{UAH} Migrant 'chaos' on Greek islands - UN refugee agency: Comrade Akim Odong

Comrade Akim Odong,

BBC News is showing the plight of the Migrants, this time in Greece.
As I explained, Greece is one of the three entry points to Europe from
Turkey, the others being the Mediterrenean Sea to Italy or Cyprus and
the Eastern route through Bulgaria.

The Greek government has just announced that there is nothing they can
do for the migrants. Just last month July alone, they recieved 50,000.
Unlike the Calais refugees who can somehow be stopped from enterring
the UK, Greece can not do this as its tourist island of Kos where the
migrants are heading is less than 5 miles from Turkey where almost 2
million Syrian refugees are camped. Despite security, it is impossible
to stop dinghy boats from landing every night.

Greece is bankrupt and can not pay its own pensioners and has laid
off more than a half of its public sector workforce. More than half of
the adult population is unemployed. Today, these migrants are walking
aimlessly on the streets of Kos. They have nowhere to go, most are
sleeping in the open. The UN has criticised Greece for not doing more,
but Greece says the Migrants are now a European problem and not that
of Greece. The refugees themselves, a majority from Syria and
Afghanistan and a few from Africa dont want to stay in Greece. All of
them want to go to Germany or Sweden. Two days ago, some 200 migrants
drowned in the Med Sea, so this migrant problem is not going away
soon.

Again I ask you to consider the plight of the Greeks. Kos is a tourist
island, more than half of its economy depends on the tourist industry,
which is seasonal. This is the peak of the tourist season but is being
very badly affected by the presence of thousands of migrants walking
aimlessly on the streets and beaches. They want their government to
expel all the migrants immediately.

George Okello



Migrant 'chaos' on Greek islands - UN refugee agency
7 August 2015From the section EuropeThe refugee crisis on three Greek
islands near Turkey is "total chaos", the UN refugee agency UNHCR
says.

Accommodation, water and sanitation are all inadequate for the many
asylum seekers on Kos, Chios and Lesbos, the UNHCR says, calling it
"shameful".

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras said the problem "surpasses" Greece's
abilities and asked for EU help.

The UNHCR says nearly all new arrivals in Greece are refugees from the
wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The organisation's European Director, Vincent Cochetel, said
facilities for the refugees on the Greek islands were "totally
inadequate", after a 750% increase in migrants arriving this year,
compared with the same period last year.

He said 124,000 had arrived in Greece so far in 2015, including 50,000
in July alone.

Lesbos is seeing an influx of Syrians and Afghans like these people
helped ashore from a dinghy
Greece's EU partners must do more to ease the burden, he said, but
Greece must "lead and co-ordinate".

"On most of the islands there is no reception capacity, people are not
sleeping under any form of roof. So it's total chaos on the islands.

"After a couple of days they are transferred to Athens, there is
nothing waiting for them in Athens," he complained.

Mr Tsipras said Greece's economic crisis meant it was facing a
humanitarian "crisis within a crisis".

Traiskirchen, Austria: Many migrants are sleeping rough as the main
reception camp is overcrowded
In Austria, the authorities have stopped taking in any more migrants
at the country's main reception camp, 20km (12 miles) south of Vienna.

Another UNHCR official described conditions at Traiskirchen as
"intolerable, dangerous and inhumane".

About 4,500 people are at the camp, which was built to house 1,800.
Many are now sleeping in the open.

Most arrived in Austria via neighbouring Hungary - both EU member
states and both in the border-free Schengen zone, where passports are
generally not checked.

A deadly week
Meanwhile the EU is struggling to cope with the thousands of migrants
heading for Italy aboard unseaworthy vessels from Libya, where people
traffickers are charging huge sums to smuggle them into Europe.

As many as 200 migrants are feared drowned after a boat reportedly
carrying up to 600 people - mostly Syrians - sank off Libya this week.

An Irish navy ship, LÉ Niamh, docked in Sicily on Thursday with 367
migrants who were rescued. The warship also brought 25 victims in
coffins.

The EU border agency Frontex also says it has not received enough
pledges of assets from EU states to help Greece and Hungary with the
current influx of migrants.

Hungary is constructing a border fence, after a surge in migrants
travelling up through Serbia from Greece.

Are you on a Greek island affected by the crisis? Are you a resident,
a migrant or part of the relief effort there? Please email
haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experiences.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC
journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:

■Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

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