NPR: That Little Syrian Boy: Here's Who He Was (Warning: Graphic)

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http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-not-concentration-camp-wont-host-migrants-permanently-112228697.html

Turkey 'not concentration camp', won't host migrants permanently: PM

 

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday his country was "not a concentration camp" and would not host migrants permanently to appease the EU, which wants Turkey to stop the flow of people to Europe.

 

"We cannot accept an understanding like 'give us the money and they stay in Turkey'. Turkey is not a concentration camp," Davutoglu said in a live television interview a day after talks with Germany's Angela Merkel on the migrant crisis.

 

"I said this to Merkel too. No one should expect Turkey to turn into a concentration camp where all the refugees stay in," he said.

 

The talks had however resulted in a "positive response" to the government's request for visa liberalisation, he said.

 

And in exchange Davutoglu agreed that "illegal immigration should be properly kept under control, therefore we will set up joint mechanisms" to contain the historic flow of Syrians and others escaping conflict, persecution and poverty who use Turkey as a gateway to Europe.

 

http://www.focus-fen.net/news/2015/10/19/386776/croatia-allows-thousands-stranded-at-serbian-border-to-cross.html

Croatia allows thousands stranded at Serbian border to cross

 

Croatia allowed thousand of migrants who were stuck at the border with Serbia to cross into its territory late Monday afternoon, having earlier dramatically slowed the number of crossings, AFP reported.

 

"Everybody who was here has gone through," said the photographer at the Berkasovo crossing, where between 2,000 and 3,000 people had been stuck waiting to cross in cold and wet conditions.

 

Czech volunteer Jan Pinos at the scene also told AFP that Croatian police had "opened the gate and let all refugees who where there in".

 

http://news.yahoo.com/10-000-migrants-enter-macedonia-24-hours-police-091912540.html

Migrants stream into Balkans as Germany braces for far-right rally

 

Thousands of migrants defied heavy rain and tightened border controls to stream into the Balkans on Monday, as Germany braced for anger at an anniversary rally of the anti-refugee PEGIDA movement.

 

Europe's unprecedented influx has seen asylum seekers -- mainly fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan -- travelling through Turkey, Greece and the western Balkans, seeking new lives in Germany and other EU states.

 

Tensions have built along the migrant trail after Hungary shut its key borders with razor wire -- diverting the flow west to Slovenia, which in turn has also limited arrivals, along with Croatia.

 

On Monday thousands of refugees were battered for hours by cold heavy rain as they waited at one of the bottlenecks, on the Serbia-Croatia frontier, where families in plastic ponchos huddled around fires and children walked barefoot in the mud.

 

Aid workers warned of dire conditions for pregnant women and a situation threatening to get "out of control", before Croatia opened the border to let in the 2,000-3,000 stranded migrants in the late afternoon.

 

Amnesty International said Croatian police had also left some 1,800 people, including hundreds of children, stuck in the rain overnight near the Slovenian border and criticised the EU members' "race to the bottom in terms of how they deal with the refugee crisis".

Despite such hardships, there has been no let-up in the numbers of people seeking safer lives in Europe.

 

More than 20,000 migrants have crossed from Macedonia into Serbia since Friday, according to the UN refugee agency.

Two days after a man with a neo-Nazi background stabbed a pro-refugee politician in the neck, badly wounding her, Germany's anti-refugee PEGIDA movement was planning a mass rally on Monday to mark its first anniversary.

 

Police expected thousands to join the "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident" demonstration in Dresden in the former communist East, as well as a large antifascist counter-protest, from 1600 GMT.

 

PEGIDA activists have accused Merkel of "treason" and last week carried a mock gallows with her name on it.

The chancellor on Monday urged people to "stay away from those with hate in their hearts".

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhMQs8QkI3E

 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hayesbrown/this-picture-shows-just-how-enormous-the-refugee-crisis-stil#.vgNOXX0VN

This Picture Shows Just How Enormous The Refugee Crisis Still Is

 

After Hungary closed its borders on Friday, nearly 20,000 people have crossed into tiny Slovenia.

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http://m.voanews.com/a/syrian-offensives-trigger-more-turkey-bound-refugees/3016471.html

Syria Offensives Trigger More Turkey-Bound Refugees

 

Turkish officials say 50,000 refugees have left the Syrian city of Aleppo and are heading to the border, but it remains unclear whether they will be allowed to enter Turkey after a hazardous journey dodging airstrikes and negotiating checkpoints manned by disparate rebel militias, including al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria.

 

For months now border gates have been officially closed to new refugees, and those fleeing are forced to pay smugglers to enter illegally - sometimes using tunnels to escape the killing fields.

 

The rich can bribe border-gate guards — the going rate is $700 per person — the poor may get across after paying smugglers $50 to $100 per person to sneak past Turkish border guards patrolling farm-fields and olive-tree orchards adjacent to the border.

 

Russian airstrikes and a Syrian army ground offensive mainly in the countryside to the south and east of the city of Aleppo have triggered the surge in Syrians heading for the border. Syria Turkmen Council President Abdurrahman Mustafa said he also estimates about 50,000 people have left the city and are picking their way down pot-holed roads, through checkpoints and past ruined villages to Turkey.

 

“A major migration has started from the south of Aleppo,” he said.

In nearby Gaziantep, officials from a variety of European countries are monitoring the situation - trying to work out whether the Turks will allow the refugees to enter en masse and how that might impact Europe’s migration crisis.

 

“With winter weather due to set in over the next month, the numbers heading for Europe are likely to lessen substantially,” said a European diplomat, who asked not to be identified for this article. “But the numbers will pick up again, I think, by March next year so we have until then to start structuring properly how we will cope and introducing an orderly, humane process,” he added.

 

He places much of the blame for the war refugees heading to Europe in ever greater numbers on the Turks.

 

“They have partly manufactured this crisis. Since January they have insidiously and incrementally made life harder for refugees here — denying them residency, making it difficult for them to work, blocking them from opening businesses. Of course, many of the refugees would have been thinking of heading west, to Europe, but in recent months the message from the Turks has been clear: Get Out,” he said.

 

In recent weeks, Turkish authorities have introduced a series of new regulations, requiring refugees to secure permission to fly domestically or for travel between Turkey’s provinces.

 

Turkish officials bristle at the accusation they are manufacturing the crisis, saying they are the ones on the front line and have been largely left to shoulder the refugee burden with inadequate assistance from Europe, which expects Turkey to be the EU’s buffer zone against the huge refugee flow.

 

Another European official based in the Turkish capital of Ankara vented his frustration to VOA about the European Union’s reaction so far to the tens of thousands of refugees entering the bloc. “We have been speaking with several voices and not one unified voice and working against each other, not with each other,” he said. “We have four months or so to get our act together before the flood picks up again.”

 

http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2015/10/21/what-syrian-refugees-offer-the-west/ideas/nexus/

What Syrian Refugees Offer the West

 

She came from a safe city, at least by Syrian standards. Tartus is a government stronghold and home to a Russian naval base. Unlike in Aleppo, Homs, and Idlib, the regime hadn’t dropped barrel bombs; rebel shelling was rare. But as the years wore on, Syria’s war came closer, and 28-year-old Rawia’s life was filled with fear and uncertainty. When would she next eat? Would pro-regime gangs on the street decide she looked suspect?

 

One day not long ago, Rawia became one of the millions of Syrians who decided it was time to leave. Her reasons were complicated, and the decision broke her heart. She could see her country’s youth being swallowed by the hopelessness of war as schools closed and militias ballooned. “We are losing all sort of young people, I didn’t know how to support them,” she says from the safety of the United Arab Emirates. As much as she wanted to stay and help, her calculation boiled down to this: The safety net she had been relying upon to survive Syria’s conflict was stretched beyond its breaking point.

 

That safety net was overseas family, and their little-noticed, silent influx of financial support crossing borders over these years to keep millions of Syrians back home alive. Some 10 million people of Syrian origin lived in the diaspora by the time the uprising began, and their remittances have helped many families stave off the worst suffering. The diaspora paid rents, sent grocery money, shipped in medical supplies, and wired emergency funds. But after four years of extended families depleting their savings, and as the needs back home keep mounting, the math has stopped working. This is one of the explanations underlying the death-defying flight of hundreds of thousands of Syrians into neighboring countries, Europe, the Persian Gulf, and elsewhere.

