Pressure growing on Greek island of Lesvos, as 2015 refugee and migrant crossings of the Mediterranean top 100,000
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
In Greece, record numbers of refugees are continuing to arrive in rubber dinghies and wooden boats on Lesvos, straining the island's capacity, services and resources.
Around 600 refugees, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, arrive every day in the Greek islands. Half of these are coming ashore in Lesvos. Arrivals there have grown from 737 in January and 1,002 in February, to 3,348 in March. Almost 5,000 arrived in April and over 7,200 in May. Hundreds of refugees leave the island for the Greek mainland every day after being identified, screened and registered. At present, however, there are around 2,200 to 2,500 on the island waiting for registration by the authorities.
A screening centre in the village of Moria, a former detention centre for migrants waiting to be deported, is currently housing over a thousand refugees, more than twice its official capacity of 410 people. In addition, an education park in Kara Tepe is being used as temporary accommodation for around 1000 refugees.
Two NGOs, Metaction and Medecins du Monde, are providing urgently needed services in Moria. Metaction is responsible for the identification, follow up and referral of unaccompanied children, while Medecins du Monde provides medical attention and psychosocial support. The Ministry of Interior's First Reception Service is responsible for the registration of the new arrivals.
UNHCR has a permanent presence in the island's main town, Mytilini, and is working with people at the Moria centre. UNHCR has been present on Lesvos and other Greek islands since 2011, supporting the authorities' efforts to improve reception conditions and procedures, providing legal advice to newcomers about the asylum procedure in Greece, as well as their right and responsibilities, and identifying and referring people with specific needs such as unaccompanied children, people with disabilities, the elderly and victims of torture or trauma. In recent weeks, UNHCR has been distributing sleeping bags and hygiene kits to refugees in greatest need in Lesvos and other Greek islands.
To deal effectively with the challenges posed by the large number of arrivals in Lesvos and other Greek islands, UNHCR is calling for urgent reinforcement of personnel and resources of all the state services and civil society organisations dealing with the reception of refugees. We are also seeking increased support to the affected island communities.
UNHCR, for its part, is stepping up its presence and activities in Greece and southern Italy in response to the dramatic increase in the number of refugee and migrants arriving by sea in southern Europe this year.
As of information received today, there have been 103,000 refugee and migrant arrivals in Europe via the Mediterranean in 2015: 54,000 in Italy, 48,000 in Greece, 91 on Malta and 920 in Spain. This total includes around 6,000 migrants and refugees who were disembarked in southern Italy this past weekend following a major rescue operation coordinated by the Italian Coast Guard and joined by navy ships deployed by Frontex and from Italy, Germany, Britain, Ireland, Spain and MOAS. The migrants and refugees rescued are mostly sub-Saharan Africans and include children and pregnant women. They are now being taken care of at reception centres in Italy.
For more information on this topic, please contact:
- In Greece, Ketty Kehayioylou on mobile +30 694 0277 485
- In Greece, Stella Nanou on mobile +30 693 79 34 515
- In Greece, Carlotta Sami on mobile +39 335 679 4746
- In Greece, William Spindler on mobile +79 217 3011
- In Rome, Federico Fossi on mobile +39 349 084 3461
- In Geneva, Adrian Edwards on mobile +41 79 557 9120
Related news and stories
UNHCR regrets loss of life in the Aegean Sea, with at least 31 dead and more missing
Lone refugee children go from homelessness in Greece to new lives across Europe
UNHCR and Council of Europe discuss statelessness, urge States to uphold the right to a nationality in Europe
Six athletes to make up Refugee Paralympic Team at Tokyo Games
'All I want is a doctor for my brother and a school for me'
A month after Moria fires, UNHCR warns of worsening conditions ahead of winter
Your search for « malta » matched 1273 results. Only the first 1,000 results are displayed. Displaying page 14 of 112 pages.
-
UNHCR warns over Mediterranean rescue capacity
30 Sep 2018 ... UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is grateful to Malta for its decision to allow 58 rescued people from ... grateful to France, Germany, Portugal and Spain who have offered to receive these people from Malta. ...... -
World Refugee Day 2005 Final Report: Europe
31 Dec 2005 ... Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Malta Moldova, Republic of Norway Poland Portugal ... Three newspapers also reported on WRD. MALTA On 18 June the ‘Etnikafest’ saw the participation ...... -
UNHCR Global Appeal 2011 (update) - Northern, Western and Southern Europe subregional overview
1 Dec 2010 ... Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Monaco Netherlands Norway Portugal San Marino ... In many countries in the subregion—Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain in particular—UNHCR’...... -
Bitter-sweet family reunion in Sicily for Mediterranean capsize survivors
13 Nov 2013 ... The Italian coastguard and Malta's Navy managed to save 211 people, but 27 bodies have been ... separated from each other, with unaccompanied children being taken to Sicily and adults to Malta. ...... -
Italy: Missing boat search efforts stepped up
25 May 2007 ... with more than 50 people and reported missing 80 nautical miles south of Malta since Tuesday. ... increase their search for the boat after the Maltese authorities, who originally spotted the boat ...... -
UNHCR Mid-Year Progress Report 2001 - Western Europe
1 Sep 2001 ... Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San ... Italy 2,612,643 1,421,631 552,245 552,245 Malta 243,500 243,500 97,429 97,429 The Netherlands ...... -
UNHCR Global Appeal 2005 - Western Europe Regional Overview
1 Dec 2004 ... Iceland Ireland Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Monaco Netherlands Norway Portugal San Marino ... Greece 1,392,703 Ireland 561,680 Italy 1,663,755 Malta 47,503 Portugal 64,601 Spain 935,878 Sweden ...... -
Asylum levels and trends in industrialized countries, 2004
1 Mar 2005 ... and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Malta, the Republic of Moldova, Serbia and Montenegro and Turkey). ... The country of origin breakdown for November and December 2004 for Malta was not available. PAGE 2 ...... -
Mediterranean boats: UNHCR thanks life-saving crews, calls on coastal states to fulfil their obligations
1 Jun 2007 ... missing more than a week ago between Libya and Malta. The group which includes 28 women and 6 children was last seen by the Maltese armed forces aboard a boat off the south coast of Malta on 21 May. ......