---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "IRIN" <[email protected]> Date: 1 Jul 2015 03:02 Subject: Your daily selection of IRIN Africa English reports, 6/30/2015 To: "Elisabeth Janaina" <[email protected]> Cc:
[image: IRINnews logo] <http://www.irinnews.org/>
humanitarian news and analysis
Table of contents
1. Greek financial showdown overshadows refugee crisis <#14e46ec3a6bba7fe_1>
------------------------------
*Greek financial showdown overshadows refugee crisis
<http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=101692>*
[image: lead photo]MYTILENE, 30 June 2015 (IRIN) - In the shadow of
Greece’s bitter row with creditors, the refugee crisis unfolding in its
islands has been pushed from the headlines, but boats carrying migrants and
asylum seekers continue to arrive and systems for receiving them have
virtually collapsed.
Outside the Mersinidi identification centre on the island of Chios,
migrants are hanging their clothes out to dry on trees and bushes following
an early morning storm. They are mostly families with small children that
arrived the evening before.
“There is no place to stay here; there is not even water in the toilet,”
says Ennes, a 35-year-old Syrian from Aleppo, pointing to a makeshift camp
set up some weeks ago by local authorities to host the overflow from the
identification centre.
Ennes worked in Turkey for a year before deciding to try for Europe. His
plan is to cross to Greece’s mainland and then travel through the western
Balkans to reach northern Europe. The vast majority of people arriving on
the Greek islands share the same aim. But to cross to the mainland and
traverse the country without being arrested they first need to be
fingerprinted and issued with a document from the Greek authorities - a
six-month residence permit for Syrians or, in the case of those from other
countries, an expulsion notice that gives them one month to leave the
country.
The UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates that 68,000 migrants and asylum
seekers have arrived by boat to the Greek islands since the beginning of
the year – an increase of 560 percent compared to 2014 – and slightly above
sea arrivals to Italy during the same period About 60 percent of the new
arrivals are Syrians. A government official told IRIN that more than
200,000 migrants are expected to arrive in Greece by the end of the year.
Reception facilities on the islands are woefully inadequate for such
numbers and the current financial crisis means the resources and personnel
needed to improve them are simply unavailable. A recent fact-finding
mission to the islands by Amnesty International
<https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/06/greece-humanitarian-crisis-mounts-as-refugee-support-system-pushed-to-breaking-point/>
described conditions as “appalling” and noted that poor planning,
ineffective use of EU funds and a hiring freeze had left Greek authorities
incapable of meeting the needs and protecting the rights of asylum seekers.
“The majority of new arrivals have limited or no access to medical or
humanitarian support and are often forced to stay in squalid conditions in
overcrowded detention centres or open camps,” said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty
International’s Director for Europe and Central Asia.
Just two mobile reception units to determine the nationality of new
arrivals and provide them with basic medical and humanitarian assistance,
are running on the islands of Samos and Lesvos while former detention
centres on Samos, Levos and Chios, now called identification centres, are
full to overflowing.
UNHCR Greece spokesperson Ketty Kehayioylou confirmed that conditions at
the centres were overcrowded and that local police and coast guards, while
doing their best, were over-stretched and struggling to process so many new
arrivals.
The resulting backlog means that migrants often have to wait for more than
a week in makeshift camps like the one on Chios before being issued with
the documents they need to move on.
<http:///Photo/Details/201506301444450982/Migrants-gather-outside-the-identification-centre-at-Moria-on-Lesvos-to-hear-the-names-of-the-lucky>
Photo: Louisa Gouliamaki/IRIN
Migrants gather outside the identification centre at Moria on Lesvos to
hear the names of the lucky few who will be accommodated inside
As conditions at the camps worsen, tensions are building between different
groups of migrants and between the migrants and local communities.
Scuffles have erupted between Syrians and Afghans staying at an overflow
camp set up by authorities near Mytilene, the main town on Lesvos Island.
In Mytilene, a group of Syrians recently engaged in a standoff with the
coast guard, after being ordered to relocate to the island’s former
detention centre in Moria for processing. The Syrians gathered in the port
demanding direct access to the Greek mainland so they could continue their
journeys.
