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Desperate refugees trapped in Greece are self-harming and attempting suicide as a result of disastrous EU policies, aid agencies have warned.

More refugees are dying than ever before while attempting to reach Europe, almost a year after a controversial deal was struck with Turkey in an effort to prevent boat crossings acrossthe Aegean Sea.

The agreement has stranded thousands of asylum seekers in Greece, where aid agencies say children are among rising numbers of migrants trying to kill themselves after months trapped in squalid camps.

Research by Save the Children found more than 5,000 minors are living in appalling conditions that are driving a mounting mental health crisis.

Clothes hung out to dry at the Vial detention centre on the Greek island of Chios (Sacha Myers/Save the Children)

It has recorded children as young as nine self-harming and 12-year-olds attempting suicide, sometimes filming themselves in the act, as well as a spike in drug and alcohol abuse by teenagers who are exploited by dealers in camps.

Violent protests and deaths are traumatising the youngest and most vulnerable refugees, whose families say they are too scared to let their children play out of sight in case they are hurt or abused.

Save the Children staff report that some unaccompanied children live in 24-hour survival mode and sleep in shifts to try to stay safe, while others disappear or pay smugglers to leave the Greek islands.

The EU-Turkey deal was meant to end the flow of irregular migrants to Greece, but at what cost? said Andreas Ring, Save the Childrens humanitarian representative.

Many of these children have escaped war and conflict only to end up in camps many of them call helland where they say they are made to feel more like animals than humans.

Since 20 March 2016, all migrants arriving on Greek islands have been held, under threat of deportation to Turkey,while their asylum applications are processed, but legal blocks have slowed transfers and left refugees in overcrowded tent camps for up to a year.

Reza, a 23-year-old migrant from Afghanistan, arrived on Lesbos the day after the deal came into force and remains on the island, where three men died over just six days in January.

I feel I am nothing and that I dont have control over my life anymore, he told Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Refugees in Greece: Every day you die many times

I cant leave the island and after such a long time here, I feel that nothing has a purpose anymore. You feel like crazy, wandering around without knowing why.

Reza said he received no information about the asylum process for two months and was not told borders had closed across Europe, then watched Syrians be prioritised for asylum interviews.

Eva Coss, the HRW researcher for Greece, said authorities must ensure people have meaningful access to asylum, that is free of discrimination over nationality or religion.

The EU-Turkey deal has been an unmitigated disaster for the very people it is supposed to protect, she added.

Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) is working inside designated refugee hotspots across Greece, where charity workers are warning of the human cost of European policy failures.

Its research has shown rocketing rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, trauma and psychosis.

Louise Roland Gosselin, MSFs humanitarian affairs advisor in Greece, said tent camps on Lesbos, Leros, Samos, Chios and Kos were built as transit areas for stays of a matter of days but some are now at double capacity.

Peoples mental health condition deteriorated as soon as the deal was signed, she told The Independent.

Firstly because of the conditions in the camps crammed in these difficult conditions, with no activities to do at all in the day.

The second thing thats even harder is they dont know whats going to happen to them.

A lot of these people have fled terrible conflicts and are facing a return to Turkey, where their future would be very uncertain.

People over the last year have just been crushed, mentally and physically.

MSF is treating dozens of torture victims at a specialist centre in Athens, with asylum seekers reporting being imprisoned, beaten and raped, and fears many more are not getting the help they need.

Ms Gosselin said between 5 and 30 per cent of refugees have been tortured, including people from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, whose citizens make up almost a third of MSFs patients.

At the moment theres real discrimination with a sense of there being good refugees and bad migrants, and the Africans are usually seen less deserving of international protection, she added. There is a need for fair procedures.

A migrant stands next to a snow-covered tent at the Moria detention camp on the Greek island of Lesbos on 7 January (AFP/Getty)

Arash, a 30-year-old asylum seeker, who was a political prisoner in Iran, said he was tortured and forced through mock executions but was not afforded protection as a vulnerable person by Greek authorities.

Ive attempted three times to kill myself, he told HRW in the EU-sponsored Moria detention centre on Lesbos.

The conditions here remind me of the prison in Iran, the nightmares, the threats and the torture.

Almost 13,000 asylum seekers are trapped on Greek islands according to UN figures far above the 8,700 capacity and a backlog in claims is expected to grow amid legal disputes over whether Turkey can be considered a safe country for deportations.

With many tent camps lacking proper shelter, heating and fuel, several asylum seekers were killed by hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning and a gas blast during a period of extreme cold over the winter, with at least 13 dying so far this year on European soil.

A grim record of 5,000 deaths at sea in 2016 is on course to be surpassed this year, with at least 525 migrants being drowned or suffocated on boat journeys over the Mediterranean in 2017.

Most lives are lost on the treacherous crossing between war-torn Libya and Italy, where numbers have increased since the EU-Turkey deal slowed shorter and comparatively safer voyages over the Aegean Sea to a trickle.

