EUROPEAN CRISIS: Key Developments of the Past 48

Hours

February 1, 20161

POLITICS

EUROPEAN UNION

European Authorities Lose Track of 10,000 Child

Refugees; Traffickers Suspected: More than 10,000
unaccompanied child refugees have vanished following
their arrival in Europe and may have fallen into the hands
of organized trafficking gangs, according to Europol. The
agency warned that a sophisticated pan-European “criminal
infrastructure” was now targeting refugees, adding that
5,000 of the missing children had disappeared in Italy
alone, with 1,000 more unaccounted for in Sweden. “Not
all of them will be criminally exploited; some might have
been passed on to family members,” a Europol official said.
"We just don’t know where they are, what they’re doing or
whom they are with.”

 He said the minors went missing after registering

with state authorities, noting that the discovery
came to light in the first attempt by European law
enforcement agencies to keep track of one of the
most disturbing aspects of the continent’s refugee

1 Contributions from IMI, OSIFE, and MENA/SWA.

1
 crisis.“Whether they are registered or not, we’re
talking about 270,000 children. Not all of those are
unaccompanied, but we also have evidence that a
large proportion might be,” the Europol spokesman
emphasized, suggesting that the figure would likely
prove to be a conservative estimate and the actual
number may be even higher. (G. Maniatis)

Merkel Says Refugees Must Eventually Return Home;

Condemns EU Response: Merkel said at a party gathering
Saturday she expects many of the refugees who have
flooded into Germany from war-torn countries like Syria to
eventually return home once the hostilities end. ”We expect
that if there's peace again in Syria, if IS is defeated in Iraq,
then they will return to their homelands with the knowledge
they have gained here.” Merkel said 70% of refugees in the
1990s who fled former Yugoslavia had since returned to
their home regions in the Balkans.

 She also had harsh words for fellow EU members:

"It is incomprehensible to me that the EU with 500
million inhabitants cannot take in one million
Syrians—whereas a country with 5 million
inhabitants like Lebanon is managing it. That does
not give a good impression of our continent. We
speak about our values every day but we are not
prepared to do our —and Syria is not on the other
side of the equator, it is very close to the EU.”
 She added: "Many people are disappointed by
Europe. And to be perfectly honest so I am,
although I continue to work optimistically. But I

2
 believe there is a need for greater understanding that
all countries will face difficulties if we reintroduce
border controls everywhere. All countries must have
an interest in the protection of the outer border,
because if we don't have that then we are also in
great danger in terms of security policy." (G.
Maniatis)

EU-Wide Fuel Tax Wins Support of Commission Vice

President: European Commission VP Valdis Dombrovskis
told the said Saturday that he supports a fuel tax to help
deal with the refugee crisis. "A fuel tax, at a national or
European level, could be a possible source of financing,
especially if you take into account that petrol (gasoline)
prices are at a historical low," he said. The fuel surcharge
idea was first aired by German Finance Minister Schäuble,
who said it should primarily fund border controls. Frontex
says the external frontier now extends along almost 9,000
kilometers of land borders and some 44,000 kilometers of
external sea borders. (G. Maniatis)

Ankara Seeks Additional €2 Billion from EU, Balks at

Funding Controls: Turkey is demanding considerably
more money from the EU than previously agreed. "Ankara
now wants €5 billion, but we are prepared only to give the
promised €3 billion," a high-ranking EU diplomat told Die
Welt. The EU pledged €3 billion in November as part of a
deal under which Ankara was to receive the money to help
protect its borders and provide better living conditions for
refugees in the country. However, no money has yet been
paid amid wrangling within the EU, with Italy so far

3
refusing to pay its share. Italian PM Renzi said he was
waiting for Brussels to address his government's concerns
about the aid by this week's Syrian Donors Conference in
London. These include whether the money will come from
EU coffers or from member states. A further problem is that
Ankara wants more of a say in how the money is paid out,
whereas Brussels wants the funds to be used for concrete
projects, such as the building of schools. The EU also
wants to maintain control of payments to ensure the money
reaches refugees. (G. Maniatis)

