Mediaboss Marketing

By Annabell Van den Berghe By Annabell Van den Berghe January 28

BRUSSELS With a cold snap bringing snow and freezing temperatures to Greeces overcrowded refugee camps, a new type of migrant crisis is overwhelming tens of thousands of people who fled war and poverty in the hopes of a better life in Europe.

The chilly weather this month has already cost the lives of several asylum seekers in the Balkans, as tents and other lightweight shelter that are adequate to Greek islands balmy summers have proven inadequate for winter gusts. Heavy snowfall on the islands has piled up on tents, and freezing temperatures have been recorded even on islands that usually have temperate winter weather.

The poor conditions in Greece have highlighted Europes ongoing challenge to address the migration crisis, even during winter months in which fresh arrivals have slowed to a trickle because of a forbidding sea crossing. Although the camps have drawn condemnation from the United Nations and senior E.U. leaders, the European Union has left the cash-strapped Greek government to handle the challenge mostly on its own.

With so many children and vulnerable people remaining in filthy camping tents, the need is great for Europe to show solidarity and take responsibility, said Roland Schnbauer, an Athens-based spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency. He added that refugees have been wandering through overcrowded camps to keep warm.

[Number of stranded refugees in Greece could rise under latest E.U. plan]

At the Pikpa refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, temperatures in recent days have dropped to the low twenties.

The camp is better than anything weve seen before, said Najwa Hassan, who escaped the Islamic State takeover of Mosul and has been living in the camp since July. But its difficult to keep them warm, they cant move, she said, referring to her children.

Hassan said two of her three children lost their ability to walk after the Islamic State threw them off the roof in Mosul. Her husband was beheaded in front of their children; Islamic State militants subsequently beat her up.

Her 15-year-old son, Ahmed, sleeps from dawn to dusk, covered under too few blankets to keep him warm. The scarce moments hes awake are filled with screaming, Hassan said.

I dont know if hes in pain, or if hes afraid or maybe only cold, she said. She said they have not had access to a doctor. At least 15percent of the population in the refugee camps faces a disability or trauma, according to an estimate from Human Rights Watch, an advocacy organization.

With all of the camps heavily overcrowded, often reaching three times their capacity, aid workers find themselves trying to help with steeply curtailed resources. Some refugees have been forced to take matters into their own hands, burning anything they can find to heat their tents, according to Loic Jaeger, the head of the Greek mission of Doctors Without Borders, which works in the refugee camps.

Weve been donating winter clothes, socks and blankets, but what we really need is appropriate shelter, which is something only the authorities can decide on, Jaeger said.

In recent days, Greek authorities have offered a temporary solution by converting a tank landing ship into a dorm for some male asylum seekers.

[Over 7,100 migrant deaths in 2016 is a world record. More than half were in the Mediterranean.]

European officials have also condemned the conditions and implored other E.U. nations to step up their aid efforts.

We all Greeks, Europeans have a humanitarian imperative to alleviate the situation here on the islands, said Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European commissioner charged with migration issues, during a recent visit to Lesbos.

But Greece has been told to cope using its own resources, and a system that would send some asylum seekers back to Turkey to ease pressure on the camps has largely stalled. About 50,000 refugees and migrant are in Greece, according to U.N. refugee agency figures.

The paralysis has frustrated refugee advocates.

The situation today is the result of eight months not doing enough, said Jaeger, of Doctors Without Borders. We all knew that winter would come.

Michael Birnbaum contributed to this article.

Read more

Obama confronts refugee crisis on his final trip to Europe

A shipwreck off Libya raises the already horrific death toll for migrants in the Mediterranean

Migrants get stuck in Greece as door closes to Europe

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

Originally posted here:

These refugees escaped war. Now they're freezing in Greece's ... - Washington Post

GETTY

Government spokesman Zoltn Kovcs insisted the border fences were the only way to police the escalating migrant crisis, despite admitting it is not nice.

Mr Kovcs was also quick to take a swipe at Brussels, saying they were being naive over asylum seekers who use the Mediterranean as a free ride to misuse the system and basically disappear when they arrive in the promised land of Europe.

He called on Italy to do more to stem the flow of migrants.

GETTY

Getty Images

1 of 53

A Migrant is helped to wash tear gas from his eyes after clashes with Hungarian police at the Horgos border

The fence is not nice. But it is the only way to close the natural borders of a country

Zoltn Kovcs, Government spokesman

But despite the criticism, he said Hungary remained committed to the bloc, adding: Our criticism, even if its criticism, it is for the sake of Europe.

Ever since the migrant crisis erupted, with more than one million refugees pouring into Europe, Hungary has taken a robust stance on defending its borders.

The country was on a direct Balkans route used by migrants to make their way from Greece and into Serbia and Croatia.

In response, tough-talking Prime Minister Viktor Orban insisted enough was enough and ordered his borders with Serbia and Croatia to be shut.

GETTY

Mr Kovcs said: The fence is not nice. But it is the only way to close the natural borders of a country.

During a visit to Brussels, Mr Kovcs also issued a warning shot to Britain telling them they cannot cherry pick EU benefits during Brexit negotiations.

