Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe 27.7.16.16
Topic
01 July 2016
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Dispatches: Italy Illegally Returning Migrant Children to Greece - Children Held Arbitrarily in Degrading Conditions (HRW, link):
"“Akram,” a 17-year-old Kurdish boy from Iraq, hid under a truck on the ferry from Greece to Italy for 18 hours without food or water. When he arrived in Italy, the police locked him in a small room on the ferry and sent him right back to Greece.
“I showed my passport and that I’m under 18 but the Italian police told me to ‘go back, go back.’”
This unlawful practice is not new. In 2013, Human Rights Watch documented the failure of Italian border police to screen adequately for people in need of protection, including unaccompanied children, who stow away on ferries from Greece to Italy’s Adriatic ports. Placed in the custody of the captains of commercial ferries for the return journey to Greece, adults and children were sometimes subjected to abusive confinement and treatment. Back in Greece, unaccompanied children faced police abuse, degrading detention conditions, and xenophobic violence."
More than 57,000 migrants, refugees stranded in Greece (ekathimerini.com, link):
"A total of 57,182 migrants and asylum-seekers are currently in Greece according to fresh data provided by the government.
According to the data, 22,692 individuals are currently in northern Greece, 2,279 in central Greece, and 251 in southern Greece. An estimated 9,140 people are scattered around the eastern Aegean islands. The government said a total 85 arrivals were recorded in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, up to 10,168 refugees are currently staying at official centres set up in Attica region, while the number of those camping out at makeshift facilities is 5,423.
On Tuesday, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KEELPNO) called for the closure of reception centers for migrants across the country after its officials carried out inspections on 16 centers in northern Greece and found the conditions there to pose a public health risk.
Orbán says migration is Europe’s ‘poison’ (euractiv, link):
"Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Tuesday (26 July) described the arrival of asylum seekers in Europe as “a poison”, saying his country did not want or need “a single migrant”.
“Hungary does not need a single migrant for the economy to work, or the population to sustain itself, or for the country to have a future,” he told a joint press conference in Budapest with Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern.
“This is why there is no need for a common European migration policy: whoever needs migrants can take them, but don’t force them on us, we don’t need them,” Orbán said. The populist strongman added that “every single migrant poses a public security and terror risk”."
Greece: Lesvos: Eric Kempson (Twitter) reports: (27.7.16): "One boat picked up on north Lesvos this morning 26 men 4 women 2 children. 1 needed medical assistance."
Are You Syriuous reports (26.7.16):
60 persons, mostly families, arrived by rubber boats two nights ago on Kos.
"Now there are about 800 persons seeking refuge at the small island."
Report from our friends at Action from Switzerland
"37 new arrivals on Chios, as is usual these days the mix of groups and nationalities was Libyan, Syrian, Moroccan, Algerian, and Western Saharan."
SERBIA: Detailed video reveals true conditions of Horgoš transit zoneat Serbian-Hungarian border
"Courtesy of noborder activists in Belgrade, we understand that the hunger strikers at Horgoš who arrived recently now number around 300. Twelve are in need of medical aid due to the toll taken on their bodies after the grueling march, and striking in the summer heat. Twenty-six more have set off from Belgrade to join their compatriots in Horgoš."
AUSTRIA: Court-certified interpreter reveals the complete lack of oversight and responsibility in providing adequate interpreters to refugees
"Read the following distressing news from a court-certified interpreter on the irresponsible behavior that is present not only in Austria, but across the route. This report was written by Border Crossing Spielfeld."
According to data released by UNHCR, 70% of those participating in pre-registration exercises in Greece in the last month were women and children
"22% were women and a staggering 48% children. 690 of the total number were unaccompanied minors. Reports across Europe thoroughly demonstrate how unaccompanied minors are specific targets of exploitation and abuse. It is crucial to treat these cases with care and to also take great precautions to preserve family groups and not inadvertently separate families."
News (27.7.16)
Turkish coup suspects in Greece win asylum case delay (hurriyetdailynews.com, link): "Eight Turkish military officers who fled the July 15 failed coup attempt in Turkey by traveling to Greece have been given more time to press their asylum claim, their lawyer said on July 27. Lawyer Vassilis Terzidis told Agence France-Presse that the men “fear for their lives” if they were to be returned to Turkey, where authorities have been waging a massive crackdown against suspects in the July 15 military coup bid."
Pay up on migrant deal, Turkey tells EU (euobserver, link): "Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told the EU to pay its dues if it wants to keep a migrant deal with Ankara intact. Speaking to German ARD television on Monday (25 July), Erdogan said the EU had promised €3 billion in aid to help improve living conditions of the some 3 million Syrian refugee it hosts. “Ask them [the EU]. Did you pay? But Turkey still hosts 3 million people. What would Europe do if we let these people go to Europe?”, he said."
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