"Weeks Away” from Sealing Greece-Macedonia Border,

Says FM: “We aren’t three months away, but weeks” from
cutting off Greece, Macedonian FM Nikola Poposki told
the WSJ. “Actually, this is the second-worst option,
because the worst option isn't doing anything, and then
each of the [EU] member states would be sealing off its
own borders,” he said. (G. Maniatis)

AUSTRIA

Goal to Deport 50,000 Migrants Set; Five Added to

“Safe Country” List: Austria will aim to deport 50,000
migrants and is adding Morocco, Algeria, Georgia,
Mongolia, and Ghana to a list of countries it deems safe,
enabling it to send people back there more quickly,
government ministries said on Sunday. It will also offer up
to €500 to migrants whose asylum applications have been
turned down if they agree to be deported. "We are already
among the countries with the most deportations," Interior

4
Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said in a statement. "But we
will increase the rate further.” By adding new states to its
list of "safe countries of origin", Austria will be able to
send people from those states back under an accelerated
process in which a ruling is reached in days rather than
months, Mikl-Leitner said. The country is considering
using its C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft for
deportations. Last year's deportations totaled 8,365,
compared with roughly 90,000 asylum claims. Earlier this
month, the government announced this month that it would
cap the number of asylum claims at 127,500, or 1.5 percent
of the country's population, over the next four years. (G.
Maniatis)

GERMANY

AfD Leader Says German Police “Should shoot

migrants”: German police should "if necessary" shoot at
migrants seeking to enter the country illegally, said Frauke
Petry, head of the Alternativ fuer Deutschland (AfD) party.
“Police must stop migrants crossing illegally from Austria,”
she said. “And, if necessary, use firearms. That is what the
law says.” She added: “I don’t want this either, but the use
of armed force is there as a last resort.” Her remarks were
the most extreme political response so far by a substantial
political figure to mounting public dissatisfaction with
Merkel’s “open door” refugee policy. (G. Maniatis)

Labor Ministers Says Migrants Must Integrate o Risk

Losing Benefits: Labor Minister Andrea Naples said

5
Monday that “all people who live in Germany, no matter
what their ethnic origin, must make an effort, seek work
and support themselves and their families as well as they
can,” adding: “We will cut benefits to those who signal that
they do not want to integrate.” She said that could be
measured by willingness to abide by German society’s rules
and to take language classes. (G. Maniatis)

The German Interior Minister, Thomas de Maiziere, is

in Kabul, Afghanistan today in an effort to reduce the
number of Afghans flowing in to Europe. De Maiziere
claimed that "there are unsafe and safe areas" in
Afghanistan. (S. Han)

SWEDEN

Hundreds of Masked Men in Stockholm Stalk Refugee

Children: Hundreds of masked men marched through
Stockholm's main train station on Friday evening,
reportedly beating up refugees and anyone who didn't
appear to be ethnically Swedish. Wearing all-black
balaclavas and armbands, the men "gathered with the
purpose of attacking refugee children,” a Stockholm police
spokesperson said. Before the attacks, the mob handed out
leaflets with the slogan "It is enough now!" which
threatened to give "the North African street children who
are roaming around" the "punishment they deserve.” The
leaflet refers to the death of social worker Alexandra
Mezher, who died after being stabbed at a refugee shelter
for unaccompanied children. (G. Maniatis)

6
FINLAND

Once Willing to Host Refugees at His Home, Finnish Prime

Minister Does About-Face: Finnish PM Juha Sipila has put
on hold a plan to open his country home to a family of
asylum seekers, amid concerns that the arrival of asylum
seekers at the house in Kempele in northern Finland would
attract anti-immigration protesters. The PM had said
everyone should "look in the mirror and ask how we can
help" new arrivals in Finland. However, anti-immigrant
sentiment has hardened in recent months. Some 32,000
people applied for asylum in Finland in 2015, double the
expected number, and the Finnish government has
predicted 20,000 will be deported. (G. Maniatis)