The EuropeanUnionvowed to increase cooperation with Libyas fragile government at a summit last week but face opposition from humanitarian agencies as conflict between warring factions worsens in the country.

Opponents warn that any move to prevent refugees from leaving warzones in Libya force them into detention centres where they are being tortured and killed would be a violation of international law.

The British Government has sent millions of pounds in aid to Turkey, Libya and other countries housing migrants but has been criticised for scrapping a programme to resettle child refugees in the UK.

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Child refugees attempting suicide amid increasing desperation among thousands of trapped migrants in Greece - The Independent

Military analysts reportedly warned that a pirate attack off Somalia was imminent because assets used in the European Unions anti-piracy program have been diverted to the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.

Alan Cole, the head of the United Nations maritime crime program on drugs and crime, told U.K.'s The Times newspaper that a high-profile attack was only a matter of time.

MORE THAN 60 KILLED IN ETHIOPIA LANDFILL COLLAPSE

The United Nations warned in October that the situation was fragile and thatSomalipirates "possess the intent and capability to resume attacks." One expert said some in the region had let down their guard as the situation calmed. NATO ended its anti-piracy mission off Somalia in December.

Armed pirates are demanding a ransom for the release of an oil tanker they have seized off the coast of Somalia and the crew is being held captive, the European Union anti-piracy operation in the region announced late Tuesday.

BUS ESCAPING DEADLY CRASH STRIKES CROWD, KILLS AT LEAST 34

An EU Naval Force statement said the operation had finally made contact with the ship's master, who confirmed that armed men were aboard the Comoros-flagged tanker Aris 13.

An official in Somalia's semiautonomous state of Puntland said over two dozen men boarded the ship off the country's northern coast, an area known to be used by weapons smugglers and members of the Al Qaeda-linked extremist group al-Shabab. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.

The ship was anchored Tuesday off the town of Alula, said Salad Nur, a local elder. "The ship is on the coast now and more armed men boarded the ship," he told the AP by phone.

Monday's hijacking was the first such seizure of a large commercial vessel off Somalia since 2012. It came as a surprise to the global shipping industry as patrols by the navies of NATO countries, as well as China, India and Iran, had suppressedSomalipirate hijackings for several years.

ASomalipirate who said he was in touch with the armed men aboard the tanker said the amount of ransom to demand had not yet been decided.

Bile Hussein told The Associated Press that the armed men have locked most of the crew in one room and cut off communication lines. "Their main concern now is a possible rescue attempt, so that's why all communications were cut off in the afternoon," he said.

The Aris 13, manned by eight Sri Lankan sailors, was carrying fuel from Djibouti to Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, when it was approached by men in two skiffs, said John Steed, the director of Oceans Beyond Piracy. The EU statement said the ship's master issued a mayday alert.

The EU Naval Force said it had passed the information from its contact with the ship's master to the oil tanker's owners and an investigation was underway.

Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry said in a statement it was in touch with shipping agents and officials abroad for more information to help ensure the crew's "safety and welfare."

A U.N. shipping database shows the Aris 13 is owned by Armi Shipping SA, whose address is listed in care of Aurora Ship Management FZE, a company based in the United Arab Emirates. Calls and emails to Aurora went unanswered.

The incident involving the Aris 13 represents the first commercial pirate attack off Somalia since 2012, Steed of Oceans Beyond Piracy said.

"The pirates never went away, they were just doing other forms of crime and if any of the measures reduce (which they have, or ships take risks) the pirates are poised to exploit the weakness," he said in an email.

Somalipirates usually hijack ships and crew for ransom. They don't normally kill hostages unless they come under attack.

Piracy off Somalia's coast was once a serious threat to the global shipping industry. It has lessened in recent years after an international effort to patrol near the country, whose weak central government has been trying to assert itself after a quarter-century of conflict. In that time, concerns about piracy off Africa's coast have largely shifted to the Gulf of Guinea.

But frustrations have been rising among local fishermen, including former pirates, at what they say are foreign fishermen illegally fishing in local waters.

Nur, the local elder, told the AP that young fishermen including former pirates have hijacked the ship.

"They have been sailing through the ocean in search for a foreign ship to hijack since yesterday morning and found this ship and boarded it," he said. "Foreign fishermen destroyed their livelihoods and deprived them of proper fishing."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Attention on migrant crisis reportedly blamed in part for pirate attack - Fox News

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Refugees really entered onto the crime scene last year, said Baden-Wrttemberg State Criminal Police Office (LKA) president Ralf Michelfelder.

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We are very worried about the rise in violence by asylum seekers, the police official added. The comments come following the release of figures which reveal a 95.5 per cent spike in the number of physical attacks carried out by asylum seekers and migrants.

Around 60 per cent of the assaults take place in asylum accommodation but the other 40 per cent are carried out among the general public.

This group of migrants are also heavily represented among people caught for theft and drug offences, according to this years statistics. But they can now be found as suspects of crimes in almost every field, according to the police official.