 

For the past two years, I’ve met members of the Syrian diaspora across the Gulf, attended their fundraisers, and watched their businesses go bankrupt as revenues were re-routed to humanitarian aid. It is impossible to know just how m uch money they sent, and estimates vary widely—from $2 billion to $20 billion since 2011. But what is certain is that the sums kept millions of Syrian families afloat.

 

Four years into the conflict, however, the diaspora can’t keep up with the bills. “In the peaceful days, I was able to pay for my family in Syria even from my own pocket,” one Syrian expatriate worker in Dubai explains. “Now I cannot. I have a mother overseas, a brother abroad, an uncle who is not working, and his kid is injured. … To support them all used to be sustainable and now it’s not anymore.”

 

Rawia’s case is typical. The war took its time in reaching her. In 2012 and even early 2013, life continued as usual. Then slowly, the price of fuel climbed up; soon it wasn’t available at all. Food was costly. Thousands of impoverished, scared civilians started to arrive from the countryside with tales of horror that the city hadn’t yet seen. “The number of poor people increased so much,” she says.

 

The fighting itself grew closer too. Pro-government gangs known as the shabiha became the enforcers of life on the street. Rawia started staying home after 4 p.m., before the roving thugs came out. She is a Christian and a supporter of the opposition to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, but in Tartus, she recalls, “I cannot open my mouth.”

 

Rawia’s lifeline had been her brothers, longtime expatriate professionals in the United Arab Emirates. They had sent money to pay for cooking gas when prices rose and helped her buy bread when it wasn’t safe to work anymore. By early 2014, however, the brothers were running out of cash and the prices in Syria were going up. Rawia left for Lebanon, and then took a flight abroad. She isn’t sure if she’ll ever go back.

 

Even if aid groups had been more active in Tartus, they likely wouldn’t have stopped Rawia from picking up to leave. What she lost wasn’t just a monetary amount, but the guarantee that there was something to fall back on. She lost stability, hope—a future that would lead somewhere. When family and friends told her she was on her own, the very idea of tomorrow in Syria evaporated.

 

http://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2015/10/20/syria-intv-amanpour-pleitgen-zaidoun-al-zoabi-full.cnn/video/playlists/amanpour/

People flee Aleppo, walking but not knowing where to go

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Sweden struggling to house refugees.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-22/swedish-housing-market-in-exceptional-situation-minister-says

Rufugee centers in Sweden being targeted by arsonists.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/10/22/wave-of-xenophobia-hits-sweden.html?utm_content=bylines&utm_campaign=ajam&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow

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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/24/world/europe/video-of-turkish-fishermen-saving-migrant-baby-from-sea.html?smid=tw-nytimesworld&smtyp=cur&_r=0

Video of Turkish Fishermen Saving Migrant Baby From Sea
 
In the two months since the world’s attention was focused on the migrant crisis in Europe, by horrifying images of a small Syrian boy whose body washed up on a Turkish beach, many more children and adults have drowned trying to reach the relative safety of Greece.
 
Others who risked everything have been plucked from the water before it was too late, by national coast guards, crowd-sourced volunteers and fishermen.
Continue reading the main story
 
Dramatic video, posted online on Friday by a Turkish newspaper, Hurriyet Daily News, showed a Turkish fishing boat saving a baby from drowning on Wednesday in the Aegean Sea off the resort town of Kusadasi, not far from the beach in Bodrum where the Syrian boy, Aylan Kurdi, was discovered, face down in the sand.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/poland-appears-poised-hand-conservatives-victory-033333580.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory&soc_trk=tw

Poles poised to hand eurosceptic conservatives election victory

 

Poles voted Sunday in a general election expected to end eight years of centrist rule and hand victory to eurosceptic conservatives who waged a campaign of anti-refugee rhetoric and welfare promises.

Kaczynski's campaign strategy also capitalised on fears linked to Europe's worst migrant crisis since World War II.

 

He claimed refugees were bringing "cholera to the Greek islands, dysentery to Vienna, various types of parasites" -- comments that critics said recalled the Nazi era.

 

His position is that Warsaw should financially support EU efforts to tackle the crisis, but not take in refugees, -- a view shared by nearly 60 percent of Poles according to surveys.

 

"I sympathise with innocent women, children -- they're fleeing a war. But I believe we should only help financially," an elegant-looking Warsaw pensioner Teresa told AFP.

 

"If richer European nations can't cope with refugees, how will we manage?" she said, adding PiS got her vote.

 

The right-wing party last held power in 2005-7, when Kaczynski governed in tandem with his twin brother, the late president Lech Kaczynski, who died in a government jet crash in western Russia in 2010.

 

 

https://twitter.com/tom_nuttall

Slovenia's PM enters W Balkans summit slamming Croatians. 1 purpose of meeting was to get these two to play nice. Another to tick off Greece
11:26 AM
 
Germans + others want Greek reception centres to house 50K. Greeks baulking. Not clear UNHCR is on board. Relocation not working.
2:11 PM

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http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/10/22/migration-crisis-boats-greece-europe-masked-men-disable_n_8358160.html

Migration Crisis: Masked Gun-Wielding Men Disable Boats Bound For Europe

 

Armed vigilantes are disabling boats carrying desperate migrants across the sea towards Europe, it was revealed on Thursday.

 

A group of masked men are hampering the efforts of thousands trying to reach the continent by removing engines from vessels bound for Greece, towing boats back to Turkish waters and even puncturing inflatable rafts.

 

17-year-old Ali, an Afghan asylum seeker, told of the eight-hour voyage he endured with a group of men, women and children, when, after 30 minutes, a speedboat suddenly rammed their rubber dinghy.

 

Five men, dressed in black and their faces covered with balaclavas, approached the group carrying handguns.

 

“At first when they approached, we thought they had come to help us,” the boy told international NGO Human Rights Watch.

"But by the way they acted, we realised they hadn’t come to help."

 

"They were so aggressive," Ali said. "They didn’t come on board our boat, but they took our boat’s engine and then sped away.”

 

Another victim, a 38-year-old Afghan traveling on a separate trip, told of the moment similar figures boarded his boat and cut the fuel vessel's fuel line.

"About one hour and 15 minutes after we set off from Turkey, there was a boat that came that we believe it was Greek," he said.

 

"It was a grey plastic boat, a Zodiac, like a police boat and very fast.

 

"The men on board were all dressed in all-black military clothes and boots that had no insignia on them.

 

"We couldn’t see their faces because they were all masked. They were armed with pistols and very aggressive and they came right up to our boat.

"They cut the fuel line going to the engine, and took the cables. They broke the engine, and they hit me with the motor cable.

 

"When they were finished, they set off for the coast of Greece.

 

"They attacked four boats, us and three other ones."

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http://reliefweb.int/report/greece/europe-s-refugee-emergency-response-update-7-16-22-october-2015

Europe’s Refugee Emergency Response - Update #7, 16 – 22 October 2015

 

Greece witnessed over 62,000 refugees and migrants arriving by sea, the highest weekly arrival figure so far. Over half a million persons arrived in Greece this year, with more than 50% arriving since September and around 300,000 on the island of Lesvos alone. The situation on Lesvos remains critical.

 

The closure of Hungary’s green border with Croatia on 17 October, led to a redirection of the population movement from Croatia to Slovenia.

 

People stranded in transit points and the increased numbers of people on the move, led to a rise of tensions, refugees and migrants spending the night in the rain and a significant number of separated families. Deteriorating weather conditions further impacted people waiting in transit sites and border crossing points.

 

UNHCR continues to work with governments in different countries impacted by the emergency to improve reception conditions, including by expanding emergency shelter, supporting registration capacity, assisting persons with specific needs and providing information and translation services. UNHCR is ensuring protection presence on key border crossings by working in 24h shifts.

 

Preparations for the winter are ongoing in reception facilities and transit sites.

 

On 21 October, a second group of 66 asylum-seekers departed from Italy to Sweden and Finland, under the EU relocation scheme.

