Another 515 Ukrainian war refugees have arrived in Greece in the past 24 hours, the Citizen Protection Ministry said Friday. A total of 2,704 Ukrainian refugees have crossed into the country since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24. Most arrived by road, with 430 entering via the …
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Greece to grant Ukrainian refugees one-year protection status, right to work
The Greek state will provide one-year protection status along with rights to work and medical care to Ukrainian refugees entering Greece, the Migration & Asylum Ministry announced on Wednesday. This will be issued to Ukrainian nationals within 90 days of their entering Greece, as the usual 90-day visa entry requirement …
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Greece’s Forum on Refugees receives a barrage of requests by Ukrainian citizens
The Greek Forum of Refugees said on Wednesday that it is getting phone calls every five minutes from Ukrainian citizens seeking help for themselves or their families, who have been impacted by the war in Ukraine. They ask for information about how a Ukrainian can ask for asylum in Greece, …
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Hundreds of Ukrainian refugees arrive in Greece, as authorities prepare for increasing flow
Three buses carrying refugees from Ukraine arrived in Greece on Monday morning. On board women and children and elderly men, as those aged 18-60 are not allowed to leave the country. One buss with 36 people onboard arrived at Omonoia square in downtown Athens. The families were welcomed by relatives …
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First refugees from Ukraine arrive in Greece: 4 adults, 2 kids, 4 dogs, 1 turtle
The first refugees from Ukraine arrived in Thessaloniki early Sunday morning, seeking refuge from Putin’s bombs. The family from Vinnytsia in north-central Ukraine needed 66 hours drive to reach the city in northern Greece where they made a short stop before continuing their journey to their final destination: a town …
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Greece’s Migration Minister denies Turkey’s allegations 12 migrants froze to death after pushback
Greece’s Migration Minister has denied Turkey’s allegations that 12 migrants froze to death in the land border between the two countries following deadly pushback by Greek border guards. Among the dead were reportedly also children. Earlier on Wednesday, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu had posted on Twitter that 12 migrants …
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Two migrants die as they tried to cross swollen torrent amid rainstorm in North Greece
A woman who went missing in a mountainous area in Serres regional unit, northern Greece, on Wednesday while trying to cross a swollen torrent amid rainstorms along with a group of migrants was found dead on Thursday. The 24-year-old Iranian national was accompanying her 37-year-old husband who drowned while trekking …
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Body of child and backpack with food washed up on Naxos (Warning! Graphic footage!)
The body of a young child was washed up on a beach of the island of Naxos on Saturday. Authorities suggest the child was one more victim of the recent shipwrecks with migrants in the central Aegean Sea. It is the third body of a child washed up on the …
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Folegandros shipwreck: Bodies of two children, two adults washed up on Greek islands
The bodies of two children are among the four washed up on the beaches of the islands of Naxos and Paros in the central Aegean Sea on Thursday. The children are girls and estimated to be 12-13 years old. The Greek Coast Guard estimates they belong to the victims of …
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UNHCR “deeply distressed” over recent migrant’s deaths in the Aegean Sea
The UNHCR, the United Nations Agency for Refugees, said that it was “deeply distressed” by the recent death toll in Greece’s Aegean Sea, where at least 31 people lost their lives in three separate shipwrecks between 21 and 24 December, while an unknown number are still missing. “It is heart-rending …
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16 people die, 63 rescued as migrants boat capsized off Paros in the Aegean Sea
63 people were rescued and another 16 lost their lives when a boat carrying migrants capsized off the island of Paros on Friday night. At least one person is missing. It is the third shipwreck in the Aegean Sea in 72 hours where over 30 people have died. The boat …
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11 migrants die, 92 rescued when boat capsizes off Antikythera
A total of 92 migrants who were trapped on the islet of Prassonisi, north of Antikythera, were rescued on Friday. Another 11 people died when the boat ran aground and their bodies were retrieved from the sea by the Greek Coast Guard. The migrants were on a sailing boat that …
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One more person rescued, 3 bodies recovered after migrants boat sank in Aegean
One person was rescued short before Wednesday midnight almost 24 hours after a boat carrying migrants sank in the sea area off the island of Folegandros. The man from Egypt was 20 hours in the water before he was rescued and transferred to the hospital of neighboring Santorini. Meanwhile, the …
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Dozens missing after migrants boat sinks off Folegandros in the Aegean
A big Search And Rescue operation is under way in the sea area south of the island of Folegandros in the Cyclades after the sinking of a plastic boat carrying migrants to Greece from Turkey. Twelve people have been rescued, so far, some 32 are estimated to be missing. According …
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Unaccompanied refugee minors included in Greece’s adoption and foster system
Unaccompanied refugee minors aged 0-12 years will be included in Greece’s adoption and fostering system under a memorandum of collaboration signed between Deputy Minister of Labor & Social Issues Domna Michailidou and UNHCR-Greece representative Maria Clara Martin, the ministry announced on Tuesday. This collaboration will help meet the special needs …
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Greece criminalizes migration, prosecutes helpers, say critics
Among the prison inmates of the Greek island of Chios, three young men from Afghanistan and Somalia are serving dramatically long sentences: 50 years for two of them, a staggering 142 for the third. But these are not violent criminals, even according to their trial verdicts. They were convicted for …
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Greece tries to repatriate to Pakistan and Bangladesh 250 migrants
Greece’s Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarakis said on Monday that efforts were underway to repatriate the Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals who arrived in the country as migrants on board the Turkish-flagged cargo ship rescued on Sunday. Minister Mitarakis said that “for me it is a top priority to agree …
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375 migrants onboard of Turkish-flagged vessel disembark on Kos
375 migrants on board of a Turkish-flagged cargo ship disembarked at the port of the island of Kos in the early morning hours of Sunday and were transferred to the local Reception and Identification Migrant Center, Greece’s Migration and Asylum ministry said in a statement on Sunday. A woman had …
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Brutality against Cuban migrants, children & pregnant women at Zakynthos airport (video)
Unprecedented violence at the airport of Zakynthos: police drags migrants from the feet, beats them and pulls them by the hair. Among the group of some 85 Cuban migrants are pregnant women and children who scream in fear. A video shot by one of the migrants is being posted on …
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Cargo ship with 400 migrants heads for safe port, says Greek Coast Guard
A small cargo ship with about 400 migrants on board that suffered engine problems in the eastern Mediterranean Sea off the island of Crete is being led to a safe anchorage in Greece, the Greek coast guard said Friday. A coast guard statement said the Turkish-flagged freighter was located by …
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