The magazine of the photo-essay
Aug 2016 back issue
by Giles Duley
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!”
Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a
better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. DONATE
A boat carrying over 40 Afghans approaches Lesvos after crossing the Aegean from Turkey - Lesvos, Greece. October
31st 2015.
An inflatable boat with nearly 40 Syrian refugees on board drifts helplessly towards the cliffs after its engine stalled.
From where we stood, we could hear the screams as the boat took on water from the waves that crashed against it. -
Lesvos, Greece. 29th October 2015.
An overcrowded boat of refugees heads to the shore. Two men had fallen from the boat; they were rescued by
volunteer Spanish Lifeguards. - Lesvos, Greece. 28th October 2015.
On landing a woman collapses, the boat she had been on had been drifting at sea for hours. Lesvos, Greece. 29th
October 2015.
The Greek Red Cross treats an Afghan refugee who is suffering from hypothermia. The boat had partially sunk, leaving
the survivors in the water for nearly six hours. - Lesvos, Greece. 29th October 2015.
An inflatable boat lands on the coast of Lesvos between Eftalou and Skala Sykaminia. Over 40,000 refugees and
migrants arrived in Lesvos during that week alone. Lesvos, Greece. 26th October 2015.
In the week October 22-28 there were on average 5,800 arrivals a day on Lesvos. Of these 52 per cent were Syrian
and 19 per cent from Afghanistan. Lesvos, Greece. 26th October 2015.
A father carries his two children from the boat after landing. Lesvos, Greece. 26th October 2015.
A boy from Afghanistan tries to keep warm after a cold and wet crossing from Turkey. Cases of hypothermia are on the
increase as the weather deteriorates across the eastern Mediterranean. Lesvos, Greece.28th October 2015.
An Afghan family of several generations disembark from an overcrowded boat. Almost 40 per cent of refugees currently
arriving on Lesvos are from Afghanistan. Lesvos, Greece. 28th October 2015.
A father, his two children now safely wrapped in thermal blankets, looks to the heavens in thanks after landing safely
on the beach. Lesvos, Greece. 26th October 2015.
An Afghan family arrives on the beach, fear etched on their faces following their journey across the Aegean. Lesvos,
Greece. 26th October 2015.
Refugees sit on a wall in shock after landing in Lesvos – Lesvos, Greece. 26th October 2015.
A young Afghan boy is looked after by his aunt, whilst his mother receives emergency medical treatment. As the boat
landed, she had collapsed. Lesvos, Greece. 28th October 2015
When the refugees land in Lesvos they have little with them. What possessions they had are normally thrown into the
sea by the smugglers to allow for more people on the boat. Cold, wet and normally in shock, they have to make the
journey to the first registration points on foot, with just emergency foil blankets to protect them from the cold. Lesvos,
Greece. 28th October 2015.
Many are fully prepared for the journey; others have very little idea of what lies ahead. For this group of Kurds, a tourist
map was the first indication that they had landed on an island. - Lesvos, Greece. 2nd November 2015.
After his boat lost its engine, Amer was rescued along with 40 others after drifting helplessly in the Aegean. They were
mainly families from Iraq and Syria who now sat in shock by the harbour. Amer, who is a tailor from the heavily fought
over town of Kirkuk took the time to eat his first meal in days. “I don’t understand”, he said looking around, “they are
forcing people to go through this and put their lives at risk. It's so undignified. We have the money; why not let us travel
legally?" Lesvos, Greece. 5th November 2015.
Visiting the municipal dump near Molyvos gives a true scale of the crisis. A mountain of life jackets, each jacket
represents a life and a story. Shockingly many of the life jackets, bought in Turkey, are fake. Lesvos, Greece. 1st
November 2015.
