The Greek island of Lesvos is frequently the subject of news reports on the refugee ‘crisis’, but they only occasionally focus on the dire living conditions of asylum seekers already present on the island. Through direct experience as an activist in Lesvos refugee camps and detention centres, Iliadou gives voice to those with lived experiences of state violence.

The author considers the escalation of EU border regime and deterrence policies seen in the past decade alongside their present impacts. Asking why the social harm and suffering border crossers experience is normalized and rendered invisible, the book highlights the collective, global responsibility for safeguarding refugees’ human rights.

Evgenia Iliadou is a project worker for a charity supporting migrant women in immigration detention centres in the UK. She holds a PhD in Social Policy and Criminology and has conducted postdoctoral research on refugees’ lived experiences of violence in the Greek immigration detention centres and refugee camps. Her main research interests are: the refugee crisis, asylum, bureaucratic and border violence, and vulnerability. Before joining academia, Evgenia worked for more than a decade as an NGO practitioner in detention centres and refugee camps in Greece and Lesvos island by providing social support to border crossers survivors of torture, human trafficking and sexual abuse.