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/24/syrians-refugees-migrants-lesbos-winter?CMP=twt_gu

Race against winter increases pressure on desperate Syrians to reach Greece

 

Rashid al-Shabai knew that time was against him. Like his family and friends, he has tried to outrun the seasons, embarking on the treacherous trek west before the winter sets in. The Syrian student was far from alone.

 

According to the International Migration Organisation, around 7,000 people were attempting the same voyage when he got into a dinghy on the Aegean shores of Turkey and headed for the Greek island of Lesbos last week.

 

“I didn’t want to come now, but it was sort of now or never,” he said, smiling wanly as he waited for the ferry that would take him to Athens on the next stage of his odyssey. “The future doesn’t exist in Syria. That is a fact. The weather, the cold, the rain, they are also facts. If we risked staying on, we might have risked everything.”

 

The race against-the-clock before temperatures fall has injected new vigour into the flow of refugees seeking solace in Europe from the tumult of the Middle East. Lesbos, which has borne the brunt of the traffic, is an island transformed; its windy roads now the preserve of those constantly on the move, its shops plastered with Arabic scrawl, its beaches and coves littered with orange lifejackets and black boats, all telltale signs of what it has become: the single biggest magnet for the greatest movement of people in modern times.

 

On Wednesday, more than 27,500 were stranded on Greek islands, most fleeing the civil war – and more recently Russian airstrikes – that has pummelled Syria since 2011. “If you are young, you are always afraid of being forced into the army,” said Al Shabai, travelling with his mother, aunt and two best friends who had also fled for fear of being conscripted. “We don’t want to fight a war that no one can win.”

 

Sea arrivals passed the half-million mark last week as the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, announced that more than 502,000 refugees and migrants had entered Greece this year.

 

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article4598831.ece

Now Austria builds fence to curb flow of migrants

 

Germany clashed with Austria yesterday after Vienna said that it would build a border fence to curb the flow of migrants, raising the prospect of a rush to seal frontiers across central and southeastern Europe.

 

In the name of European unity, Berlin urged Austria not to erect a barrier along its frontier with Slovenia, which each week is crossed by thousands of people on their way to Germany.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/28/us-usa-syrians-refugees-idUSKCN0SM18L20151028

As U.S. braces for Syrian refugees, mental health services lag

 

More than 20 years after Saddam Hussein's soldiers in Iraq killed his brother in front of him, Ali Alghazally still suffers from night terrors he blames on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a common problem among refugees often left untreated.

 

As the United States prepares to take in 10,000 or more Syrian refugees in the coming year, social service groups are urging more funding for mental health counseling for cases like Alghazally's, saying it makes resettlement easier.

 

The 48-year-old finally began undergoing psychotherapy last year in Dearborn, a southeastern Michigan city that is home to many Arab-Americans - but not before becoming addicted to anti-anxiety pills and leaving his job as a limousine driver.

 

"The best time to get treatment is once it's fresh and it's new," said Sharehan Ayesh, Alghazally's counselor at the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services in Dearborn, which calls itself the nation's largest social service agency for Arab-Americans.

 

"We're having to do 20 years' worth of repair that should have been done" earlier, Ayesh said recently.

 

President Barack Obama has pledged to take in thousands more refugees from Syria's civil war.

 

Many of those fleeing the violence - which has included barrel bombs, chemical weapons, gunfire and summary executions - will need mental health counseling.

But if history is any guide, few will get it.

 

Because it competes with basic needs such as housing, schooling and job placement, counseling for refugees often is neglected.

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/10/29/uk-europe-migrants-germany-idUKKCN0SN1P020151029

Germany to spend up to 16 billion euros on refugees next year

 

Germany's federal states and municipalities could face costs of up to 16 billion euros (11.47 billion pound) next year to deal with the refugee crisis, the Association of German Cities said on Thursday.

 

Europe's richest country has become a favoured destination for people fleeing war, violence and poverty in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It expects 800,000 to a million migrants to enter the country this year, twice as many as in any prior year.

 

Germany's states have long complained that they are struggling to cope with the record influx and have urged the federal government in Berlin to provide more help.

 

Helmut Dedy, deputy managing director of the Association of German Cities, said the federal states and municipalities could end up spending 7 billion to 16 billion euros on costs related to refugees next year, depending on the number of new arrivals.

 

Taking into account funds the government has already agreed to provide, that means the states and municipalities will still need 3 billion to 5.5 billion euros in financing, Dedy said.

 

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/10/29/uk-europe-migrants-germany-risk-idUKKCN0SN23O20151029

German police say refugee influx poses security risk

 

Germany's police chief has said that the uncontrolled influx of refugees into the country posed a domestic security threat as more than 8,000 streamed over the Austrian border to Bavaria on Wednesday alone.

 

Germany is struggling to cope with the arrival of an expected 800,000 to 1 million migrants this year, many from war zones in the Middle East, and officials are openly worrying about a potential rise in right-wing radicalism amongst Germans.

 

"The security situation is getting worse with the growing numbers of refugees," Holger Muench, head of the BKA federal police, told weekly magazine Focus.

"Conflicts among asylum-seekers are increasing, the mood among the right is being stirred. This dynamic worries me," he said, adding that the situation was "difficult and tense".

 

Muench said the number of offences against asylum seekers' shelters had tripled so far this year to 600, of which at least 543 had a right-wing background. This compares to 198 for the whole of last year.

 

He said the BKA had registered 95 violent crimes and 49 arson attacks, while it was examining 10 cases of refugees suspected of taking part in war crimes abroad or for being a member of a terrorist organisation.

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http://news.yahoo.com/13-children-among-least-22-migrants-drowned-off-085015208.html

17 children drown off Greece as refugees brave stormy seas

 

At least 17 children drowned when three boats sank en route from Turkey to Greece, officials said Friday, the latest tragedy to strike migrants braving wintry seas to seek asylum in Europe.

 

Nine adults also lost their lives when the boats went down, with the drownings once again highlighting the human cost as Europe struggles with its worst migrant crisis since World War II.

 

Although rescue officials in Greece and Turkey managed to pull another 157 people from the water, such drownings have become an almost daily occurrence as thousands of people brave high seas and wintry weather to make the crossing on flimsy, overloaded boats.

 

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras expressed "shame" over Europe's failure to prevent yet another "humanitarian tragedy", and said it was crucial to prevent the Aegean Sea from becoming a graveyard for people fleeing war and misery.

 

Most of the deaths occurred off the Greek islands of Kalymnos and Rhodes, where 22 people drowned, among them 13 children, when two boats went down overnight, port officials said on Friday.

 

In total, 138 people were rescued from the two boats, with the coastguard continuing its search for survivors.

To the north, an AFP correspondent witnessed another boat foundering off the island of Lesbos, with a group of desperate people perched on the roof screaming for help.

 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/emaoconnor/refugee-rescued-with-his-cat-exposes-dangerous-and-unlivable#.rcRbggNr2

Refugee Rescued With His Cat Exposes “Dangerous And Unlivable” Conditions In German Camp

 

In September, the photo of a dead 3-year-old boy who drowned at sea and washed up on the shores of a Turkish resort town shocked the world into paying attention to the Middle East’s refugee crisis. Days later, a more uplifting photo, this time on the shores of Greece, traveled around the globe: a Syrian man who successfully ferried his kitten across the Mediterranean in an inflatable raft.

 

That was Moner Al Kadri, a former journalist with a degree in architectural engineering. He told BuzzFeed News he cannot remember exactly how old he is, though he thinks he is 27.

 

He said the last few years have been so terrible, he has a hard time distinguishing one from the other. “When you live in the war, you can’t feel everything in your life,” he said. “You can’t taste your food, feel your connection to other people. You can’t feel the fun things.”

 

He and his wife were married in Istanbul just before they boarded the raft to Greece with the cat, Zaytouna — “olive” in Arabic. They spent the first month of their marriage traveling all across Europe, but not in the style of most newlyweds.

 

The couple is now in a large refugee camp in Suhl, a city in eastern Germany’s federal state of Thuringia. The conditions, Al Kadri said, are deplorable. Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans, and other families fleeing Middle East conflicts pad through inches of water to get to the bathroom and receive small food rations, and they are subject to spreading diseases.

“It’s like a prison here,” Al Kadri said over the free texting service WhatsApp.

 

“When we say complaints they say, ‘If you don’t like it here, go back to Syria,’” he said. “It is so painful when they say that.”

