Refugees, migrants in limbo

‘No chance for single EU migration policy’

CHIOS, Greece, June 20, (Agencies): In either direction, the waiting line is stuck.

On World Refugee Day, more than 60,000 refugees and migrants are stranded in Greece. They’re eventually supposed to go forward to other countries in Europe or be sent back to Turkey, but the process is barely moving.

On the mainland, children take after-hours classes at Greek schools, while their families are moving out of tent camps and into trailers and subsidized apartments. Most will eventually be relocated to European Union countries, but the process is slow. Out of the total 63,000 places promised, just over 14,000 refugees have been moved out of Greece to 23 countries.

On the islands, where migrants are sent to wait for possible expulsion to Turkey, conditions for many have worsened as daily arrivals continue, though in smaller numbers than before. Another 14,000 people are waiting there.

It’s all part of a refugee deal launched 15 months ago after more than a million people, most fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, crossed into Europe in 2015 and 2016. Greece was a key transit point on that route, as refugees traveled from Turkey to nearby Greek islands, often using unsafe boats.

At first they were able to travel freely on to wealthier countries in northern and western Europe, but tens of thousands were stranded last year when the European Union began reintroducing border controls . Those who arrived before March 20, 2016, were allowed to move on to mainland Greece to seek relocation in an EU country. Those who arrived after are stuck on the islands. They can apply for asylum, but many are supposed to be sent back to Turkey. In practice, that’s not really happening.

Shelters on Chios, a Greek island 7 kms (4.5 miles) from the coast of Turkey, are filled beyond capacity. Many new arrivals, including infants, now sleep in tents on the beach.

Jill Biden, wife of former US vicepresident Joe Biden, visited refugees in Chios earlier this month as part of work by the aid organization Save The Children. She traveled with Nitzia Logothetis, a psychotherapist and aid organizer, who said she was horrified by the conditions she saw.

“There were over 100 unaccompanied minors on the island, between the ages of 8 and 17, and over 1,300 refugees in total,” she told a conference in Athens after returning from the visit.

“I saw parents, children, and people who looked so hopeless. Some of the children are so stressed out, they have developed psychosis ... The children are toxically stressed. The longer they stay, the more severe their symptoms.”

She added: “A single mum told me, her daughter does not sleep. She cries all night long. Can you imagine having to give your two-and-a-half year old daughter a sedative to go to sleep every night? ... Welcome to hell on earth.”

Chance

Meanwhile, Hungary’s populist prime minister said Monday he sees no chance for a single EU-wide migration policy, just days after the bloc launched legal action against Budapest for refusing refugees under a controversial solidarity plan.

“To say that there will be one integrated, single European migration policy, I do have my doubts and I do not see any chance for this,” Viktor Orban told the Benelux and Visegrad group premiers meeting in Warsaw ahead of an EU summit in Brussels later this week.

“Hungary is open to any negotiations to this end but we would like to continue to remain realists,” the Hungarian PM added.

The EU launched legal action last week against Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic for refusing to participate in relocating 160,000 refugees under a 2015 plan set up when more than one million people landed on Europe’s shores, mainly in Italy and Greece.

Brussels had set a June deadline for Warsaw and Budapest to start accepting mainly Syrian, Eritrean and Iraq asylum seekers. Prague has also come under pressure after effectively dropping out of the relocation plan.

Orban argued Monday that his government’s rejection of refugees and migrants was intended to preserve the central European country’s identity.

Meanwhile, a van driver was killed on Tuesday when he crashed into a tailback on a motorway near the northern French port of Calais where migrants had blocked the way with tree trunks, a local government official said.

For years Calais has been a launching pad for migrants from the Middle East and Africa trying to reach Britain illegally. Last year the French government shut down a makeshift camp known as ‘The Jungle’ that housed thousands of migrants, but large numbers have returned to the area.

Many of them congregate by motorways or along the rail line that goes though the Channel Tunnel, attempting to hide in the back of trucks or stowaway on trains.

“Nine Eritrean migrants found in one of the heavy goods trucks held up by the roadblock were arrested,” the official from the Pas-de-Calais region said. “They were taken into custody.”

The Polish-registered van burst into flames when it crashed into trucks halted at the spot at about 01:45 GMT. The driver’s nationality was not immediately known.

Migrants regularly try to stop trucks bound for Britain via Calais, throwing branches or other objects onto the roadways to slow or bring vehicles to a halt so that they can slip into the cargosection and hide.