Of a total of 251,000 criminal suspects across the state in 2016, 107,417 were foreign, with 25,379 of these being asylum seekers and refugees. Syria was the most frequently seen country of origin in the latter category, followed by Gambia, and then Afghanistan.

In Bavaria, the number of crimes committed by immigrants rose 57.8 per cent from the previous year, a development which the states Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann described as worrying.

The increase in crime in Bavaria in 2016 is mainly due to foreign suspects, especially immigrants, the minister said. There had been a 3.3 per cent overall rise in the number of crimes statewide (the figure adjusted to remove offences like illegal immigration).

The number of homicides in Bavaria increased by 15 per cent in 2016, while violent crimes carried out by asylum seekers rose by 93 per cent to 3,495 cases.

Of thefts which occurred across the German state, 42.8 per cent of suspects were of foreign origin an almost 1 per cent rise from the previous year.

Earlier this year, the Berlin Senate launched a formal inquiry to find out why migrants are overrepresented in the citys police crime reports compared to Germans.

According to Germanys Federal Police, the influx of newcomers from the third world since Europes migrant crisis directly led to an increase in crime within their jurisdiction.

The rest is here:
Migrant Crime and Violence Soars in German States - Breitbart News

GETTY

The horror statistics were revealed yesterday by the group which used to operate at the now-demolished Jungle camp in Calais.

It said many women suffered daily attacks.

Richard Matis, the charitys vice president, said: Refugee camps worldwide are plagued by violence, that is a fact.

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AFP/Getty Images

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A young boy cries at a makeshift camp for migrants and refugees at the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni

But women are usually found to be more at risk of rape and other forms of sexual assault.

Refugee camps worldwide are plagued by violence, that is a fact

Richard Matis - GSF vice president

The charity, which now treats female migrants stuck in the sprawling Grande-Synthe tent camp in neighbouring Dunkirk, added the women were raped and beaten on a daily basis, and had become immune to sexual violence and abuse.

Mr Matis added: Some women were repeatedly raped during the perilous journey to Europe.

Others are trapped in abusive marriages. And some women are pimped out by their husbands and forced into so-called survival sex with people smugglers so that their families can continue travelling across Europe.

GETTY

The charity added that tearing down refugee camps was not the solution to the migrant crisis, and called on the government to open more emergency shelters.

Mr Matis said: Every time a makeshift camp is evacuated and dismantled, thousands of female migrants are brutally uprooted and exposed to danger and insecurity. The chaos that ensues increases their vulnerability to sexual assault.

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MIGRANT CRISIS: Two-thirds of female refugees have been 'raped, beaten or pimped out' - Express.co.uk

Disguised in camouflage and balaclavas, and equipped with long knives, bayonets and hatchets, the paramilitary troops hunt down refugees and migrant in Strandzha Massif, a forested mountain range, Bulgaria, on the Turkish border.

Patches on their uniforms a coat of arms displaying a snarling wolfs head framed by Cyrillic text declare they are members of the Bulgarian National Movement Shipka, abbreviated as BNO Shipka.

The group are led by Vladimir Rusev, a former colonel who claims he fought in Chechnya as a volunteer alongside Russians.

Speaking to NBC News, the 58-year-old claims BNO Shipka have as many as 50,000 members in their ranks, however, this figure is unverifiable.

NBC

We are protecting the united borders of southern Europe and the European Union

Vladimir Rusev

He added: At the moment, we are the only defence Europe has.

We are the only ones doing something. Were not just protecting Bulgaria, we are protecting the united borders of southern Europe and the European Union.

Nikolai Ivanov, one of the groups founding members, said: Im not nationalistic or anything like that. Im just a patriot.

Many of these immigrants are not just some guys who are trying to run away from war. They are from age 17 to 35, with good physiques and training.

NBC

Its not a problem that they are Muslims. The problem is its a different civilisation. They dont think like us, they have a totally different view about life, about everything.

The 34-year-old proclaims his beliefs the European migrant crisis was part of a plan to allow ISIS militants to slip into the Continent and allow them to attack.

The BNO Shipka member adds the crisis also allows Turkish troops to be deployed in Bulgaria, under the Nato banner, effectively reclaiming a portion of the lost Ottoman Empire.

The group, despite facing stiff opposition from human rights groups, claim they act within the law, and have unofficial support from Bulgarias official border patrols.

Krassimir Kanev, a founder of human rights group Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, describes BNO Shipka as xenophobic nationalists who are violent, racist extremists.

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There are ongoing criminal proceedings against a number of these groups, he said, claiming Bulgarian vigilantes have previously detained migrants, sometimes beating and humiliating them before forcing them back across the border.

Bulgarias caretaker government are set to make a U-turn on laws allowing migrants with the right to asylum and international protections to conclude agreements on integration after public protests.

A government spokesman said they are preparing changes to the regulations and conditions for there integration of migrants and refugees.

The forthcoming proposed changes to the legislation would not be contrary to European regulations and other rules to which Bulgaria is a party to, he added.

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Armed vigilantes patrol Turkish border to keep migrants out of Europe - Express.co.uk