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In the outskirts of Kouri hill, across the border from the Republic of Macedonia, lies Idomeni, a small village in Greece, now home to more than 8,400 refugees, a fraction of the 58,000 currently living across Greece.

The camp, made up of hundreds of small camping tents pitched in fields and along rail tracks, had begun to turn into a semi-permanent shelter, with refugees sitting up makeshift shops selling everything from utensils to bread, until the Greek authorities began an operation to clear this camp in May 2016.

On the other side of Europe, overlooking the cold English Channel, Calais has become the home to some 7,000 migrants, several of them unaccompanied children, as young as eight years old, and teenagers, waiting to cross and reach Great Britain.

Two different places, two different countries, but both facing the same challenge: thousands of immigrants from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, as well as some countries in Africa. All of them escaping war and poverty in search for a better future.

But camps are anything but welcoming or safe. Health workers from different aid agencies have been warning of an imminent health crisis due to poor sanitary conditions, lack of water and shelter, poor nutrition and no proper health care.

And that is not all. The lack of activities and proper integration, plus the dwindling hopes of a quick response to their needs, has left many desperate and vulnerable to issues like prostitution, exploitation, trafficking (both human and drugs), as well as radicalization.

As time passes, more and more cases of delinquent behavior have been registered, and as more conflicts arise from everyday tensions, and from ethnic and cultural differences; the harder it is to maintain the support of local communities.

“The camps are like prisons. Everyone who is there tells us. They want to live because they feel trapped…We left a war but we fled to another. A war of misery. We live like animals. This is also a daily war. I think it is better to go to Syria and die there rather than die slowly here day by day. Slowly, in the mud and the dirt. One day feels like a hundred” – Ela Osman from Aleppo on Idomeni refugee camp.

Ela’s voice is just one from thousands of immigrants currently based in camps. Her statement, as well as those from other refugees, have been compiled by Gelly Doumbi, a trade unionist, volunteer and activist (see full account of her interview below). In her interviews she sheds a light on the harsh, and sometimes inhuman and brutal conditions for those living in these camps.

These same conditions can be seen in other camps across Europe. “…we were told we should not take photographs and to be very careful as there are no laws in this camp and we could be at risk.  We started walking into the camp. Shacks were on each side as we walked in.  Some people have very little and are so dependent on people like Clare (a volunteer) to distribute aid to help them survive.  I only walked so far and I turned round.  It is hard to imagine what it is like I just had such a hollow feeling of how hopeless this Jungle is. Because that is what it really is, a Jungle…” – Testimony from Linda Roy of CWU on her visit to the Calais Refugee Camp in May 2016.

But there seems to be no solution in the near future. In Greece, for example, there is no central body within the Greek State that can coordinate all the organizations on the ground and channel their assistance. Municipalities, NGO’s, Aid Agencies, etc., are all functioning autonomously and without a clear coordination. And at the European level, the divisions between those who want show generosity towards refugees and those who want to shut their borders is latent, and hinders a more coordinated approach to humanitarian aid and for a long lasting solution to the immigrant crisis.

In the spirit of solidarity that characterizes trade unions, they have stepped in to provide assistance when possible by distributing food, clean water, clothing and essential medication, like the case of OTOE in Greece; or CWU-UK. Furthermore, many trade unionists are actively engaged in working as volunteers in the camps, providing support when needed.

And it is not always easy, as Linda Roy states of her visit to Calais to support the work of Care4Calais: “I had 12 sleeping bags. How do I decide who gets a sleeping bag?  There are over 5000 people in the Jungle. How do you make the decision of who gets help?”

Still, more work needs to be done. Not only at a local level, by providing support for the refugees and their basic needs, but at a national and international level with a coordinated approach that can provide a long term solution to their situation.

Otherwise, these prophetic words will become a reality: “We left war only to live in another. Dying in the dirt amongst rats and snakes. Forgotten and desperate” -voice of a young man in Thessaloniki camp.