Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarachi has announced that he has requested Greece’s National Transparency Authority investigate the recently reported allegations of refugees’ pushbacks carried out at Greek waters. Mitarachi made the announcement at a press conference on Wednesday about the fatal sinking of a vessel off the island of …
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Tragedy in the Aegean: Woman, 4 children die after migrants boat sinks off Chios
The bodies of one woman and four children have been recovered out of six people believed to be missing after a dinghy carrying 27 migrants capsized and sank off the south-east coast of the island of Chios early Tuesday morning. According to state broadcaster ERT, the woman and two children …
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Τanker rescues some 150 migrants on a wooden boat south off Peloponnese
Greece’s coast guard on Friday launched a search and rescue operation after a boat carrying around 150 people believed to be migrants ran into trouble off the country’s southwestern coast. The coast guard said a passing cargo ship raised the alarm after coming across the wooden boat, which was taking …
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Greece opens new migrant holding camp on Samos amid tougher policy
Greece opened a new holding camp for migrants on Saturday on the island of Samos, close to Turkey, and said other new facilities would follow in coming months as it tightens migration policy. The minister opening the camp said it would offer “lost dignity” to those seeking protection. Aid groups …
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Greece launches international campaign against Afghan migration with EU funding
Greece’s Migration and Asylum Ministry assigned a company for a campaign to convince Afghan citizens not to try and reach Greece. The campaign is financed at 75% with EU funding. The campaign worth 73,532 euros (including Value Added Tax) has a duration of 3 months and will include videos and …
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Frontex preparing for Afghans already abroad to try to reach Europe
The EU is preparing for an influx of Afghans seeking asylum, whether or not people flee en masse from the new Taliban government, the chief of the EU border agency said, noting that millions are already displaced in neighbouring countries. In an interview, Fabrice Leggeri, director-general of border agency Frontex, …
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Xenophobic protest as refugee children doll Amal walks through Larissa
A group of people thew stones and harassed locals who went to see the arrival of the Amal refugee doll in the city of Larissa, central Greece, on Tuesday. Other protesters held icons and religious symbols to “exorcise” the big little doll symbolizing refugee children and their plight. Protesters shouted …
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Greece fines asylum-seekers with €5,000 for arriving without Covid-test UPD
Greek Police has been imposing fines of 5,000 euros to asylum-seekers entering the country by boat under the pretext of violating the coronavirus protocol and not showing or having a Covid-19 test upon arrival. Sheer racist vindictiveness or just an mean trick to increase revenues from the needy ones? In …
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Greek Orthodox and Catholic priests pray for all the refugees of the world
Representatives of the Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches and migrants joined in a prayer for all refugees of the world. The event took place in Mytilene on the island of Lesvos on Tuesday afternoon. The event was held by the statue of a refugee mother from the Asia Minor disaster …
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Two women, child missing when boat sinks off Lesvos; 10 people rescued
Two women and one child have been missing and ten people were rescued when a rubber dinghy carrying migrants from Turkey to Greece sank off the northern coast of the island of Lesvos on Friday morning. According to state broadcaster ERT, a patrolling boat of the Greek Coast Guard got …
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At least 8 people missing when boat capsizes off Crete; 37 rescued
The Greek Coast Guard continues the Search and Rescue operation South off island of Crete Friday noon after a boat carrying migrants capsized and some 8 people are missing. 37 people have been rescued so far. for several people believed missing a day after a boat carrying dozens of migrants …
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One-year-old refugee child dies in Kara Tepe camp on Lesvos
An one-year-old refugee child was taken to the hospital of Mytilene from the camp of Kara Tepe on Wednesday, where doctors could only confirm its death. Tthe child had high fever and vomited and was not transported to the hospital in time, local media report. The child of a single-parent …
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Number of migrants on Lesvos drops under 5,000 for the first time since 2016
The number of refugees and migrants on the island of Lesvos has dropped below 5,000 for the first time in 2016, the Migration Ministry said on Tuesday. In the figures released, the ministry said there are 4,994 people on the North Aegean island that bore the brunt of migration flows. …
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Fire at migrants’ camp on Samos; two asylum seekers detained
Police detained two asylum seekers after a fire broke out in the Migrants’ Reception and Identification Center camp on the island of Samos early Friday morning. Ten firefighters with 5 trucks rushed to the area and extinguished the fire before it would create big damage. According to local media samosvoice, …
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Compensation granted over Moria migrant camp deaths
The decision last week by the Administrative Court of First Instance of Athens to award compensation to the relatives of a Syrian and an Egyptian man who died of carbon monoxide inhalation in January 2017 at the Moria refugee camp of on the island of Lesvos is seen as a …
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Dutch journalist Ingeborg Beugel arrested for “facilitating residence” to asylum seeker
Dutch journalist Ingeborg Beugel is being prosecuted for “facilitating illegal residence to an asylum seeker.” She provided accommodation in her home on the island of Hydra to an Afghan man, whose asylum application in ongoing. Police arrested the 61-year-old Dutch journalist Ingeborg Beugel on Sunday, June 13, on charges of …
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Departures of asylum seekers & migrants double arrivals in 2021
Departures of asylum seekers and migrants from Greece were double the total number of arrivals in the first five months of 2021, according to migration and asylum ministry figures on Wednesday. 4,951 persons left either for European countries or were sent to non-EU countries via the deportation and return mechanisms …
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Work on Lesvos migrant camp yet to begin 9 months after fire
Almost 9 months after a fire gutted a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesvos, work on a new reception center has still not begun despite pledges to have the facility built before next winter, Greece’s migration minister confirmed Wednesday. Greek authorities said the fires were started deliberately last …
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Frontex border agency can’t fulfill its duties, say EU Court of Auditors
The European Union’s border and coast guard agency FRONTEX is being given additional tasks, like playing a greater role in the deportation of migrants, at a time when it is incapable even of fulfilling the duties it was ordered to carry out five years ago, the European Court of Auditors …
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Greece designates Turkey a “safe country” for asylum seekers
With a joint ministerial decision, Greece designated Turkey a “safe country” for asylum seekers from specific countries such as from Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Somalia. The decision was issued by the Ministry of Migration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is noted that the Joint Ministerial Decision has …
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