GETTY

When asked whether Hungary would support European Council President Donald Tusk for a second term, Mr Kovcs remained tight-lipped saying it was too early to call.

Hungary recently recruited secondary school students to become border huntersin order to protect the nations porous borders.

See the rest here:

Hungary tells EU to stop being NAIVE over migrant crisis as it insists it NEEDS fence - Express.co.uk

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

The official figures, published Friday, show that 9.3 billion went to help states and municipalities cope with funding the living cost of the influx of more than a million people who arrived since 2015.

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

Other outlays by the federal government relating to the migrant wave include 7.1 billion spent on foreign aid, 1.4 billion on migrants reception, registration, and accommodation, and 2.1 billion on integration services.

Despite the significant expenseon migrants, the Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung notes that the federal government managed to maintain a budget surplus for the third year in a row.

In addition, the head of the German Institute for Economic Research told the newspaper that the economy benefits from the influx of people from the third world, more than two thirds of whom cannot read or write.

Ferdinand Fichtner described the 20 billion outlay as a huge stimulus package and said that money spent on migrants food along with their accommodation costs will have flowed into the German economy. This applies to 90 per cent of the expenditure, he stated.

This latest data, which details just the amount spent by the federal government, only really scratches the surface with regards to revealing the true cost of Chancellor Angela Merkels unpopular decision to open Germanys borders.

The 9.3 billion package in the federal governments outlay last year provided financial help to state and municipal governments but far from covered the costs. Local governments said in May that they expect to have to shoulder around 21 billion a year, rising to 30 billion by 2020, on migrants cost of living.

In August last year, it was revealed that, beyond integration, the migrant crisis will significantly raise the countrys security bill. Sources reported that the estimated minimum requirement of 20,000 new police officers will cost taxpayers at least 1.3 billion per year, a figure which is expected to have an upward trend.

Bild reported that Germanys budget for internal security is set to climb until 2017 by at least a third, from 6.1 billion to 8.3 billion.

Go here to read the rest:

'Migrant Crisis' Cost Germany over 20 Billion in 2016 - Breitbart - Breitbart News

More than 1500 people are living in bleak conditions in one of the warehouses near the train station, Jan. 17, 2017 in Belgrade, Serbia.AwakeningBarcroft Media/Getty Images

Authorities in Croatia and Hungary are illegally pushing refugee and migrant children back into Serbia, often violently, Save the Children alleged Tuesday.

The group estimated that 1,600 such cases 30 incidents per day have taken place in the past two months. Children, some as young as 8 years old, have reported beatings by police and smugglers, dog bites and sleeping outside in subzero weather.

Serbia isn't a European Union member state but has become a focal point of the European migrant crisis, since an E.U.-Turkey deal last year aimed at restricting the arrival of migrants by boat, forced many to take a more dangerous route overland through the Balkans. Migrants have been making their way north through Serbia in order to reach E.U. bloc members Hungary and Croatia in the hopes of moving farther west into Europe.

Save the Children said that as many as 100 refugees and migrants are arriving in Serbia every day, and in the capital, Belgrade, more than 1,000 people are sleeping rough in a warehouse near the train station in temperatures as low as 5F (15C). Around 46% of the new arrivals in Serbia are children, the charity said, and among those, up to one-fifth are making the journey to Europe unaccompanied.

Read More: Their Families Fled Syria. They Were Born Refugees. What Comes Next?

In truth the refugee crisis has not abated. Its simply a more dangerous route, especially for children," said Jelena Besedic, Save the Childrens advocacy manager in Serbia. "The E.U.-Turkey deal has given smugglers a firmer grip on a hugely profitable business, incorporating increasingly dangerous tactics to circumvent authorities."

While Serbia has provided official asylum centers, Save the Children said that many migrants are fearful of detention or deportation. Sleeping rough, many migrants are vulnerable to people smugglers, and health services have reported cases of frostbite and respiratory illnesses caused by people burning trash to keep warm.

Mdecins Sans Frontires warned that the city "risks becoming a dumping zone, a new Calais where people are stranded and stuck,"according to the Guardian.

Save the Children is calling on the E.U. and Serbian authorities to direct more resources, including funding and emergency shelters, to help those on the migrant route.

See original here:

Refugee Children Face Beatings and Subzero Temperatures as They Are Pushed Back Into Serbia - TIME

SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan (JTA) After starving for months in Siberia, 5-year-old Natan Rom thought he was in paradise when he arrived in this colorful trading hub in Central Asia.

It was 1940, and Rom, along with his parents and older sister Ziva, was one of countless Jewish refugees who arrived in Samarkand after fleeing the Nazis eastward from their native Poland.

I remember the heat, the wonderful warmth after the cold in Siberia and the heaps of food in market stalls: nuts, berries, apricots, Rom, now 88, told JTA.

The joy would be short-lived.

In a city awash with refugees, Rom and hundreds of other Jewish children were met with indifference and hostility, forced to beg and steal in a city oblivious to their plight. Rom would lose his father to starvation in Uzbekistan before the British finally allowed him and Ziva to enter Tehran in 1942 en route to pre-state Israel.