 

In the past week, hundreds of refugees of all ages have stood outside a building containing the camp managers’ office protesting the conditions, which Al Kadri called “dangerous and unlivable.”

 

When they first arrived at the camp, their kitten was taken away for tests. Over a month later, they don’t know where Zaytouna ended up.

 

“They told me they put our little cat in a new place with some German family until we can find a flat here,” Al Kadri told BuzzFeed News. “My wife told me, ‘Let’s pretend we are cats, maybe then they will find a place for us!’”

 

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/alleged-german-killer-refugee-boy-admits-killing-second-110559892.html#fExl49E

German suspected of killing refugee, 4, admits murdering second boy

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/01/refugees-boat-sinks-off-greek-island-samos

Eleven dead as refugees' boat sinks off Greek island of Samos

 

Eleven refugees, including six children – four of them babies – drowned on Sunday off the Greek island of Samos, coastguards said.

 

Ten of the dead were found in the cabin of their boat, which overturned as it made the hazardous crossing from the Turkish coast.

 

The other victim, a young girl, was washed up on the island. Dozens of refugees trying to reach Europe have died in the waters around the Greek islands in recent days.

 

Two other people were still missing, with coastguards saying 15 were plucked from the water after the boat capsized only 20 metres from the shore.

The sinking adds to a string of migrant boat tragedies since Monday off the Greek islands of Lesbos, Kalymnos and Rhodes in which more than 60 people have drowned, at least 28 of them children.

 

On Friday 22 people, including 17 children, lost their lives trying to cross to the eastern Aegean islands from Turkey, where more than 2 million Syrian refugees have fled to.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/refugee-crisis-two-syrian-men-beaten-with-baseball-bats-by-masked-gang-in-germany-a6716826.html

Refugee crisis: two Syrian men beaten with baseball bats by masked gang in Germany

 

Two Syrian refugees were beaten with baseball bats by a group of masked attackers in the north eastern German town of Wismar.

 

Police in the nearby town of Rostock said the two unidentified men were standing outside their refugee shelter on Saturday night when the group of masked men started harassing and beating them.

 

The men have been taken to hospital where they were treated for their injuries.

 

Police say the attackers fled the scene and they have been unable to track down or identify the perpetrators.

 

They did not say how many people had been involved in the attack.

 

It is the latest in a string of attacks on refugees in Germany as the tide of public opinion begins to turn against them.

 

Last week, German police announced they had foiled a neo-Nazi plot to bomb a refugee centre in the city of Bamburg in Bavaria.

 

According to figures released by the Associated Press, there have been more than 576 crimes against or around refugee shelters so far this year - three times as many as in all of 2014.

 

According to a government report leaked earlier this month, Germany could see an influx of 1.5m new refugees by the end of the year.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/01/unaccompanied-young-refugees-europe-traffickers?CMP=share_btn_tw

Unaccompanied young refugees in Europe 'at risk from criminal gangs'

 

Vulnerable refugees trudging across Europe in search of sanctuary are being preyed upon by organised criminal gangs intent on forcing them into prostitution and slave labour, one of Europe’s most senior police officers has warned.

 

“Modern, enterprising, organised criminal gangs go where the opportunity is high and the risk is low,” Brian Donald, Europol’s chief of staff, told an international conference on human trafficking in Madrid this weekend.

 

Unaccompanied children are at particular risk, Donald told delegates including the Metropolitan police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe, who said more had to be done by the UK to fight trafficking. Only 10 out 43 police forces in England and Wales have specialist anti-trafficking units.

 

The warnings came as the onset of winter is worsening the desperate plight of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, many of whom are fleeing the civil war in Syria. As the European Union struggles to deal with the influx of refugees, their need for money makes them susceptible to unscrupulous gangs operating along routes, in refugee centres and in destination countries.

 

Migrants were being “identified for exploitation, especially those of a young age, young women, the unaccompanied”, with prostitution and illegal labour being the most likely outcomes, Donald told the Santa Marta conference, organised by the Catholic church.

 

Children travelling alone or in groups without adults were particularly at risk. European law enforcement agencies had logged at least 7,000 unaccompanied minors among refugees and migrants entering Europe in the recent past, but “that’s nowhere near the actual number,” he said.

 

Donald said: “In the coming years, the phenomenon of migrants being exploited once they’ve reached the European Union will become more visible. We need to keep on top of the nexus between smuggling gangs and trafficking gangs.”

 

There was a “tremendous amount of crossover” between those smuggling refugees across borders and gangs ensnaring people for exploitation in the sex trade or as forced labour. A third of organised crime groups involved in moving refugees and migrants across Europe were also engaged in other criminal activities, including the drugs trade, money laundering and people trafficking, he said.

[visionary]

https://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak

UNHCR says 218,394 migrants & refugees arrived in Europe by sea in October - record for any month & roughly the same as in the whole of 2014
5:57 AM

 

http://www.dw.com/en/refugees-vanish-from-german-centers/a-18821758

Refugees vanish from German centers

 

Over the past few months, hundreds of refugees have gone missing from shelters, often before they were registered. Their disappearances are leaving the authorities clueless as to their whereabouts.

 

It's not the first time refugees disappear without a trace from emergency housing in Germany, but the state of Lower Saxony recently faced an unusually high figure.

 

About 700 of roughly 4,000 asylum seekers put up by the northern state disappeared last month, according to a state-wide survey by the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" newspaper.

 

Many hadn't even been registered yet - the first step in asylum proceedings. The authorities don't know who they are and where they might have gone.

 

The same has been happening, though to a lesser degree, in refugee centers across the nation in September and October.

 

They have the right to move freely and leave the shelters, Lower Saxony Interior Ministry spokesman Matthias Eichler told DW.
"So we can't say how many people move on on their own initiative."

 

But this new aspect to the refugee crisis has not gone unnoticed.

 

The refugees' disappearance is a sign of the state's "losing control," warned Jochen Oltmer, a migration expert at the University of Osnabrück.

 

German law stipulates that refugees must be registered as soon as they enter Germany. In practice, with the many thousands of asylum-seekers pouring into the country on a daily basis , the initial registration process by the country's border police is hopelessly backlogged.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/05/us-europe-migrants-sweden-idUSKCN0SU1KB20151105?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Sweden says can no longer guarantee housing for new refugees
 

Sweden's migration minister warned on Thursday that the government could no longer guarantee finding accommodation for newly arrived refugees as the country applied for EU emergency aid to cope with record number of asylum seekers.

 

The Migration Agency said it was preparing to shelter around 50 refugees in the reception area of its headquarters because of the lack of housing.

 

The agency forecast up to 190,000 asylum seekers would arrive this year, double the previous record from the early 1990s.

 

"The major problem today is that the number of asylum seekers is growing faster than we can arrange for accommodation," Justice and Migration Minister Morgan Johansson said.

 

"Sweden can no longer guarantee accommodation to everyone who comes. Those who are arriving could be met with the news that there isn't anywhere to stay."

 

The agency already plans to shelter thousands of refugees in heated tents due to a housing shortage, while some people may be put in venues such as ski resorts and a theme park.

 

The government has also applied to the European Commission to arrange for some of those to be moved to other EU countries.

 

The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Thuresday refugees and migrants were likely to continue to arrive in Europe at a rate of up to 5,000 per day via Turkey this winter.

 

More than 760,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean so far this year, mainly to Greece and Italy, after fleeing wars in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as conflicts in Eritrea and other parts of Africa, it said.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/greek-refugee-island-running-space-bury-dead-083159964.html;_ylt=AwrXnCX.GDtWcjgA0NLQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTByb2lvbXVuBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--

Greek refugee island running out of space to bury the dead

 

Since the start of the summer, the Greek island of Lesbos has assumed notoriety as the main gateway into Europe for thousands of desperate refugees.

 

But as the lives lost in the risky Aegean Sea crossing relentlessly rise, the island has a new challenge -- finding space to bury the dead.

 

Nearly 500 people have died trying to cross the Aegean Sea from neighbouring Turkey this year, many of them in the narrow but treacherous stretch separating Lesbos from Turkey.

 

At least 80 drowned last month, many of them children.

