Ahead of a meeting of heads of state or government of the European Union (EU) with Turkey on 7 March in Brussels, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has issued recommendations aimed at helping States solve the refugee situation in Europe.
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UNHCR is urging Greece and States along the Balkans route to act quickly to avert a disaster and approach this emergency in a spirit of solidarity and sharing of responsibility. Safe access to asylum, shelter and basic assistance, and treating people with dignity and respect must remain essential elements of the response.
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UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and UNICEF are setting up special support centres for children and families along the most frequently used migration routes in Europe.
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Border closures in the Balkans may create an enormous and potentially critical refugee bottleneck in Greece, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has warned.
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“The refugee crisis a global issue. We do not accept unilateral actions,” Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi during a meeting earlier at the Maximos Mansion. “Greece needs support in helping refugees. Sharing responsibility (not closing borders) is the answer,” Grandi stressed.
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“It would be of great political significance and highly symbolic if the UN Secretary General himself, Ban Ki-moon, visited the Eastern Aegean, the gateway of the refugee and migrant influx into Europe,” Xydakis stressed during talks with UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.
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Europe is backing into an even greater refugee crisis by tightening border restrictions on the hundreds of thousands who have fled war and conflict in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi said.
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A UNHCR survey found that some 94% of Syrians arriving in Greece in January made the perilous journey by sea to escape conflict and violence in Syria. Similarly, 71% of the Afghans surveyed cited conflict and violence as the main reason they left their country.
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UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi will conduct his first official visit to Greece on 23 and 24 February 2016; he will visit Athens and Lesvos and is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and other members of his Cabinet.
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UNHCR, IOM and UNICEF say that more than 340 children, many of them babies and toddlers, have drowned in the eastern Mediterranean since September 2015.
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