The day afterwards another scuffle left a Syrian with a head injury and a
police officer with a wound to his face. Agitated by the violence, some of
the islands’ residents are threatening to take action against the
foreigners themselves. Among them, some spout racist rhetoric and in the
last two weeks web posts accusing the migrants of desecrating churches and
religious items have been circulating. The local priest has denied the
claims of vandalism.
UNHCR is increasing its presence on the islands and its humanitarian
response by providing relief items such as sleeping bags and mattresses, as
well as legal counselling. The agency is also advocating for legislative
amendments that would decriminalize the transporting of refugees and spare
them from having to walk about 70 km from the northern shores of Lesvos to
Moria.
Greece depends heavily on EU funding to manage migration, control its
borders and support its asylum system. Through the Asylum, Migration and
Integration Fund, established last year, it is set to receive nearly US$290
million in EU funding between 2014 and 2020. Another $187 million in EU
funding has been allocated for securing Greece’s borders during the same
period.
The possibility of Greece’s exit from the eurozone and, if it came to it,
from the EU, would jeopardize those funds as well as a hard-won agreement
reached in Brussels last week for other member states to take in 40,000 of
the asylum seekers that have arrived in Greece and Italy over the next two
years.
*See also:* Photo feature: The Greek drama unfolding for migrants
<http://newirin.irinnews.org/migrant-crisis-greece-photo-feature>
af/ks/am
Access report online <http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=101692>
------------------------------
About IRIN <http://www.irinnews.org/about.aspx> | Jobs
<http://www.irinnews.org/jobs.aspx> | Revise/unsubscribe
<http://www.irinnews.org/registration/login.aspx>
Copyright © IRIN 2015. All rights reserved.
[image: Facebook]
<https://api.addthis.com/oexchange/0.8/forward/facebook/offer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irinnews.org&pubid=ra-5165551068a72215&ct=1&title=IRIN%20-%20%20the%20inside%20story%20on%20emergencies&pco=tbxnj-1.0>
[image:
Twitter]
<https://api.addthis.com/oexchange/0.8/forward/twitter/offer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irinnews.org&pubid=ra-5165551068a72215&ct=1&title=IRIN%20-%20%20the%20inside%20story%20on%20emergencies&pco=tbxnj-1.0>
[image:
Google+]
<https://api.addthis.com/oexchange/0.8/forward/google_plusone_share/offer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irinnews.org&pubid=ra-5165551068a72215&ct=1&title=IRIN%20-%20%20the%20inside%20story%20on%20emergencies&pco=tbxnj-1.0>
[image:
LinkedIn]
<https://api.addthis.com/oexchange/0.8/forward/linkedin/offer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irinnews.org&pubid=ra-5165551068a72215&ct=1&title=IRIN%20-%20%20the%20inside%20story%20on%20emergencies&pco=tbxnj-1.0>
[image:
Pinterest]
<https://api.addthis.com/oexchange/0.8/forward/pinterest/offer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irinnews.org&pubid=ra-5165551068a72215&ct=1&title=IRIN%20-%20%20the%20inside%20story%20on%20emergencies&pco=tbxnj-1.0>
[image:
Addthis]
<https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?source=tbx32nj-1.0&v=300&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irinnews.org&pubid=ra-5165551068a72215&ct=1&title=IRIN%20-%20%20the%20inside%20story%20on%20emergencies&pco=tbxnj-1.0>
--
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/southsudankob
View this message at
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/southsudankob/topic-id/message-id
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"South Sudan Info - The Kob" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob.
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14op1t8VHf_9Zdq0NQwT5LZ6wFEuxqV7gOJFCNeAnu8yaWQ%40mail.gmail.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Title:
Untitled Page
Parameter is not valid.at System.Drawing.Bitmap..ctor(String filename, Boolean useIcm) at Photo_Download.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) in c:\inetpub\newsite\photo\Download.aspx.cs:line 88
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/southsudankob
View this message at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/southsudankob/topic-id/message-id
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected].
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14op1t8VHf_9Zdq0NQwT5LZ6wFEuxqV7gOJFCNeAnu8yaWQ%40mail.gmail.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