 

The bodies of another five people including a woman and two children were recovered early on Wednesday, the Greek coastguard said.

 

Local municipal and church authorities this week declared that the island's cemetery was full, leaving them no option but to store dozens of bodies in a refrigerated container.

 

"We hope that the authorities will be able to find a solution quickly," said Effi Latsoudi, member of a local migrant support group.

The local bishop this week said efforts to create a new burial ground could take years.

 

"It could take 2-3 years" to release a property near the island hospital suitable for this purpose, Bishop Iakovos told Mega Channel.

 

https://twitter.com/lindseyhilsum

Tonight @Channel4News I'm reporting from Lesvos. Greek PM says they can't cope and that's exactly what I saw. Hundreds sleep on streets.

12:34 PM

 

Greek ferry operators on strike so 16,000 refugees/migrants stuck on Lesvos. Shld be able to leave tomorrow when ferries restart.
12:37 PM

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/06/us-mideast-crisis-usa-refugees-iduskcn0sv2xy20151106?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=563d6a6804d301090ad1d707&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter#wHy3M3FqJYV1Wwyz.97

Gulf states, BRICs should do more for Syrian refugees: U.S.

 

Wealthy Gulf Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar as well as the so-called BRICs emerging market nations should do more to help Syrian refugees, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

 

"I would like to see more aid come from the Gulf states that are in the Middle East area and are relatively wealthy compared to Jordan and Lebanon," Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard told C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" program.

 

"We would also like to see more from the so-called BRICs -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and, to a lesser extent South Africa," she added. "These are the wealthy states that care about the region that could and should be doing more on the humanitarian side."

 

About 250,000 people have died and some four million driven abroad as refugees because of the Syrian conflict, which began in 2011 with protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has evolved into a full-blown civil war.

 

The majority of the refugees have flowed into neighboring nations such as Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon but hundreds of thousands have also made their way to Europe.

 

Richard said that some Gulf Arab states such as Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates had contributed strongly for refugees while others, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, could do more.

 

She said some Gulf states' contributions for refugees varied from year to year and that she would like to see their efforts better integrated into the international humanitarian system.

 

None of the six states in the Gulf Cooperation Council -- Saudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar -- has signed the U.N. convention on refugees, which has governed international law on asylum since World War Two.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/07/us-europe-migrants-germany-idUSKCN0SW0LN20151107?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Row over refugees' status reopens divisions in German government

 

Just two days after resolving a coalition row over how to handle a record influx of refugees, Germany's ruling parties are embroiled in another spat over whether to limit the asylum rights of refugees from Syria.

 

The government was forced to clarify on Friday that its asylum policy for refugees from Syria remained unchanged after the interior minister said they would receive a modified refugee status and be barred from having family members join them.

 

But the comments made by Thomas de Maiziere in a radio interview have reopened a rift between Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CSU), its Bavarian sister party (CSU) and their Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners.

 

On Saturday, Ralf Stegner, deputy chairman of the SPD, accused the CDU of making half-baked proposals instead of implementing the decisions agreed on by the coalition.

 

Restricting family reunions would only mean that more women and children would undertake the dangerous journey from Syria to Europe, he said, adding that the SPD opposed the idea.

 

"It's off the table as far as the SPD is concerned," Stegner told German radio. "This won't wash with the SPD, and the CDU knows this perfectly well."

 

However, lawmakers from the CSU, who govern the state of Bavaria which has borne the brunt of the refugee influx, backed de Maiziere's proposals.

 

"Hundreds of thousands of Syrians are getting shelter here, but it must only be subsidiary protection - this means for a limited period and without having family members join them," Andreas Scheuer, the secretary general of the Christian Social Union (CSU) told Bild am Sonntag.

[visionary]

Ah man, that Iraqi guy....

 

 

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/11/9/eu-warns-of-refugee-catastrophe-as-winter-approaches.html?utm_content=nobylines&utm_campaign=ajam&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow

EU warns of refugee 'catastrophe' as winter approaches

 

The European Union (EU) warned on Monday of a looming humanitarian "catastrophe" with tens of thousands of refugees and migrants traveling through the Balkans to northern Europe as winter closes in.

 

More than 770,000 people have arrived in the EU by sea so far this year, overwhelming border authorities and reception facilities. Many have made the arduous land journey on foot through the Balkans in search of sanctuary or work in countries like Germany or Sweden. Most come from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other war-torn countries.

 

The EU's 28 member nations have pledged to provide experts and funds to help manage the emergency, and to share refugees among them.

But the resources have been painfully slow in coming.

 

"The European Union must do everything to avoid a catastrophe as winter closes in," Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said after chairing the latest in a long series of high-level talks on the challenge. "We cannot let people die from the cold in the Balkans."

 

To help manage the influx, EU border agency Frontex has called for 775 extra officers, but member states have so far only offered about half that amount. Slovenia asked for 400 more police officers within a week to help out. Almost three weeks later, less than half has been pledged.

 

A so-called refugee relocation plan is meant to share 160,000 refugees arriving in Greece and Italy, but barely more than 100 people have been moved so far.

 

"We need to move from the dozens to the hundreds," the EU's top migration official, Dmitris Avramopoulos, told reporters after the meeting in Brussels.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/over-300-refugees-found-hidden-yacht-greek-coastguard-205935309.html;_ylt=A0LEVvibE0FWfj8Aql5jmolQ;_ylu=X3oDMTByMG04Z2o2BHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkAw--

Over 300 refugees found hidden in yacht: Greek coastguard

 

The Greek coastguard on Monday said it had discovered over 300 refugees hidden in a yacht that ran aground near the island of Lesbos.

 

"The coastguard found and rescued 345 refugees," the agency said, adding that the yacht was discovered on Tsonia beach in the northeast of the island.

It added that none of the refugees, whose nationalities were not disclosed, required immediate hospitalisation.

 

Greek media reported that each of the migrants had paid traffickers around 3,000 euros ($3,200) for transportation to Lesbos.

 

Lesbos and other Greek Aegean islands are at the forefront of the greatest migration challenge facing the European Union since World War II.

 

Over 600,000 migrants and refugees, mostly from war-torn Syria, have landed in Greece this year, but nearly 500 have died in the Aegean.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/australia-moves-quash-migrant-centre-unrest-234109155.html;_ylt=AwrXnCDOekFW.HsAksjQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTByb2lvbXVuBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--

Australia moves to quash migrant centre unrest

 

Australian police reinforcements poured into remote Christmas Island on Tuesday to help quell unrest at a migrant detention centre, amid reports inmates had armed themselves with machetes and petrol bombs.

 

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said police had already retaken some compounds at the facility and so far encountered little resistance.

 

"There's an operation underway. The government's not going to cower in the face of some of these criminals," Dutton told reporters in Canberra.

 

The disturbance at the Indian Ocean island centre began late Sunday after the unexplained death of an escaped asylum-seeker, named in Australian media as Iranian-Kurdish Fazel Chegeni, with detainees starting fires after guards fled.

 

Detainees have complained about their treatment at the facility on the Australian territory northwest of the mainland, which currently houses 203 men, among them asylum-seekers awaiting processing and foreign citizens being deported because they have criminal convictions.

 

One inmate, New Zealander Tuk Whakatutu, said the detainees had fallen back into one of the detention centre's compounds, which had been surrounded by police in riot gear.

 

Whakatutu said most inmates were hoping for a peaceful resolution but a hard-core group of 20-30 young men, mainly New Zealanders and Pacific islanders, were "tooled up" and determined to fight.

 

"I want nothing to do with it but all the young fellas are gee-d up and all they want to do is go to war with them," he told Radio New Zealand via telephone, with sirens blaring in the background.

 

"They've got petrol bombs, they've got machetes, they've got chainsaws, iron bars, they've got all sorts."

 

Whakatutu said police, whose numbers were bolstered by two plane loads of reinforcements from the mainland, had warned detainees they would be shot if officers encountered armed resistance.

 

"I don't want to get shot for something I'm not involved in," he said.

[visionary]

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canadian-military-can-already-house-12k-syrian-refugees-1.2649684#_gus&_gucid=&_gup=twitter&_gsc=inzvlwW

Canadian military can already house 12K Syrian refugees

 

The Canadian military is already prepared to house 12,000 Syrian refugees -- nearly half of the 25,000 that the Liberal government has promised to bring to the country -- by the end of the year, CTV News has learned.

