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(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, 18 NOV - The ongoing refugee crisis inGreece continues to lurch from one tragedy to the next with thedeath of a nine-month old baby at the notoriously overcrowdedMoria reception center on the island of Lesvos the latest in along line of black pages in what continues to be an extremelysad story.

The Greek arm of NGO organization Meicins Sans Frontieres(Doctors Without Borders) confirmed at the weekend that a babyhad died a few days ago in hospital after being admitted withsevere dehydration. Despite receiving emergency care inhospital, the infant did not survive.

"The MSF team has confirmed the information with the hospital.

We are overwhelmed by this new tragedy," said a statement byeicins Sans Frontieres via their Twitter account.

The organisation urged the Greek government and EU once again toact quicker and take drastic measures to resolve the currentmass overcrowding and squalid living conditions refugees faceespecially on the island camps. "Children are dying in Europe due to neglect of health care andunacceptable living conditions; nothing has improved nearly fouryears after the EU-Turkey agreement. It's outrageous and cannotgo on. The mental and physical health of people at Moria isconstantly at risk. Greece and the European Union must actimmediately!"This latest death another dark stain in the history of Greece'srefugee crisis which exploded in 2015, stabilized somewhat from2016-18 but has once again blew up in a big way in 2019.

Approximately 15,000 people are staying in and around the Moriacamp on Lesvos, cramped into a space more than four times itscapacity of just 3,000.

Greece continues to struggle with the ongoing migrant crisis,which has begun to spiral out of control since the summer. Theisland camps are desperately overcrowded and the flows of peoplecoming into the country continues unabated.

According to the latest official data, a total of 10,882migrants crossed from Turkey to the Greek islands from September16 to October 16 alone. And the influx has continued in theearly part of November.

The government has begun to step up a program of transferringmigrants from island camps to alternative sites on the mainland,but progress is slow and exacerbated by continuing incomingflows of people as well as opposition from locals in themainland communities where the state wants to build new orextend existing facilities.

Although Greece's parliament finally approved a newcontroversial bill on asylum earlier this month, in an effort totackle the growing refugee crisis, there has been strongopposition from SYRIZA and human rights groups, who havelabelled the new stricter laws "a naked attempt to block accessto protection and increase deportations." The controversial and complex 237-page bill entitled"international protection and other provisions" is mainlyfocused on asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, andthe idea is that it will empower Greece to process asylum claimsquicker, as well as send more people illegible back to Turkey.

But the bill is being seen as inhumane, especially by humanrights groups. The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR alsoexpressed its concerns about the legislation, saying that itcould weaken the protection of refugees.(ANSAmed).

See the article here:
Another week, another migrant tragedy in Greece - Analysis - ANSAMed - ANSAmed

EXCLUSIVE: NBC has handed a put pilot commitment to Home, a single-camera comedy about an American couple who take in a Syrian refugee. It is based on the British series, which was created by Rufus Jones and originally aired on Channel 4 in the UK. The adaptation will be written/executive produced by former Black-ish EP Stacy Traub and directed/executive produced by Ben Stiller.

It marks the second project to emerge out of Lionsgate and BBC Studios development deal and comes on the back of CBS nabbing an adaptation of BBC One comedy Ghosts.

Home follows a new couple, Mark and Melanie, who go on a long weekend trip to a cabin in the woods with Melanies son Jonah. Their plan to come back with a tan and some happy memories is interrupted when they return with Jay, a Syrian refugee who moves in with them, and the cobbled-together family soon discovers what home really means.

The original series debuted on Channel 4 this year and was produced by British indie Channel X. Starring Jones, Raised by Wolves Rebekah Staton, Youssef Kerkour and Oaklee Pendergast, the series was picked up for a second season by Channel 4 this summer after its six-episode run.

The NBC version will be produced by Lionsgate Television and BBC Studios in association with 3 Arts Entertainment and Stillers Red Hour Films. Stiller will exec produce through his company, along with Nicky Weinstock, with Traub (left), who also exec produced The Real ONeals; Jones; Channel X MD Alan Marke; Jantaculums Adam Tandy, who produced the original; 3 Arts Entertainments Tom Lassally; and BBC Studios Angie Stephenson.

