European Union on cusp of self-induced humanitarian crisis

More than a million refugees and migrants arrived in Europe a year ago – mostly via Turkey to Greece – and another 130,000 have reached the continent so far in 2016.

Almost 131,724 people made their journey through the Mediterranean to Europe, with 122,637 of them landing in Greece, the agency said, adding that so far, 410 lives have been lost while attempting the risky Mediterranean crossing. Sources on the ground say that the humanitarian situation is worsening, that there is not enough food and water, hygienic conditions are unbearable and many need medical assistance.

“The UNHCR is warning today that Europe is on the cusp of a largely self-induced humanitarian crisis”, the agency’s spokesman Adrian Edwards told a news conference in Geneva.

Migrants have become stranded in Greece country after Austria and countries along the Balkans migration route imposed restrictions on their borders, limiting the numbers able to cross.

“Tensions have been building, fuelling violence and playing into the hands of people smugglers”, Edwards was quoted as saying in the news release.

Police chiefs from Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, meeting in Belgrade, agreed to improve the system of joint registration of refugees to unblock gridlocks in Greece.

“Countries have to wake up, there is no other plan”.

European Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas said on Tuesday that scenes from the border between Greece and Macedonia were highly concerning.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann criticised Greece on Sunday for refusing to grant more people asylum-seeker status, and described the country as “behaving like a travel agency and letting all the migrants through”.

Cochetel revealed that in spite of the commitments to relocate 66,400 refugees from Greece, states have pledged 1,539 spaces, while only 325 relocations have actually taken place.