JORDAN

Ahead of this week’s Syria donors’ conference, Jordan’s

Prime Minister stated that moving forward its acceptance of
Syrian refugees would be contingent upon international
assistance. Abdullah Ensour stated "We have opened our
borders […] We will continue to do so provided that others
come and help up help the Syrians,” adding that if such
support is not received, "then it would be very, very
difficult for us to continue the way that we did in the past.”
Recent census data shows that 1.2 million Syrian refugees
currently live in Jordan, twice the number of registered
refugees. Meanwhile, according to UNHCR, the number of
Syrian refugees clustered at the Jordanian border has

7
reached 20,000, up from approximately 14,000 at the start
of the month. (S. Han)

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

According to UNHCR, 62,397 people arrived in Europe

irregularly via the Mediterranean in January, 2016, more
than 11 times the number who arrived by the same methods
last January. Almost half of those arriving are coming from
Syria (48%), followed by Afghanistan (21%) and Iraq
(9%). (S. Han)

MEDIA

Financial Times: Jordan seeks international aid in deal

over Syrian refugees

Jordan is prepared to allow tens of thousands of Syrians to

work in the kingdom, the country’s PM Abdullah Ensour
said, if the international community agrees to extend
billions of dollars worth of aid for its economy, which is
buckling under the burden of hosting more than 1 million
refugees. made the remarks ahead of a donors’ conference
on Syria in London on February 4, at which Jordan will ask
for $1.6 billion over three years to fund its overstretched
schools, healthcare and other services. He said Jordan
might provide jobs for up to 150,000 Syrians over several
years—but only if donors agree to its request for a

8
“holistic” aid plan for the refugee crisis that will address its
own citizens’ needs too.

 Jordanian census data published at the weekend

showed that it was hosting 1.27 million Syrians, in a
country with a total population of 9.5 million. Of
these, about 630,000 are registered with the UN, and
most live outside refugee camps alongside Jordanians.
 Jordan is also asking the EU to simplify the “rules of
origin” governing its exports to Europe so that it can
create new jobs in its special development zones,
where investors enjoy tax breaks. A free-trade
agreement with the US has boosted investment and
exports from garment factories.

The Observer: The EU must reassert humane control over

chaos around the Mediterranean
The European refugee debate reached a new nadir with a
proposal to expel Greece from the Schengen zone and
effectively transform it into an open-air holding pen for
countless thousands of asylum seekers. The idea is not only
inhumane and a gross violation of basic European
principles; it also would prove vastly more costly than the
alternative – a truly common EU policy that quells the
chaos of the past year.

 Six countries have already reimposed border controls,

and the European commission is preparing to allow
them, and presumably others, to do the same for two
years. The financial price of this alone is enormous –
in the order of at least €40bn (including costs to fortify

9
 borders and those incurred by travellers and shippers).
It would be much less expensive, financially and
politically, to establish a common EU border and
coastguard, and a functioning EU asylum agency.
 Europe cannot afford another such failure. The EU,
working with the international community, must
reassert humane control over the chaos around the
Mediterranean. This entails immediate action on three
fronts: first, raising the necessary tens of billions to
allow refugees in frontline countries to live, work, and
go to school there; states and the private sector must
also help to create jobs both for refugees and natives
through investments in the region and free-trade
regimes.
 Second, EU members must agree to accept several
hundred thousand refugees directly from the region
via safe, secure pathways and to match them to
communities in Europe able to host them; failing to do
this will alienate the frontline countries that bear most
of the burden. Third, EU states must focus on creating
a common-border regime, coastguard and asylum
agency rather than return to the era of the Berlin Wall.