2019 CBS Pilots & Series Orders

Jones originally wrote Home in 2015, at the height of the European migrant crisis when tens of thousands of people, most of them Syrians, were hitting the ports of Greece.

NBCs Home joins CBS comedy pilot The United States of Al, exec produced by Chuck Lorre, about the friendship between an American Marine combat veteran in Ohio and his Afghan interpreter who has just come to the U.S.

Traub is repped by A.B. Fischer & Dennis Kim at Literate and attorney Ken Richman. Stiller is with WME, Untitled and Gang Tyre. Jones is repped by 3 Arts and Laura Rourke at Independent Talent in UK. Marke and Tandy are repped by George Davis of Nelson Davis Law.

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NBC Nabs Adaptation of British Immigrant Comedy Home From Ben Stiller, Stacy Traub, Lionsgate TV & BBC Studios As Put Pilot - Deadline

Last June, Christy Jones was prepped to lead a student mission group of a dozen area high school students 900 miles south to the United States-Mexico border. It would have been the fourth such trip in as many years.

But it never happened. Only two students signed up, Jones said. That was highly unusual because considerable excitement usually surrounds these mission trips.

When she asked the students why they werent participating in the 2019 St. Peters mission trip, she learned their parents were nervous about the security situation at the border, with talk in the news at the time concerning massive immigration caravans, Mexican cartel meddling and overwhelmed U.S. officials and Border Patrol personnel.

A veteran of multiple trips to the region, Jones knew she had to counter those fears and false claims about whats going on at the southern U.S. border.

The situation down there is not scary, Jones said, a parent and volunteer who serves as team leader for the St. Peters group. Youre safe down there. Its really a loving, warm environment. The kids need to see that. The kids need to see what that community is doing down there, how tight-knit they are, how much they help each other and how we can (positively) impact that.

And the best way to do that?

Get the parent educated, Jones said.

Trip to the southern U.S. border

Last month, 11 Joplin area adults Christy and Todd Jones: the Rev. J. Friedel; Ellen Broglio; Stephanie and Donald Clarke; Kathy and Gene McCain; Christine and Mary Vu; and Diane Langford arrived at the southern Texas border on Saturday, Oct. 19.

During a stay that ran through Wednesday, Oct. 23, group members visited three areas. Each of these locations had been visited by Joplin student groups in the past.

The first stop was a soup kitchen, named Loaves and Fishes, located in San Benito, Texas.

The second was a San Benito-based long-term care center, La Posada Providencia. Operated by the Sisters of Divine Providence, the facility offers a safe and welcoming home to immigrants seeking legal refuge in the U.S.

There, we just taught (them) English, life skills and we worked on their garden, Jones said. We (also) took care of the babies; a lot of moms and dads have little ones, and while theyre in class learning English, we play and babysit the kids.

But it was at the groups third and final location a short-term respite center in McAllen, Texas that made a lasting impact on Jones. And not a positive one, she said.

Ugly border crossing

They visited the Catholic Charities-operated Humanitarian Respite Center twice, Jones said.

It had changed dramatically in the last year, she said of the respite center, because of the policies in the United States.

Prior to the 2019 trip, Jones said the facility served as a key way station for individuals and families whod crossed the U.S. border, were picked up by Border Patrol and processed through a detention center. After their release, the center allows asylum seekers a chance to grab a shower, new clothes, toiletries, food and other comforts before moving on and connecting with relatives already living in the country to await their immigration court date.

During past trips, Jones said, asylum seekers would drive up (to the center) in droves, 200 people a day, an amazing amount of people. They would come off the bus, 40 at a time, and wed say Welcome to the United States because this was really their first time on American soil without being detained.

Thats not the case now, she said. In what Jones called an unprecedented situation, refugees awaiting their asylum court hearings are now being sent back across the border into Matamoros, which lies directly opposite Brownsville, Texas. There, a tent city now sits on the banks of the Rio Grande river. Mexican authorities had provided portable toilets just two weeks before the Joplin group arrived at the border.

The center, Jones said, has the capacity to serve up to 1,000 migrants at a time, but on the days they visited no more than a dozen migrants were present.

