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GreekReporter.comGreeceAegean 'Hotspots' Hosting Over 15,000 Migrants, Latest Data Reveals

Aegean 'Hotspots' Hosting Over 15,000 Migrants, Latest Data Reveals

greece migrantsOver this past weekend the numbers of refugees being hosted on the five Greek islands in the Aegean known as “hotspots” rose above 15,000, according to the latest government data.
The data shows that the island of Lesvos is currently home to 6,147 migrants as they await the review of their asylum applications and a decision which will determine if they are sent back to Turkey or allowed to stay in the EU. The island has seen 95,308 new arrivals by sea in 2016 alone, according to UNHCR’s report Refugees/Migrants Emergency Response – Mediterranean (updated November 6, 2016).
Also revealed is that the island of Chios is now hosting 4,210 migrants of the 39,692 migrants that have arrived by sea on the island’s shores thus far in 2016 while the island of Samos is the temporary home to 2,707 asylum seeking migrants, while UNHCR reports 13,846 have arrived by sea on the island this year.
Two smaller islands of Kos and Leros have also been heavily effected by the migrant crisis. 5,133 migrants have arrived in 2016 on the island of Kos while 2,016 have stayed, seeking asylum. The data also reveals that the island of Leros has also seen 8,724 news arrivals thus far in 2016 while it is hosting 826 migrants at reception centers.
UNHCR reports that 47 percent of the people arriving by sea to Greece come from the war conflict zone of Syria. Also worth noting is that making up the rest of the majority of asylum seekers arriving by sea from Turkey are people from Afghanistan, which accounts for 25 percent, while 15 percent of migrants arriving in Greece come from Iraq. Although numbers of new arrivals have slowed some since the EU-Turkey migration deal was struck earlier this year which details that migrants denied asylum in Greece can be sent back to Turkey; over the past couple of months there has been a slight increase of new arrivals of migrants via the Turkey-Greece route.
The Greek government has struggled to provide safe and sanitary living conditions for the more than 60,000 migrants that it is currently hosting on the islands and throughout the mainland since the spring of 2016 when FYROM declared that it was closing its borders to refugees. New living accommodations are currently underway and priority has been given to housing children in a safe environment, particularly those who have arrived unaccompanied by an adult.

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