10
FROM THE GROUND

IN BRIEF

Greece:
 Army takes key role in hotspot and relocation camp
construction
 48-hour boat strike left over 10,000 stranded in Lesvos
 Greek-Macedonian border re-opens after two days
 At least 39 refugees dead after shipwreck near Lesvos
 UNHCR leads US$550 million appeal
 Statewatch: Council plan to ‘criminalize’ humanitarian
assistance
 Football players stage protest; IOC includes refugees
in torch relay

Austria:
 Interior minister announces repatriation plan

Germany:
 AfD: Shoot refugees if necessary
 First LGBTI refugee shelter opens
 Hand grenade thrown at refugee center

Netherlands:
 ECRE: Dutch plan violates international law; Turkey
unsafe

Sweden:

11
  Masked far-right groups attack migrants in Stockholm
(M. Moschopoulos)

GREECE

Statistics:
 58,547 arrivals by sea in 2016 (until 30 January)
 244 dead refugees at sea in 2016 (until 29 January)
(M. Moschopoulos)

Hotspot and relocation camp construction updates:

The military now has an increased role in the construction
of hotspots, as the Ministry of National Defense will
choose the coordinators of the hotspots, oversee the
construction, set up catering services and convert two
mainland army barracks to ‘relocation camps’ for 4,000
refugees each. The Minister of National Defense is Panos
Kammenos, the leader of the right-wing populist
Independent Greeks, a junior coalition partner in Greece’s
government. Migration minister Yannis Mouzalas said the
relocation camps, where people will stay for 24-48 hours,
will be open facilities where refugees enjoy freedom of
movement. (M. Moschopoulos)

Seamens’ strike ends, 10,000 refugees travel to

mainland: A 48-hour strike of the national seamens’ union
ended on 31 January, allowing some of the refugees
stranded on Lesvos island to continue their journey by ferry
boat to mainland Greece. Around 4,000 refugees travelled
to Pireaus and Kavala on 31 January and a further 6,000

12
arrived in Pireaus on 1 February. The next strike is planned
for 4 February. (M. Moschopoulos)

Greek-Macedonian border re-opens after two days: The

border crossing for refugees near the town of Eidomeni re-
opened on the morning of 1 February after a two-day
closure. There were 1,600 refugees stranded in the area
when the crossing opened. A further 5,500 refugees were
expected to reach the crossing on 1 February as ferry boat
services resumed after the seamens’ union strike. (M.
Moschopoulos)

At least 39 dead after another shipwreck: 39 refugees

from Syria, Afghanistan and Myanmar died while
attempting to reach the island of Lesvos on 31 January
when their dinghy sank in the Aegean Sea. They had
departed from the Turkish coast of Canakkale. A further 75
were rescued by the Turkish coast guard. The death toll at
the Aegean crossing for 2016 stood at 244 on 29 January.
(M. Moschopoulos)

Last week at least 24 people drowned and 11 others

were missing after a boat carrying Iraqi Kurds sank off
Greece on Thursday. An additional six people drowned off
of Libya en route to Italy, while the Italian navy rescued
almost 300 others. (S. Han)

UNHCR leads US$550 million appeal; half to be spent

in Greece: UNHCR, the International Organization for
Migration, and some 65 other organizations have appealed
to donors for US$550 million to support the ongoing

13
humanitarian response to the refugee crisis. Around 50% of
these funds would be spent in Greece where the vast
majority of refugees enter Europe. Humanitarian operations
to be funded include aid and protection activities where
people are arriving, including identifying those at
heightened risk, registration, shelter, water and sanitation.
The funds would also be used to bolster capacities for
front-line responders such as coast guard, border guards,
police and support for affected communities, and also assist
with relocation, resettlement and other regular solutions.
(M. Moschopoulos)

Statewatch: Council plan to ‘criminalize’ humanitarian

assistance: The draft Council conclusions on migrant
smuggling were met with criticism by activists and NGOs
as there were no specific exceptions for humanitarian
assistance in an action plan seen to be equating smuggling
to human trafficking. Statewatch director Tony Bunyan
wrote that “the Council proposals would criminalise NGOs,
local people and volunteers who have worked heroically to
welcome refugees when the EU institutions did nothing.”
These reactions follow the prosecution on smuggling
charges of activists and NGO workers on Greek islands.
(M. Moschopoulos)

Football and Olympics respond to crisis: A video is

widely circulating online showing the players of two
second-division teams in Greece staging sit-down protest
on 29 January over the deaths of refugees at the Aegean
Sea crossing between Greece and Turkey. The players sat in
silence for two minutes after the referee started the match, a

