Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe 30-31.7.16
Topic
01 July 2016
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Turkey-Greece: More Than 33,000 Apprehensions In Turkey (News That Moves, link):
"Since January until July 21, 33,396 people were apprehended or intercepted while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece.
According to data from the Turkish Coast Guard, Turkish Armed Forces and UNHCR, 79 per cent of interceptions and rescues occurred at sea, 21 per cent on land borders. Of the total, 68 per cent of people intercepted were Syrians and 20 per cent were from Afghanistan"
See: UNHCR report on interceptions and death/missing (pdf)
Lesvos, Greece (UNHCR) Arrival of refugees in last week:
22/07/2016: 108
23/07/2016: 114
24/07/2016: 51
25/07/2016: 60
26/07/2016: 43
27/07/2016: 35
28/07/2016: 104
And see: Islands appeal for measures to deal with influx of migrants (ekathimerini.com, link):
"As the influx of migrants from neighboring Turkey continues – with a slight but noticable increase – regional authorities and tourism professionals are calling for measures to support communities on the Aegean islands.
Over the past two weeks, following a failed coup in Turkey on July 15, the influx of migrants has increased, according to government figures. Overall, more than 1,000 migrants landed on the five so-called hot spots: Lesvos, Chios, Kos, Samos and Leros since the failed coup....
In a letter to Migration Policy Minister Yiannis Mouzalas and Alternate Defense Minister Dimitris Vitsas, the governor of the northern Aegean region, Christiana Kalogirou, asked for immediate steps to decongest the islands.
“We are seeing a constant and apparently increasing flow of migrants and refugees toward the islands of the northern Aegean,” she wrote, noting that the maximum capacity of state reception centers has been exceeded on all the islands.""
Also: Refugee flows to Greece increase after Turkish Coup attempt, as Erdogan plays the Migration Card again (Keep Talking Greece, link)
Greece: Over 13,000 migrants have applied for asylum (ekathimerini.com, link):
"More than 13,000 migrants have lodged applications for asylum in Greece since the beginning of this year, according to government figures, but it could take months for the requests to be processed even as the Aegean islands are seeing hundreds of new arrivals every week.
According to the most updated available government figures, 13,583 migrants made asylum applications between January 1 and May 31.
Of those, 5,731 lodged their applications in Attica, 3,007 in Thessaloniki, 1,918 on Lesvos, 526 on Samos, 210 on Chios and 130 on Leros.
A total of 7,032 of the asylum applicants are from Syria, 1,248 from Iraq, 1,030 from Pakistan, 568 from Afghanistan, 544 from Albania, 518 from Iran, 372 from Bangladesh, 257 from Georgia, 212 from Morocco and 163 from the Palestinian Territories.
So far, just 588 decisions have been issued, 410 of which have been rejections."
"As Greece tries to deal with around 50,000 stranded refugees on its soil after Austria and the western Balkan countries closed their borders, attention has turned to the living conditions inside the refugee camps. Throughout the crisis, the Greek and international press has faced major difficulties in covering the crisis.
“It’s clear that the government does not want the press to be present when a policeman assaults migrants,” Marios Lolos, press photographer and head of the Union of Press Photographers of Greece said in an interview with Index on Censorship. “When the police are forced to suppress a revolt of the migrants, they don’t want us to be there and take pictures.”"
Are You Syrious (29.7.16, link)
Italy: Flow of refugees into Italy remains constant, according to the UNHCR weekly report
"Between 18 and 24 July, 8,157 refugees and migrants arrived in Italy by sea which is a significant increase to the previous week’s arrivals of 2,148. However, overall sea arrivals to Italy remain consistent with those of 2015. As of 24 July, 88,009 persons arrived by sea to Italy in 2016, compared to 93,540 persons whom disembarked at the end of July 2015. On three separate disembarkations this week the bodies of 39 individuals were discovered, bringing the total number of people dead or missing at sea to 2,990. Their cause of death is believed to be from inhaling engine exhaust fumes or suffocation. The top nationalities of origin among arrivals include Nigeria, Eritrea, Gambia, Cote D’Ivoire, and Sudan."
Are You Syrious (30.7.16, link)
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention called for the closure of reception centers for refugees across Greece. Place refugees into local communities instead!
"This plea followed the organisation’s officials carrying out inspections on 16 centers in northern Greece and findingthe conditions there to pose a public health risk.
According to KEELPNO’s findings, which were forwarded to the ministries of Migration Policy, Defense and Health, the cramming of hundreds of refugees into disused military barracks and industrial sites present a series of health risks for both the migrants and the general public."
A refugee baby, Joy Aurora, born on a rescue ship
"This morning, a Congolese woman gave birth to a little girl Joy Aurora on Italian navy ship Bettica. Both mother and child are fine.
The health team on board supported the operation, from Foundation Francesca Rava, Red Cross and the Italian navy. This is the third birth on board of Bettica."
EU: Council of the European Union: Eurodac Regulation (revised text)
Council developing its negotiating position:
"The text of the proposal in Annex contains modifications suggested by the Presidency on the basis of these discussions. Other comments made by delegations appear in the footnotes.
All delegations have general scrutiny reservations on the proposal. New text to the Commission proposal is indicated by underlining the insertion and including it within Council tags, deleted text is indicated within underlined square brackets..".
See also: Compulsory fingerprinting of migrants (Statewatch database, link)
News (30-31.7.16)
Spain: Barcelona unveils digital 'shame counter’ to track refugee deaths - Mayor Ada Colau begins counter with 3,034 – the number of migrants and refugees killed trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in 2016 (Guardian, link): "Barcelona’s leftwing government has unveiled a large digital counter next to one of the city’s popular beaches that will track the number of refugees who die in the Mediterranean.“We are inaugurating this shame counter which will update all known victims who drowned in the Mediterranean in real time,” said mayor Ada Colau... The monument consists of a large metal rectangular pillar that comes decked out with a digital counter above the inscription “This isn’t just a number, these are people.”"
Refugees scapegoated after wave of attacks in Germany (Daily Sabah, link): "Since the influx of refugees in Germany, the country's atmosphere has been tense. The call by Chancellor Angela Merkel of "We can do this!" raised a bit of hope, but didn't quite stop the rise of extreme right wing parties, such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD)."
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