More than one million refugees travel to Greece since 2015
UNHCR says latest milestone an urgent reminder of need for more coordinated approach to manage influx.
GENEVA, March 16 (UNHCR) - The UN Refugee Agency said today that more than one million people, mostly refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, have now crossed into Greece since the start of 2015.
UNHCR called the milestone an urgent reminder of the need for a more coordinated approach to managing the influx and protecting people who are fleeing war and persecution.
The agency has repeatedly appealed to European governments, and the European Union, for strong leadership and a vision to address what Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said was "as much a crisis of European solidarity as it is a refugee crisis."
UNHCR said latest figures showed that up to March 14 more than 143,634 people had travelled to Greece from Turkey this year, taking the total of land and sea arrivals into Greece since January 1, 2015 to 1,000,357.
So far 448 people have drowned or gone missing trying to reach safety in Europe this year compared to a total of 3,771 for last year. For more information, click here.
UNHCR previously reported that more than one million people reached Europe overall last year, but that figure included arrivals across the central Mediterranean route from Libya to Italy.
The new figures showed women and children now make up nearly 60 per cent of sea arrivals, compared to less than 30 per cent in June 2015.
Although the Greek authorities and military have ramped up their response, thousands are sleeping in the open without adequate reception, services, aid or information.
The latest figures came as UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie Pitt was visiting Greece today on behalf of UN. The Special Envoy's mission will concentrate on the humanitarian situation of thousands of refugee families in Greece. For more information, click here.
Jolie Pitt yesterday (March 15) called on world governments to show leadership in addressing the Syrian and wider global refugee crisis, during a visit to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the Syria conflict.
The five-year conflict has fuelled the worst humanitarian crisis of our time, with 4.8 million Syrians forced to seek refuge in neighbouring countries and a further 6.6 million displaced inside the country.
"On this day, the fifth anniversary of the Syria conflict, that is where I had hoped to be - in Syria, helping UNHCR with returns and watching the families I have come to know be able to go home. It is tragic and shameful that we seem still so far from that point," the Special Envoy told yesterday's news conference.
She called on governments to find diplomatic solutions to the crisis, and to look at what more they themselves can do to provide safety to those fleeing persecution and war.
The Special Envoy said: "We are at an exceptionally difficult moment internationally, when the consequences of the refugee crisis seem to be outstripping our will and capacity and even our courage to respond to it."
She went on to say "we cannot manage the world through aid relief in the place of diplomacy and political solutions," adding that, "it is not a time for emotion. It is a time for reason and calm and foresight."
"Leadership in this situation is about doing more than simply protecting your borders or putting forward more aid," the Special Envoy said. "My plea today is that we need governments around the world to show leadership, to analyze the situation, to understand exactly what their countries can do, how many refugees they can assist and how."
Related news and stories
Ukraine's refugees find long-term support in Europe's host countries
Women-run businesses in Afghanistan dealt a blow by deepening restrictions
Earthquake survivors in Türkiye count the devastating toll
Twelve years on, Syrian refugees face deepening debt and hunger
Twelve years on, Syrian refugees face deepening debt and hunger
UNHCR launches new appeal for Afghan refugees and hosts, urging partners to stay the course
Your search for « angelina jolie » matched 491 results. Displaying page 5 of 55 pages.
-
Iraq: Angelina Jolie visits families returning to Mosul
17 Jun 2018 ... 0 UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie visited West Mosul, less than a year after the city's liberation in June and July 2017. The visit marked Jolie's 61st mission â and her fifth visit to Iraq ...... -
A letter from Mosul
19 Jun 2018 ... Reeking corpses still litter the ruins, awaiting collection. Iraq: Angelina Jolie visits families returning to Mosul In streets that look entirely uninhabitable, small numbers of shell-shocked ...... -
Angelina Jolie named UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador for refugees
23 Aug 2001 ... GENEVA - American actress Angelina Jolie will help bring awareness about refugees as the U.N. refugee agency's Goodwill Ambassador. At a ceremony Monday (27 August) with staff at UNHCR headquarters in ...... -
Angelina Jolie, UNHCR goodwill ambassador, releases personal journal on working with Colombian refugees
19 Nov 2002 ... 19 November 2002 GENEVA - UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie today released her personal journal, recounting her impressions and experiences as she met with Colombian refugees in Ecuador earlier ...... -
UNHCR's Guterres and Jolie Pitt address UN Security Council on Syria
24 Apr 2015 ... ... I only know that it will come, and that things risk getting even worse," he said. Meanwhile, UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie Pitt, who has made 11 visits to Syrian refugees in Iraq, Jordan Lebanon, ...... -
Angelina Jolie spreads goodwill in Namibia
1 May 2002 ... WINDHOEK, Namibia (UNHCR) - Goodwill is in the air at Namibia's Osire refugee camp. Between late March and mid-April this year, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie visited and donated food, tents ...... -
Angelina Jolie as Humanitarian
11 Feb 2009 ... Since she was named as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador in early 2001, Angelina Jolie has visited more than 20 countries around the world to highlight the plight of millions of uprooted people and to ...... -
Angelina Jolie ends Afghan visit with call for more returnee support
24 Oct 2008 ... KABUL, Afghanistan, October 24 (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency's Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie has concluded her first visit to Afghanistan, where she saw both the successes and the difficulties ...... -
Angelina Jolie visits Iraq and Iraqi refugees
28 Aug 2007 ... UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador witnesses humanitarian crisis DAMASCUS - UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie has visited Iraq and Syria to see first-hand the plight of hundreds of thousands of families ......