14
day after an International Olympic Committee
announcement that the flame for the Rio 2016 Olympic
Games will pass through the Eleonas refugee camp in
Athens, and one refugee will be among the torch bearers.
(M. Moschopoulos)

AUSTRIA

Interior minister announces repatriation plan: Minister

of Interior Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP/EPP) announced a
set of measures aimed at increasing the number of asylum
seekers that will return to their countries of origin. These
include a €500 payment to people that agree to leave within
3 months without applying for asylum or waiting for their
application’s result, an increase in charter flights and a 10-
day decision time for asylum applications from Morocco,
Algeria, Tunisia, Georgia, Mongolia and Gambia. Foreign
Minister Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP/EPP) welcomed the
measures and said Austria needed to end its “open door
policy.” (M. Moschopoulos)

GERMANY

AfD: "Use firearms if necessary" to “prevent illegal

border crossings": Frauke Petry, leader of far-right
populist Alternative for Germany (AfD/ECR), said that
border police should shoot at refugees to prevent illegal
border crossings. A Reuters translation of her comments to
local paper Mannheimer Morgen quotes her as saying

15
police should “use firearms if necessary” and that "no
policeman wants to fire on a refugee and I don't want that
either [but] police must stop refugees entering German
soil." The comments were received by widespread
condemnation, including by the head of Germany’s police
union GdP who said “we have already seen that over the
course of German history and we don’t ever want to go
down that road again,” and the chairman of the SPD
parliamentary group who said “the last German politician
who condoned the shooting of refugees was Erich
Honecker." Prior to these remarks, AfD were polling at
third place with 11%-13% support. (M. Moschopoulos)

First shelter for LGBTI refugees opens: Support group

Fliederlich opened the first shelter in Germany for LGBTI
refugees in Nuremberg, addressing threats to LGBTI
refugees in other overcrowded reception facilities. The
initiative took place after the group was contacted by 20
refugees, while four from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Ethiopia
have already requested a bed in the facility. A 120-bed
facility for LGBTI refugees in Berlin is expected to open
this month, where the local LGBTI association recorded 95
cases of attacks against LGBTI refugees between August
and December. (M. Moschopoulos)

Hand grenade thrown at reception center: Unknown

assailants threw a hand grenade at a reception center in
Villingen-Schwenningen (southern Germany) in the early
hours of 29 January. The grenade, which landed next to a
cubicle housing the center’s guards, fortunately did not
explode and none of the 170 refugees hosted at the facility

16
were injured. Federal police sources indicated that this was
the first attack to use explosives, as the grenade was filled
with 100 grams of TNT. The BBC reported 1,005 attacks
on refugee homes in Germany in 2015, compared with 199
in 2014. (M. Moschopoulos)

NETHERLANDS

ECRE: Dutch plan violates international law; Turkey

unsafe: The European Council of Refugees and Exiles
issued a statement on 29 January saying that the recent
Dutch proposal to return asylum seekers from Greece to
Turkey “violates European and international law” and
“provides no sustainable solution in the long term.” The
ECRE statement also questioned the designation of Turkey
as a ‘safe third country,’ quoting evidence that “the current
conditions do not ensure guarantees that the fundamental
rights of migrants and refugees are respected in practice in
Turkey.” ECRE’s statement comes as the Guardian reported
that “thousands of Syrian refugees are working illegally in
the Turkish garment industry where child labour, low
wages and poor conditions are common.” (M.
Moschopoulos)

SWEDEN

Masked far-right groups attack migrants in Stockholm:

Up to a hundred masked assailants, linked to local football
hooligan and far-right groups, attacked migrants in

17
Stockholm on the evening of 29 January. Aftonbladet
newspaper reported that the attackers were distributing
leaflets threatening to give “the North African street
children who are roaming around” the “punishment they
deserve.” A local neo-Nazi group announced that the
attackers had “cleaned up criminal immigrants from North
Africa that are housed in the area around the central
station”. (M. Moschopoulos)

END

18