Roundup: More refugees relocated from Greece, but much remains to be done
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E-mail Xinhua, October 18, 2017
ATHENS, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The latest group of 234 refugees was transferred from Greece to France on Wednesday as part of the EU refugee relocation program with the support of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Greek national news agency AMNA reported.
Greek Migration Policy Minister Yannis Mouzalas who was at the Athens international airport to see them off welcomed France's solidarity with Greece, stressing that much remains to be done to effectively deal with the refugee and migrant crisis.
With wide smiles on their faces, 132 adults and 102 children, most of them families of two to nine people, left Athens for Lyon dreaming of a better future.
France has so far relocated 4,091 asylum seekers from Greece out of 20,471 people relocated in all EU countries, according to figures up to Oct. 6 by a French embassy press release. Eighty percent of the asylum seekers relocated to France are from Syria.
Two years after EU members states agreed to relocate tens of thousands of refugees from Greece and Italy, the two countries at the forefront of the crisis, the targets have not been fully met.
Mouzalas urged on Wednesday for more assistance to be provided to refugees.
"A decision has been made for relocation directly from third countries... If we want to crack down on the mafia rings involved in human trafficking, the EU must adopt as its main tool of solidarity the direct resettlement from the countries where these refugees and migrants are. This is a very important issue for us," the Greek official said.
"Relocation is a principle of solidarity and there should be more solidarity in the EU in trying to help countries which are on the frontline in receiving these people. Relocation cannot be the only tool. It has to be complimented with resettlement from the countries where these people are as refugees," IOM's Regional Response Coordinator Gianluca Rocco told media at the airport.
On his part, French Ambassador to Greece Christophe Chantepy stressed that France is fully engaged in the process of refugee relocation.
"The relocation policy worked and it is a success. It is a symbol of solidarity in Europe and you all know that solidarity is the EU's blood. This is a new beginning in their lives for all these people, families and children," he said.
Adel from Syria stayed in Greece for one year and 9 months. He landed on Greek shores with his uncles and aunts. Gradually some of his relatives were relocated to Finland, others to Norway and Belgium. He was the only one left in Greece.
He was travelling alone on Wednesday hoping for the best.
"It is a new beginning now, I have been stuck here for a long time...I am going to another country where I will have a more stable life...I hope I will have a normal life again and be as any human being, in a safe place," he told Xinhua.
"I wish to start a new life, good life and I am dreaming to become a pilot," said Mustafa from Iraq.
More than a million refugees and migrants have reached Greece since early 2015 risking their lives on boats provided by smugglers to cross the Aegean. Hundreds perished in the waters.
Most of the people who reached the Greek islands continued their journey to central and northern Europe unofficially until the closure of the borders along the Balkan route in the winter of 2016.
Since then, more than 60,000 people have been stranded in Greece. According to the Migration Policy Ministry, Greece expects that half will stay in the country. Enditem
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