 

Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance ordered a review weeks ago so that the military could hit the ground running in case the government asked for his support.

Refugees could be housed in cadet summer camps and military training bases.

 

"We've got the whole network of bases across Canada -- probably, though I’m just guessing at this stage of the game -- it could probably come back to (Canadian Forces Base) Trenton, where they could be processed and distributed out," said retired Major General David Fraser.

 

Earlier on Monday, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister John McCallum announced that a cabinet sub-committee has been tasked with bringing the Liberals’ goal to fruition.

 

The chair of the sub-committee will be Health Minister Jane Philpott. Other members include Heritage Minister Melanie Joly, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion and Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef.

 

McCallum said each sub-committee member has a portfolio that touches on the refugee issue. He singled out Philpott, who has worked with refugees in Africa, and Monsef, who was herself a refugee from Afghanistan.

 

McCallum said the Liberal government is still committed to bringing the refugees in by the end of the year, but wants to do it “correctly.”

 

In a statement, NDP MP Jenny Kwan said her party "supports" the Liberals’ goal, but believes that McCallum's announcement was "short on details."

 

"We believe Canadians were looking for a concrete plan for getting vulnerable refugees out of harm's way, not hearing about new cabinet subcommittees," she said.

 

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/11/09/whos-in-charge-of-the-migrants-arriving-in-greece-the-answer-will-surprise-you/

Who’s in charge of the migrants arriving in Greece? The answer will surprise you.

 

A young woman from Norway stands on the beach of this island in the Aegean Sea, scanning the horizon through binoculars for rubber dinghies carrying refugees and migrants. The telltale sign is a flash of orange, the color of life jackets.

 

She spots one and calls to her fellow volunteers for help. Their group of about 20, named A Drop in the Ocean, gathers around her. They wave flags and and yell at the boat to come their way.

 

“Hello! Welcome to Europe!” they shout. Several wade waist-deep into the water and pull the boat to shore, then help some 40 Afghans, including at least 15 children, on to dry land.

 

This scene plays out all day, every day on Lesbos, the epicenter of a migration crisis that is only increasing in scale. Approximately 125,000 refugees arrived in Lesbos from Turkey in October, double the number in August, according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC). They are escaping wars and violence in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea and elsewhere. More than 791,000 have arrived by sea since January.

 

What sets this humanitarian crisis apart is the centrality of volunteers. On Lesbos alone, they number well into the hundreds. They are lifeguards from Spain, doctors from Holland, trauma counselors from the West Bank, nurses from Australia, a cook from Malaysia, and all manner of ordinary people pitching in however they can. Many come on their own dime, taking time off from work or pausing their lives indefinitely. They fill in critical gaps created by a perfect storm of political weakness and limits to aid: a Greek government in severe economic distress and without capacity to take control; a European Union strangled by politics as it struggles to define a uniform migration policy; and international aid groups that have been slow to move in because they do not normally operate in industrialized nations — and have to start their operations from scratch in a place like Lesbos.

 

Meanwhile, the boats keep coming, and grassroots volunteer efforts have grown increasingly sophisticated. A group called O Allos Anthropos, Greek for “The Other Person,” cooks and hands out free meals for thousands of refugees daily. A Drop in the Ocean runs its own camp for just-arrived refugees, particularly families with small children, where it provides food, tents and donated clothing. Yet another group, the Starfish Foundation, set up a central bus station for refugees in the parking lot of Oxy, a cliffside nightclub with stunning sea views. Volunteers there give out handmade bus tickets to the two official camps in the island’s south.

 

But as winter sets in and the sea crossing grows more dangerous, the lack of an officially coordinated emergency response could lead to higher death tolls. Though volunteers have tried organizing themselves in recent months — they now hold weekly meetings with aid workers from international organizations such as the IRC, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) — most are not trained in crisis management. They vastly outnumber aid workers on the island, but for many, it’s their first experience with a humanitarian disaster. And because they’re in Greece temporarily, on hiatus from paid jobs back home, the high turnover means many must leave the island just as they are beginning to understand their roles.

[visionary]

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/europe/2015-11-11/lesbos-refugee-disaster

Lesbos' Refugee Disaster

 

As she was about to board an overcrowded rubber dinghy on the Turkish coast late one October afternoon, Hanan, 22 years old and pregnant, felt her water break. The Turkish gang smuggling desperate migrants and asylum seekers across a narrow stretch of the Aegean Sea to the Greek island of Lesbos pushed her onto the boat anyway, along with more than 50 other people, and forced it to set off.

 

Hanan gave birth to a baby on the rocks at the beach at Lesbos, assisted by a volunteer aid worker from Iceland. My photographer and I, who had come to Lesbos for Human Rights Watch to document the plight of those making the dangerous crossing, arrived soon after. Next to the new mother, we found two young girls writhing in pain: smugglers had placed them at the bottom of the boat, piling dozens of adults on top of them, and their limbs had turned blue. After a doctor and volunteers cut off their wet clothes, checked them for injuries, and helped to restore their circulation, the two girls were carried off the beach and ultimately recovered. With the assistance of volunteers, so did Hanan and her newborn baby, Ahmed.

 

Many others have not been so lucky. A few days after Hanan arrived in Lesbos, an elderly Iraqi woman had what appeared to have been a heart attack during the boarding process on the Turkish coast. The smugglers insisted that the unconscious woman be brought aboard anyway; during the crossing, as the boat

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/13/baby-girl-born-yazidi-refugees-estonian-asylum-system

Baby girl born to Yazidi refugees trapped in Estonian asylum system

 

A baby girl has been born to Yazidi refugees detained within the Estonian asylum system, it has emerged, after officials refused to let her family leave while their asylum application is processed.

 

One-month-old Warda was born in late October, after her parents were arrested in Tallinn a month earlier. They are Yazidis who allegedly fled northern Syria after the advance of Islamic State, which has persecuted the Yazidi minority in Syria and Iraq.

 

Warda’s mother was allowed to stay in a civilian hospital for four days to give birth, and was returned afterwards to Harku, a prison and migrant detention centre where guards fired rubber bullets this week to quell a riot. Reached by the Guardian via the centre’s landline, and speaking in a Kurdish dialect through an Arabic-speaking fellow inmate, Warda’s father said he did not understand his legal situation and was lost in translation.

The family claim they lack adequate baby care products, and can stay in touch with the outside world only when people call the landline. Other inmates have complained of mistreatment at Harku, leading to a riot – to which the authorities admit they responded by firing rubber bullets at the floor in the adult part of the complex.

 

Asked to comment on the treatment of Warda and her family, the centre’s commander, Pärtel Preinvalts, said mother and baby were in perfect condition, had received all the necessary baby care products, and were returned to Harku after the advice of medical professionals. “The birth was successful and there [was] no actual reason to keep them in the hospital any longer,” said Preinvalts. He also claimed the family were citizens of Armenia, where there is a large Yazidi minority, though he did not question the claim that they had fled Isis.

 

The case highlights the extent of the Syrian refugee crisis, which has spread from the Middle Eastern countries of Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey to places as remote as Norway’s Arctic border with Russia, and to the small Baltic state of Estonia. The plight of Warda’s family also helps explain why most refugees aim for a few particular destinations, such as Scandinavia or Germany, where they are more likely to be treated humanely, and where expectant mothers are not held in detention.

 

Warda is among eight Syrian and Iraqi refugee children detained at Harku, and could soon be joined by a ninth: a second detained Yazidi mother is six months pregnant. The children’s plight is arguably in contravention of the UN convention on the rights of the child, to which Estonia is a signatory, which says children should not be punished because of the status of their parents.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/syrian-refugees-tutoring-mcgill-university-1.3315471

Syrian refugees get online tutoring from McGill University students

 

After giving just a few tutoring sessions to Syrian refugees online, Meg Rapp is already emotionally invested in their future and hopes to meet them if their dreams of attending university in Canada come true.

 

Rapp, a first-year science student, is part of a small group of students at McGill University that has started tutoring six young Syrians via Skype.

"It's just a great way for us to connect with them and not only teach them English but show them there's someone here in Canada who's interested in them and wants to invest in them and cares about them," Rapp said.

