On March 7th, European and Turkish leaders announced a breakthrough in agreeing to a framework for a possible deal on managing the flow of refugees and migrants arriving from Turkey onto Greece’s shores. If the framework is implemented as it has been presented, it appears that the deal would strike a major blow to refugee rights.
Can Europe rise to the refugee challenge?
Can Europe still rise to the refugee challenge, despite the disappointments of the past six months? The continent has the potential to do so.
The Great Walk Now or Never
The black rubber dinghy had just landed on Mytileni’s rocky beach on the Isle of Lesvos, Greece. The 41 people crammed precariously dropped their orange life jackets and looked around to make surefriends and relatives had gotten to shore.
Following the Flight Path in Greece
Unlike a situation in which humanitarians meet refugees in the relative safety of camps at the end of their flight, Greece is just one stop on a long journey northward, where first responders have rescued people from drowning, watched dead bodies float onto shore, and embraced those celebrating a successful entry into Europe. The range…
Europe’s Refugee Crisis: A Melting Pot of Governments, Politics, and People on the Move
As of November 19, more than 850,000 refugees and migrants arrived by sea into Europe this year, and more than 80 percent of them — around 735,000 — through Greece. While the majority are Syrian, there are also asylum seekers from many countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, Somalia, and Morocco. In addition to war,…
“It’s not reasonable that you come here to die.”
Even after four years of field missions with Refugees International, I had never seen anything like it. Around midday, we were driving high along the hills of the northern coast of the Greek island Lesvos, with the Turkish mainland in the foreground. As we descended closer the shoreline, our interpreter pointed out little black specs, tinged…
On the ground in Greece
I’ve just arrived in Greece to assess the situation for newly arriving refugees on the country’s outer islands. In a global context of increasingly harsh rhetoric that conflates refugees with security threats, we plan to gather first-hand stories from Syrian’s fleeing the ongoing and devastating war in Syria that has displaced a staggering 12 million…
Ukraine: An Invisible Emergency
Ukraine is in the midst of Europe’s largest internal migration crisis since World War II.
Displaced Ukrainians Find Refuge
The 18 month, Russian-backed rebellion of eastern Ukraine has displaced more than 1.4 million people, cost nearly 7,000 lives, and brought the economy of eastern Ukraine ̶ the economic and industrial heartland of the country ̶ to a standstill. Two million civilians remain in homes devastated by shelling on the line of contact, what is…
Civil Society’s Incredible Response in Ukraine
In many ways, the response of the Ukrainian government to the mass internal displacement has been unique and in stark contrast with what we witness in most countries confronting internal displacement.