Refugee
arrivals in Greece exceed 100,000 in less than two months
Figure
was not reached until end of June last year, and rate of arrivals
this year expected to climb further as weather improves
Julian Borger World
affairs editor
Tuesday 23 February
2016 18.21 GMT
More than 100,000
refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe so far this year, at
triple the rate of arrivals over the first half of 2015.
At least 102,500
have arrived on the Greek islands of Samos, Kos and Lesbos, according
to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Another 7,500
have reached Italy, and in the first six weeks of the year 411 people
are known to have died attempting to make the journey.
In 2015 the
threshold of 100,000 arrivals was not reached until the end of June.
As spring approaches and the weather improves, the rate of arrivals
this year is expected to climb further.
The IOM said 20% of
the arrivals were from Afghanistan and nearly half were Syrians. On
Monday the US and Russia agreed to organise a partial truce involving
the Assad regime and most of the Syrian armed opposition, but not
Islamic State or the Nusra Front. There are widespread doubts about
how effective the ceasefire will be and how long it will last.
The influx of
refugees has been met with a chaotic response among European
countries. On Friday Austria imposed of a cap on the number of people
it would admit each day to 80 asylum seekers and 3,200 people seeking
transit to other EU countries. The restriction prompted Macedonia to
stop Afghans crossing its border from Greece, triggering riots by
Afghans and bitter complaints from Athens and the UN refugee agency,
the UNCHR.
The agency said:
“These newest restrictive measures risk violating EU law and
undermine efforts for a comprehensive and coordinated approach to
deal with the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe.” It called for
a unified approach from Europe.
A UNHCR survey
published on Tuesday found that 94% of Syrians arriving in Greece in
January had risked the sea crossing to escape war, and 71% of the
Afghans surveyed cited conflict and violence. “And yet, with every
passing week, it appears some European countries are focusing on
keeping refugees and migrants out more than on responsibly managing
the flow and working on common solutions,” the agency said.
Greek police rounded
up hundreds of Afghan migrants stuck on the Macedonian border and
bused them back to an army-built camp near Athens on Tuesday.
Medecins Sans Frontieres said its teams had witnessed police in the
town of Polykastro “kicking Afghan refugees, including women and
children, for refusing to board a bus that would forcibly take them
back to Athens”.
MSF said refugees
stranded on the border “are being provided with no information,
little to no humanitarian assistance and are at risk of violence and
abuse”.
It added: “We have
denounced the humanitarian consequences of this domino effect time
and again, but European governments on this route continue to invent
new and arbitrary criteria, with the sole goal of reducing the flow
of people – at any cost, and in complete disregard of humanitarian
needs. The failure of European governments to find collective and
humane answers is only producing chaos, arbitrariness and
discrimination.”
The Greek government
rebuked Austria for imposing the restrictions and for convening a
meeting of western Balkan countries to discuss the migration crisis
that excluded Greece. The foreign ministry described the meeting as a
“unilateral move which is not at all friendly toward our country”.
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