Urgent situation on Turkish-Greek border and refugee crisis in Greece

Today in the House of Commons I and other MPs questioned the Foreign Secretary about the Turkish-Greek border and the refugee crisis in Greece. The situation in the camps in Greece and along the Turkish-Greek border has reached crisis point.Tens of thousands of refugees remain stuck on the Turkish-Greek land border and aggressive measures have been employed to stop refugees arriving in boats on the Aegan sea. There have been reports of attacks on migrants arriving at the shore, and tents have been set on fire. The current situation is becoming difficult for the work for some local and international NGOs, and only benefits organised crime and people smugglers.Alongside a number of MPs, I am concerned about the welfare and the number of unaccompanied children and young people in these areas. During the debate, I heard that 42,000 people are living in a camp built for 6,000. I welcome the reports which say that EU countries may take in child refugees from Greece to ease the pressure on these camps. The UK must be a part of this.It is clear that the relocation of refugees through resettlement pathways is critical. This is why I also asked about what the government is doing to improve access to this scheme on the ground. I was encouraged to hear that there was a lot of debate about resettlement and the need to protect child refugees today, but the government must act now to deal with this ongoing and escalating humanitarian crisis.

Posted by Thangam Debbonaire on Tuesday, March 10, 2020