The siblings were among the approximately 800 Tehran Children, a group who reached pre-state Israel following a tormented journey through the Soviet Union, India, Egypt and Iran.

Their largely forgotten trials are now drawing renewed interest from Jewish groups, historians and filmmakers who recognize the significance of their story in a world again struggling with the moral dilemma of war refugees.

They have been the subject of two documentaries, one of which featured Ziva Rom bitterly recalling how the children posed as models for Samarkand art students who wanted to sketch starving children. Last year, the educational group Limmud FSU organized an event in the Russian city of Kazan that highlighted the childrens stories. And in September, a 2007 film about the children had its first screening outside Israel at an event in Moscow also organized by Limmud FSU.

Not since the Holocaust has the twofold lesson of the Tehran Children been more relevant than today, said Chaim Chesler, Limmud FSUs founder and a former Jewish Agency treasurer.

We can rely only on ourselves, especially in catastrophes of massive scale, Chesler said. But on the other hand, their harrowing journey also underlines the crucial duty of remaining open and sensitive to the plight of refugees.

The Rom children learned early the consequences of dependency. Their parents, Ethel and Karol, had another son, 2-year-old Uzi, and not enough food to sustain three children. So they gave the two older siblings to a local orphanage.

Giving up his own food for his wife and youngest son, Karol wasted away until he became terminally ill. Hours before Zionist activists evacuated the Tehran Children to Iran, his two older children came to bid their father a last goodbye. Rom remembers seeing his father for the last time, an emaciated man feebly leaning against the doorframe of the squalid hut where he lived with his wife and infant son.

Rom and his sister, who eventually were reunited with their mother and youngest sibling in Palestine, recently found their fathers grave at Samarkands Jewish cemetery. They made a Hebrew-language headstone for him that says he starved to death as a refugee.

Other members of the Tehran Children never found their parents graves. Avraham Raz, who died in 2014, said in the 2007 documentary, titled The Children of Tehran, that he felt relief on the day he helped bury his father in an unmarked grave after he died of typhus in Samarkand.

Its unpleasant to admit, but it meant more food for my mother and me, Raz said. Neither of us cried.

As more and more Jewish parents in Uzbekistan became unable to feed their children, 1,000 kids were put up for adoption mainly to convents and orphanages. Some, including Yanush Ben Gal, were allowed to stay in the army camps of Polish soldiers fighting alongside the Allies. Uncared for, they would fight among themselves for the mattresses and food dumped in a trough by the soldiers.

Ben Gal, an Israel Defense Forces general and war hero who died last year, remembered as a 5-year-old pouring lime on the latrines as part of his duties.

By the time I reached boot camp in the IDF I was already an expert at this, Gal said in the film.

Some Tehran Children say they see their younger selves in the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have made it to Europe from the Middle East since 2014. Ziva Rom said she was reminded of her own ordeal when she saw Lebanese civilians streaming out of their homes amid Israeli bombardments against Hezbollah in 2006.

But others object to any analogy between Arab immigration into Europe and their own trials.

The Muslim migrants arriving to Europe are for the most part not refugees but job seekers who belong to what is de facto an invasion, Natan Rom told JTA in September after the Russian screening of the film. Attempts to pass off the new arrivals as refugees and then to liken their experiences to what Holocaust survivors had to endure is false, he added.

By 1942, when news about the Tehran Children reached Zionist authorities, their reaction was to send agents to retrieve the children. Meanwhile, international pressure was mounting on the British to make a humanitarian exception to their embargo on Jewish immigration to pre-state Israel.

Haim Erez hugging the children of Yanush Ben Gal in Kazan, Sept. 4, 2016. (Limmud FSU via JTA)

Some orphans staying with Christians would recite Yiddish nursery rhymes while pretending to pray for Jesus. Raz recalled that some even said Jewish prayers in secret to remember who we were.

But 200 of the Polish Jewish children who fled to Uzbekistan were never found. It is assumed that those who survived were raised as Christians or Muslims.

In Israel, the Tehran Children were eligible for restitution from Germany. But without parents and unaware of their rights, many of them never made claims. In a 2014 class action suit against the Israeli government, 217 of them obtained a symbolic compensation of approximately $6,000 per person a fraction of what they estimate they could have claimed had they been made aware of their rights in time.

Still, an outsized proportion of the Tehran Children took on public roles in their young country.

Ben Gal, who headed the IDF Northern Command, served together with Haim Erez, a fellow member of the Tehran Children who controlled the Southern Command. Rom and his sister were among the founders of kibbutzim. And Raz was a senior inspector in the Education Ministry.

I think the journey snuffed their childhoods and scarred them for life, said Dalia Gutman, the maker of the 2007 documentary, who interviewed dozens of Tehran Children. But it also steeled them and gave them fortitude matched by few other groups in Israels history.

Hadassah founder Henrietta Szold meeting with Tehran Children in Israel in February 1943. (Jewish Agency for Israel via JTA)

Go here to see the original:

Tehran Holocaust refugees generating new interest amid global migrant crisis - The Times of Israel