Twice, the Joplin group, on behalf of Catholic Charities, pulled wheeled carts full of food and toiletries across the bridge into Mexico. There, they handed out 20 gallons of milk and 400 sandwiches to the migrants that number anywhere between 1,000 to 2,000 people. Everything was gone within minutes, Jones said. Later, toothbrushes, toothpaste and eye drops were distributed, the latter because so many migrants have infections from bathing in the filthy Rio Grande water.

As soon as you take your foot off the bridge you can see just this sea of tents and tarps hanging from trees, she said. There is no grass to be found. Every inch of ground is taken. Thousands of people are there. And theyve been there for who knows how long.

The worst experience occurred, Jones said, when they had to choose which lucky migrant parent received a rare bottle of rehydrating Pedialyte, which Jones said is like gold down there because drinking the filthy river water causes widespread illnesses among infants and children.

There were just these eyes looking at you, pleading their case My mom is back there with my brother who is 3 months old and all these stories and we have to figure out who to give the Pedialyte to, Jones said with a shake of her head. Its just heartbreaking.

It shouldnt be this way, I remember thinking, she said.

Emotions running high

When Jones returned home she felt shellshocked for the first two days, before the emotions from the trip finally hit her. She particularly remembers one night, lying safe in bed as a south Texas storm pounded the border area, spawning tornado warnings all around them.

When the (tornado) sirens were going off, and our phones were going off, I remember lying there thinking, How is it right that Im in here (safe) and theyre out there (in tents), just because of where they were born?

Future trips

As of now, Jones is planning a fourth student trip in the spring of 2020 and, because of the success of last months trip, a second adult trip for the fall of 2020.

For details about the 2019 trips to the 2020 trips, contact Jones at kccajones@gmail.com.

Read more from the original source:
Area residents receive first-hand account of border crisis - Joplin Globe

Since 2000, the number of migrants from conflict countries in Africa attempting to cross the Mediterranean has geometrically increased. The influx has been unmaintainable and has forced several European governments to institute strict border policies. Until recently, the Guardian reports explain how preventing migrants from entering Italy via Libya is a joint agreement between Libya and the EU. A 13-page paper reveals a multimillion-euro deal provided by the EU and Italy to Libya for the Libyan coastguards to intercept migrants in the Mediterranean. This has been a profitable business model for Libya but aims at blocking migrants from the European shores.

Despite the untold and undocumented violence meted on migrants in Libyan detention facilities, the EU has provided an extra 5m to Libya and the deal will be continued.

Below are some points enumerated from the presidency of the EU council for a high-level working group on asylum and migration:

There are an estimated 17 to 35 official and unofficial facilities with some run by the militia. 3,700 of the presumed 5,000 people are detained in conflict areas.

Bribery, corruption, non-registration of migrants and links to human trafficking groups is rampant at these centers.

The paper adds the Libyan government is indifferent to report regular disappearances of people arrested by Libyan coastguards.

According to humanitarian organizations, detainees are coerced by camp officials into forcing relatives to pay for their release.

In July, not less than 53 men, women and children were killed and 130 injured when a detention facility near Tripoli, in which 644 migrants and refugees had been detained, was bombed. Sadly, the bombed-out centre was then swiftly refilled with people provided by the Libyan coastguards.

Statistically, the people arriving in Italy from Libya have dropped from 107,000 in 2017 to about 13,000 in 2018, and to just 1,100 by August this year. The Libyan coastguards have intercepted 5,280 people as of August 2019.

Even though the European parliaments civil liberties committee has interrogated EU officials as the Labour MEP Claude Moraes sought full disclosure of the human cost, there is a need for human consideration before policies are made.

Sophie in t Veld, a Dutch MEP on the committee, said: Over the years, billions of euros have flown into Libya with the sole purpose of keeping migrants away from Europe. It is part of Fortress Europe, the European equivalent of Trumps wall. Just a lot more lethal than the wall

The EU has to be responsible to devise humane alternatives to handle the migrant crisis. As unpredictable conflicts have erupted in the last decades, resolutions to curb its eminent effects should include the protection of fundamental human rights. Rather than detaining migrants under harsh conditions, the Libyan government should deport them back to their countries. Preventing people from crossing to Europe through death and harsh measures will never solve the ongoing migrant phenomenon.

