban areas; 

over a third of the island’s population lives in Mytilene.

Built-up areas

---

Learning from Lesbos 

3

Executive Summary 

As the European refugee crisis highlights, displaced people are increasingly travelling to  

or through towns and cities, rather than being accommodated in centralised camp settings. 

Today, more than half of the world’s displaced people live in urban areas

1

 and will, on average, 

continue to be displaced for over a decade.

2

 The humanitarian sector must adapt to meet the 

challenges of an urbanising world and the increasing role of cities as places of refuge, as well 

as sites of heightened risk of crisis, marginalisation, and inequality. It is therefore critical that 

humanitarian actors take a coordinated and collaborative approach to supporting refugees 

and migrants, tailoring their response to suit the urban context and its various stakeholders. 

Urban areas are characterised by the size, diversity and 

mobility of their populations, the density and diversity of the 

built environment, the number and diversity of government, 

civil society, private sector and academic organisations, and 

the reliance of urban populations on social, political, technical 

and economic systems rather than the natural environment 

for their livelihoods.

3

 These characteristics create both 

opportunities and challenges for actors responding to  

urban crises. In particular, they create an imperative for  

the humanitarian sector to adapt to the complexity of  

urban environments, the diversity of their populations,  

and the large variety of stakeholders present within them.

The arrival of large numbers of people in an urban area 

brings challenges for both displaced and host populations.  

It also presents opportunities. Currently, however, both  

the challenges and opportunities are not adequately 

recognised or addressed in humanitarian response.  

The emergency response to an unexpected influx of  

asylum seekers and other migrants in a town or city  

sees “traditional” humanitarian actors sharing the field  

of operations with a broader range of stakeholders than  

they are used to cooperating and coordinating with. 

Additionally, this is an environment in which local and/

or national actors will often have an existing operational 

presence and where local authorities will expect to continue 

to exercise (and have respected) their mandate for oversight 

of the activities taking place in their constituencies. 

This report underlines the importance of a coordinated 

and collaborative approach to emergency response in 

urban areas. The recommendations, addressed 

primarily to humanitarian actors, reflect lessons 

learned from the International Rescue Committee’s 

(IRC) initial emergency response programming 

on the island of Lesbos, Greece, between 

September 2015 and March 2016, while the crisis 

on Lesbos was at its peak. This report is not 

a reflection of the IRC’s current programming 

on the island. The findings recognise the complexity 

of urban areas and the need for greater coordination 

of response activities and better collaboration among 

responders, stakeholders, and local communities. 

This report also contributes to the continuing discussion 

around how to improve urban humanitarian response.  

The findings and recommendations are intended to build 

on the growing knowledge base around good practice. 

It is not an evaluation, but rather a product to inform and 

influence operational practices and policies in ongoing and 

future responses to humanitarian crises in urban settings.

lesbos map, opposite: Basic data © OpenStreetMap contributors, 

available under the Open Database License; Landsat and  

SRTM3 data, NASA; UNHCR, “Lesvos data snapshot,” 30 March 2016;  

Alfred Thomas Grove, Oliver Rackham, The Nature of Mediterranean Europe: 

An Ecological History, Yale University Press, 2003, pp325-327

aegean location map, opposite: CC BY-SA 3.0, original by 

Wikimedia user Future Perfect at Sunrise, no endorsement implied

right: Refugees and migrants often arrive on the northern shores  

of Lesbos in overcrowded rafts and wearing inadequate life jackets. 

Tyler Jump/IRC

---