The pilot project was launched by about 15 students in McGill's Living-Learning Community, a program in which a group of students living at the Solin Hall residence collaborates on a long-term project under the guidance of a faculty member.

 

After consulting a Syrian Montrealer who works with the Al Salam school for Syrian refugee children in Turkey, the McGill students learned that the volunteer teaching English at that school will soon be leaving.

 

They decided to step in to fill the gap, with one-hour tutoring sessions via Skype.

 

 

http://missingmigrants.iom.int/

[visionary]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-14/poland-to-shun-refugees-after-paris-attack-future-minister-says

Poland to Shun Refugees After Paris Attack, Future Minister Says

 

Poland’s new government won’t accept migrant quotas imposed by the European Union, as the terror attacks in France have exposed the weakness in the bloc, the nation’s future minister for European affairs said.

 

“In the wake of the tragic events in Paris, Poland doesn’t see the political possibilities to implement a decision on the relocation of refugees,” Konrad Szymanski was quoted as saying on Wpolityce.pl website on Saturday. “The attacks mean there’s a need for an even deeper revision of the European policy regarding the migrant crisis.”

 

Szymanski’s rejection of the EU quotas hours after Paris was rocked by terrorist attacks underscore the divide among governments in the bloc over the influx of Middle Eastern migrants. His Law & Justice party will take power in Poland this week after winning last month’s general election on a campaign that tapped into concerns among the country’s conservative Catholic base that too many Muslims are arriving in Europe.

 

Poland’s previous cabinet, led by the Civic Platform party, also opposed efforts led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to force EU member states to take in more migrants. While incoming Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said Poland will meet an commitment by the Civic Platform to shelter 7,000 refugees, prime minister designate Beata Szydlo referred to the deal as “blackmail.” She will be sworn in on Monday.

 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/munzeralawad/syrian-refugees-in-france-say-paris-terror-is-the-terror-the?utm_term=.vhVObbwz1#.weENwwBYq

Syrian Refugees In France Say Paris Terror Is The Terror They Fled

 

Syrians who fled a brutal war and often undertook deadly sea journeys to settle in France reacted with horror to Friday’s terror attacks in Paris, and said they recognized the enemy all too well. “Syrians left Syria in dangerous ways to live in peace, but the killers followed them to Europe,” said Moaz Shaklab, a businessman from the Syrian city of Homs who settled in France two years ago as a refugee.

 

The Paris attacks could spark new waves of Islamophobia in France and beyond — and with it fear of the refugees pouring into Europe from Syria and other countries. This is exactly what ISIS wants; the group has vowed to make it impossible for Muslims to exist peacefully in the West. Yet citizens in France share an ally against Islamic extremism in most refugees settling there. Many newly arrived Syrians sought to escape the terror of ISIS and other jihadi groups, in addition to the brutal campaign being waged by Bashar al-Assad.

 

Many worked against ISIS and other jihadi groups before leaving or have friends and family doing so now. “We’re united with the French people against terrorism,” Shaklab said. “And we don’t forget that they are united with us to get our freedom.”

 

French police officials told the AP on Saturday that they had found a Syrian passport at the scene of an attack that they believed belonged to an assailant. But because of the refugee crisis, fake Syrian passports are now prevalent and easy to obtain. Whether or not the passport is authentic, news of its discovery promised to help to fan refugee fears — which may have been the intent of the man who brought it to the scene.

 

Sakher Edris, a journalist and political organizer who worked against both ISIS and the Syrian government before fleeing to France this summer, said he expected a backlash against refugees following the attacks. “We are really scared,” he said. “French people are kind, and it’s understandable to have some backlash, but we want them to know that we are with them against terror.”

 

A 35-year-old Syrian woman from Damascus took a refugee boat to Europe in August and came to France “to look for peace and a new future,” she said. “But it seems terrorism is everywhere and does not distinguish between Muslims and Christians.”

 

The woman asked to remain anonymous to protect her family members still living in Syria. “My condolences to the French people and we are united with them,” she said. “I hope they understand us and stay calm, because the backlash should be against terrorism, not people who ran away from terrorism.”

 

http://www.unhcr.org/5645c2a86.html

UNHCR ramping up support on Greece's Lesvos, focus on sea rescue and improved reception

 

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 13 November 2015, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

 

Despite dangerous sea conditions, the number of refugees and migrants arriving on Lesvos continues to be high, at an average of 3,300 people per day so far in November. Of the 660,000 refugees and migrants who have reached Greece this year more than half have landed at Lesvos. With winter approaching, reception conditions and capacity there remain overstretched and inadequate.

 

So far in 2015, some 3,460 lives have been lost on the Mediterranean, 360 in the last four weeks (some 250 of these in the Aegean Greek territorial waters). UNHCR is working with the Hellenic Coast Guard to facilitate the deployment of additional experienced life guards and has provided equipment to support the on-going rescue efforts on Lesvos.

 

In light of the continuing strains on Lesvos, UNHCR is establishing presences at six strategic locations along the island's north shore to provide newly-arriving refugees with immediate life-saving help, working with volunteers and our new medical NGO partner WAHA (Women and Health Alliance International), whose capacity is also being enhanced. This will be in addition to the existing assembly points where UNHCR and partners already provide places to rest, clothes, food, clean water and medical support. Eight buses and three mini vans are being used to transport new arrivals from the beaches to the reception sites, and this will be expanded as required.

 

We are also appealing to the authorities to create additional accommodation and reception capacity as a matter of urgency. There are only 2,800 reception places for the 12,000 refugees and migrants currently on the island. As a result, many people, including women, children and new-born babies have no choice but to sleep outside, lighting fires to keep themselves warm. This situation creates additional protection and safety concerns and is a cause of tension with the local community.

 

Urgent improvements to facilities for refugees in the island's east at Moria and Kara Tape, under the respective responsibility of the police and the municipality, are also needed, including lighting, latrines and heating as well as site management. For the time being, refugees have to find themselves a place where to sleep in the few shelters available creating conditions for the "strongest" to find a shelter to the detriment of persons with specific needs. UNHCR, partners and volunteers have to constantly intervene to prevent these situations from happening. It is critical to designate a site manager with the appropriate authority and resources.

 

At Kara Tape there have been improvements in living conditions, thanks to the efforts of the municipality with the support of UNHCR (including through the provision of 172 refugee housing units and 38 tents) and other humanitarian actors. However, conditions at the Moria site remain below minimum standards. UNHCR stands ready to assist the authorities to further improve and expand reception capacity.

[visionary]

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/11/14/ottawa-firm-on-decision-to-admit-syrian-25000-refugees.html

Ottawa firm on decision to admit Syrian 25,000 refugees

 

The terrorist attacks that rocked Paris on Friday night shouldn’t shake the Canadian government’s resolve to take in thousands of refugees from Syria, experts say, even though one of the attackers may have entered Europe using a Syrian passport.

 

According to Reuters, a Syrian travel document was found near a gunman outside the Stade de France after a co-ordinated assault that left at least 129 people dead and 352 wounded. The agency reported that someone used the passport to enter Greece on Oct. 3 with a group of refugees, but it’s not clear if it legitimately belonged to the gunman. The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

 

Despite those reports, the new Liberal government said Saturday it will stand firm on its election pledge to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees. Asked whether the government still intends to meet that target by the end of the year, as promised during the campaign, Jean-Bruno Villeneuve, a spokesman for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship told the Star in an email: “The government has reiterated its commitment to resettling 25,000 Syrian refugees and more details will be released in the coming days.”

 

Villeneuve stressed that security would not be compromised during the resettlement process. “Effective security and health screening has always been central to our planning around Syrian refugees,” he wrote.

 

In a news conference at the House of Commons Saturday afternoon, Opposition leader Rona Ambrose said Canadians were right to be concerned about taking in thousands of people from a hotbed of extremist activity over a short time frame. Ambrose didn’t go so far as to call on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to abandon the plan, however.

 

“The goal of supporting refugees from the region of Iraq and Syria is a very important goal for all Canadians. We are very compassionate people,” said Ambrose, the interim Conservative leader. “But Canadians are asking the question — can we do it this quickly, in a secure way? And I think that’s an appropriate question.”