Related

More:
EU Reports Reveal Libya's Reason For Migrant Detentions - The Organization for World Peace

The Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan for Refugees and Migrants (RMRP 2020) sets out the key actions it will take between January-December 2020 to improve the humanitarian conditions for refugees and migrants from Venezuela.

Approximately 4.6 million refugees and migrants from Venezuela reside around the world, figures from early November 2019 show. Almost 80% are in Latin American and Caribbean countries.

With no plans to return to Venezuela in the immediate or near future, current trends estimate the number of Venezuelan refugees and migrants will increase to 6.5 million by the end of 2020. The Latin America and Caribbean region can anticipate up to 5.5 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants residing in their countries by the end of 2020, representing a significant rise from 140,000 in 2015.

As many LATAM countries maintain an open border policy, with some modifying their legislation to meet the needs of refugees and migrants, RMRP 2020 was launched in 2019 to respond to the large number of Venezuelan refugees and migrants in LATAM.

By October 2019, government support led to over two million residencies issued to Venezuelans, and 630,000 were registered as asylum seekers or recognized as refugees. Extra measures are underway in LATAM nations to record and consistently oversee the residential statuses of undocumented refugees and migrants.

The RMRP 2020 has three core objectives, Yvette Fautsch, Nutrition Specialist at UNICEF, told us:

Some countries in LATAM, such as Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and Guyana, already have action plans relating to nutrition interventions. Other LATAM countries, however, will need to prioritise nutritional actions to ensure vulnerable groups receive advice and diets that meet their nutritional needs to avoid undernutrition, malnutrition and other contributing factors that may lead to death.

In the LATAM region, Venezuelan refugees and migrants are at risk due to several combined factors. Firstly, there is limited primary data on the populations nutritional status, restricting understanding of nutritional needs. Next, health and nutrition services that provide adequate support are lacking, increasing the possibility that nutrition problems will remain undetected. Access to sufficient food, safe drinking water and sanitation facilities are also limited.

Specific action will also be taken to tackle nutrition disorders. Identified cases of acute malnutrition will be referred to adequate health care for the management of their condition and their recovery, shared Fautsch.

The plan will enable contributing parties to ensure the availability of supplies to treat acute malnutrition, such as supplementary and therapeutic food for use by local health services, extramural health teams and partners. It will also strengthen the capacity of local partners and authorities to identify, refer and treat cases of acute malnutrition.

At present, there are 131,000 people in need, with 81,000 targeted in LATAM for nutritional help. Ten partners are working to support the $6.81 mn required to provide adequate nutrition solutions, the report says. Nutrition-based initiatives also need to be aligned with food security interventions. The report indicates that the need for food security is even greater, with 2.59 mn people in need and 1.42 mn targeted. Collectively, 41 partners are coordinating efforts and collaborating on solutions to strive to pledge $211.87 mn to overcome the levels of food insecurity among Venezuelan refugees and migrants.

Cash-based interventions (CBI) are not needed in the nutrition plan as the required supplies are not bought by beneficiaries but provided through health services along with counselling and care, reveals Fautsch.

Therefore, nutrition items such as supplementary and therapeutic food, micronutrient tablets for pregnant and lactating women, multiple micronutrient powders for children under five can be provided without CBI.

Commenting on what the plan hopes to have achieved by the end of 2020, UNICEFs Nutrition Specialist, Yvette Fautsch, explains the three core goals the collaborating industries expect to accomplish:

Launched in Bogot, Colombia, RMRP 2020 combines the efforts and input of 137 organizations. It sets out coordination plans and fundraising tools to improve nutrition and humanitarian needs.

Commenting on the need for unity and collaboration in driving change, Eduardo Stein, Joint UNHCR-IOM Special Representative for Venezuelan refugees and migrants, explained: Despite many efforts and other initiatives, the dimension of the problem is greater than the current response capacity, so it is necessary that the international community doubles these efforts and contributions to help the countries and international organizations responding to the crisis.

Nutrition and food security are two of the key areas that the RMRP 2020 will tackle. Only through a coordinated and harmonized approach will it be possible to effectively address the large-scale needs, which continue to increase and evolve as the current crisis deepens, added Stein.

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$1.35 billion plan addresses nutritional needs of Venezuelan refugees and migrants - NutraIngredients-Latam