 

According to Peter Showler, who chaired the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada from 1999 to 2002, it would be a mistake to see the Paris attacks as evidence that refugees pose a security threat to Canadians. He said the situation in Europe is “drastically different” from the process by which refugees are brought to Canada.

 

More than 814,000 migrants from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and other war-torn countries have reached Europe by sea this year, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Thousands of them have crossed multiple borders as they head north to countries like Germany in what Showler described as “a massive, disorganized rush of people.”

 

http://news.yahoo.com/polish-minister-says-syrians-return-fight-liberate-homeland-225004972.html;_ylt=A0LEViOUF0lW8pAAAKhjmolQ

Polish minister says Syrians can return to fight and 'liberate' homeland

 

The hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees pouring into Europe can be trained to form an army and return to "liberate" their homeland, Poland's new foreign minister said on Sunday.

 

Witold Waszczykowski also told public television that the refugees could be gainfully employed in this manner rather than sipping coffee on an iconic Berlin avenue or other European cities.

 

"Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have come to Europe recently. We can help them form an army," he said.

 

"Tens of thousands of young men disembark from their rubber dinghies with iPad in hand and instead of asking for drink or food, they ask where they can charge their cellphones.

"They can go to fight to liberate their country with our help," said the minister, who takes office on Monday.

 

Waszczykowski said he was trying to avoid a situation where "we send our soldiers to fight in Syria while hundreds of thousands of Syrians drink their coffee in (Berlin's) Unter den Linden" boulevard or in other European cities.

 

Germany has to date maintained an open-door policy for Syrians escaping their country's bloodshed, giving them "primary protection" -- the highest status for refugees.

 

Poland's incoming European Affairs Minister Konrad Szymanski said Saturday that Warsaw no longer considered an EU plan to redistribute refugees across Europe as a "political possibility" in light of the Paris attacks that left at least 129 people dead.

[visionary]

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/paris-terror-attacks/governor-seeks-bar-syrian-refugees-alabama-after-french-attack-n463956?cid=sm_tw&hootPostID=e19da00403cfc3ade2f730bc11ac9d5e

Governors of Michigan, Alabama Seek to Bar Syrian Refugees After French Attack

 

No Syrian refugees have entered Alabama under federal refugee assistance rules, and Gov. Robert Bentley declared Sunday night that they never will on his watch.

 

Bentley cited Friday night's "attacks of terror on innocent citizens in Paris" in promising that he would "oppose any attempt to relocate Syrian refugees to Alabama."

 

"I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm's way," he said.

Earlier Sunday, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said his state was halting efforts to accept refugees from Syria. Snyder said Michigan is "proud of our rich history of immigration" but that the state's "priority is protecting the safety of our residents," NBC Chicago reported.

 

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7e971f6a5cd4443382fac9db7afe66e6/state-14-syrian-refugees-resettled-louisiana-year

Jindal questions White House about Syrian immigrants

 

Gov. Bobby Jindal asked the White House how many Syrian refugees have been resettled in Louisiana, saying he wanted that figure and other information "in hopes that the night of horror in Paris is not duplicated here."

 

Jindal's letter to the White House on Saturday came the same day that the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for attacks that killed 129 people and wounded 350 in the French capital.

 

The question of admitting refugees from war-torn Syria has been debated for months, and Friday's attacks raised concerns about people with ties to Islamic militants flowing across borders.

 

"As Governor of Louisiana, I demand information about the Syrian refugees being placed in Louisiana in hopes that the night of horror in Paris is not duplicated here," Jindal wrote in his letter Saturday.

 

Fourteen Syrians have been resettled this year in Louisiana: one in Baton Rouge and the rest in New Orleans and suburban Kenner, the State Department told WWL-TV (http://bit.ly/1PuLFY6 ) on Sunday.

 

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/paris-terror-attacks-isil-215907#ixzz3ratS3Ib7

Rhodes also said on Fox the administration does not intend to halt its plan to take in over the next year up to 10,000 Syrian refugees. “We have very robust vetting procedures for those refugees,” he said.

 

But Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), who serves on the House Homeland Security and Intelligence committees, disputed Rhodes.

 

“What he just said about the robust vetting of refugees is untrue,” King said on Fox. “There’s virtually no vetting because there are no databases in Syria. There are no government records. We don’t know who these people are.”

 

Pressed by Fox host Chris Wallace whether the president should then suspend the program, King said, “He should absolutely suspend it unless they can show 100 percent that a person is not involved with ISIS.”

 

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, also called for an end to the program.
“There’s no possible way to screen them,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “It should be stopped immediately.

[Zguy28]

Immigration Policy Must be Based on More than an Appeal to Compassion

 

http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/kevindeyoung/2015/11/17/immigration-policy-must-be-based-on-more-than-an-appeal-to-compassion/

 

I don’t know how to fix the United States’ broken immigration system, and I don’t know how many Syrian or Turkish refugees should be admitted into this country. This is not to suggest that Christians shouldn’t care deeply about both of these issues. It is to admit, however, that the issues are of such a complexity that they cannot be solved by good intentions and broad appeals to Christian compassion.

Since the horrible events in France have focused the world’s attention on immediate immigration policy, let’s set aside the question of what to do with those who have entered this country illegally and think about how to handle the growing number of refugees and asylum seekers who are waiting permission to enter prosperous, Western nations like the United States.

 

Rest at link

[visionary]

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/scotland/first-syrian-refugees-touch-down-in-scotland-1.910906

First Syrian refugees touch down in Scotland

 

The first charter flight bringing Syrian refugees to the UK has touched down at Glasgow Airport.

 

A plane, believed to be carrying about 100 people from camps surrounding the war-torn Middle East state, landed at around 3.40pm on Tuesday.

 

Several more special flights will arrive at airports around Britain in the coming months as part of a programme to take 20,000 refugees.

 

The arrivals come after it emerged that at least one of the attackers in the Paris atrocity is believed to have entered Europe through Greece posing as a refugee from Syria.

 

At the weekend, Home Secretary Theresa May said those who arrive in the UK from the region will have been thoroughly screened to ensure they do not pose a terrorist threat.

 

She said multiple checks are in place for those earmarked for relocation in Britain.

 

"There are two levels of screening that take place," she told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show.

 

"First of all, we are taking people directly from the camps. We are working with UNHCR - UNHCR take biometrics, they look at documents, they interview people, they do their own process of screening against issues like war crimes and serious criminality.

 

"Then there is a further check that is done once people are referred to the UK. The Home Office then undertakes further checks, further biometrics are taken."

 

A "steady stream" of refugees have already come to the UK since the scheme was announced in September but the start of special charter flights is described as a "step change".

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/17/us-canada-syria-migrants-idUSKCN0T62QC20151117?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Canada scrambles to prepare for Syrian refugees amid unknowns
 

Operating with a sense of urgency but few details, Canadian officials said on Tuesday they did not know how many Syrian refugees would arrive or when as part of the prime minister's plan to bring 25,000 displaced Syrians to Canada by year end.

 

"I guess we just have to be ready," said Jennifer Fowler, acting director of multicultural relations for City of Edmonton. She said the five largest municipalities in the western province of Alberta were still waiting for details.

 

"If we have to handle it, we will. Our service agencies may not have the proper resources, but they definitely have the will to support (the plan)," she added.

 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, sworn in this month after a landslide victory, has stood firm in his pledge to bring the refugees to Canada, using military transport and housing if necessary, despite criticism from political opponents that his Jan. 1 deadline is too tight to allow for adequate security screening in the wake of the Paris attacks.

 

The leader of at least one province said this week the plan should be suspended, and another said the deadline was impossible to meet.

 

But other provincial and municipal leaders as well as resettlement experts said they were gearing up to accept the refugees within weeks although they had no information yet about who was coming or when.

 

"There are many unknowns at this point including confirmation of resettlement locations, timing and pacing of resettlement, and total numbers of refugees," said Bryan Leblanc, communications director for Ontario Immigration Minister Michael Chan.

 

Canada's most populous province has previously said it could accommodate 10,000 Syrian refugees before the end of 2016.

[Zguy28]

The facts about the Syrian refugee controversy.

 

http://erlc.com/article/explainer-what-you-should-know-about-the-syrian-refugee-controversy