First asylum-seekers relocate from Greece to Luxembourg

News Stories, 4 November 2015

Asylum-seekers board a flight from Athens to Luxembourg.

ATHENS, Greece, Nov 4 (UNHCR) – It was the crack of dawn when 30 asylum-seekers from Syria and Iraq gathered around the departure gate at Athens International Airport on Wednesday, bound for a new life in a new land.

The atmosphere was full of expectation. Some could barely contain their excitement, others were more reserved. The children were sleepy but calm and smiling. Amid hugs and goodbyes, last photos were taken and the refugees walked through the gate to leave years of war and hardship behind.

"My family and I were lucky to survive the death trip on a boat from Turkey to Lesvos," said a Syrian father as he tightly gripped his family's boarding passes. He was referring to the dangerous voyage aboard smuggler boats from Turkey to the Greek islands that more than 600,000 people have made so far this year, and which has claimed more than 200 lives. "Now we are getting ready for our trip towards hope."

The group, including six families with a total of 19 children, were the first to be relocated from Greece to Luxembourg under a European Union programme that expects eventually to see the transfer of at least 160,000 people from Greece and Italy to participating EU countries.

This first departure from Greece was a cooperative effort led by national authorities in Greece and Luxembourg, with suport from European agencies, international organizations that included UNHCR, and other partners.

"The relocation scheme, even if modest compared with the needs, is an important first step towards a comprehensive approach for the management of refugee flows into Europe based on the principles of solidarity and responsibility-sharing," said Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR's Europe Bureau Director.

"Hopefully, this first relocation from Greece will mark the beginning of more refugee transfers within the EU in an organized, safe and orderly manner," he added.

A day before their departure, all of the families taking part in the first relocation expressed relief at finally reaching safety and seeing new hope for the future. They spoke with UNHCR at a temporary accommodation site in Elaionas, Athens.

"After all that my family and I went through, this is the first time I have felt calm and hopeful about the future," said a Syrian father of three. "I want my children to receive a good education. They are all so bright and both my wife and I were so sad they were not able to go to school for the last four years. I also feel lucky we did not have to make the dangerous and long trip through the Balkans."

UNHCR has repeatedly called on European countries to open more legal channels for refugees so they do not have to resort to smugglers and traffickers. Those channels include more family reunification and resettlement opportunities, including from countries of first asylum; humanitarian entry schemes and expanded visa arrangements for students and workers.

It will take time for the refugee families going to Luxembourg to get over the nightmare they have just endured.

"Actually, we did not have a life there," said a Syrian mother of five. "You would have either to kill or to be killed. Human life is worthless there. My children still cannot forget the sound of bombs. They wake up during the night, they only have images of war before their eyes."

Asked what she wanted for her children's future, she replied: "The same as all mothers -- I want to see them grow up in peace and love."

The group left Athens at 8:30am on a flight to Brussels, and then from there by bus to Luxembourg. They will be temporarily accommodated in a reception centre for the necessary needs-assessment and the provision of basic services. After a couple of days, they will be transferred to a more permanent residence for asylum applicants until a decision is made on their claim.

"We wish these refugees all the best in their new life and we hope that more asylum-seekers will similarly have a chance to find a place to call home without facing the dangers of secondary movements," UNHCR's Cochetel said. "At the same time, we must remember that for the relocation programme to work, proper reception capacity and registration of all arrivals will need to be put in place."

Present at the airport to say farewell to the refugees were Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras; European Parliament President Martin Schulz; Luxembourg Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Asselborn; Commissioner Dimitrios Avramopoulos; and the Alternate Minister for Migration Policy Yiannis Mouzalas. Also participating were representatives from the Greek Asylum Service, UNHCR, IOM and other partners.

By Stella Nanou in Athens

• DONATE NOW •

Browse by country

• GET INVOLVED • • STAY INFORMED •

UNHCR country pages

UNHCR Syria In Focus newsletter

Syria Crisis: The biggest humanitarian emergency of our era

over 4 million Syrians are now refugees

Donate now

UNHCR Syria: A Year in Review 2013

Thousands of desperate Syrian refugees seek safety in Turkey after outbreak of fresh fighting

Renewed fighting in northern Syria since June 3 has sent a further 23,135 refugees fleeing across the border into Turkey's southern Sanliurfa province. Some 70 per cent of these are women and children, according to information received by UNHCR this week.

Most of the new arrivals are Syrians escaping fighting between rival military forces in and around the key border town of Tel Abyad, which faces Akcakale across the border. They join some 1.77 million Syrian refugees already in Turkey.

However, the influx also includes so far 2,183 Iraqis from the cities of Mosul, Ramadi and Falujjah.

According to UNHCR field staff most of the refugees are exhausted and arrive carrying just a few belongings. Some have walked for days. In recent days, people have fled directly to Akcakale to escape fighting in Tel Abyad which is currently reported to be calm.

Thousands of desperate Syrian refugees seek safety in Turkey after outbreak of fresh fighting

Cold, Uncomfortable and Hungry in Calais

For years, migrants and asylum-seekers have flocked to the northern French port of Calais in hopes of crossing the short stretch of sea to find work and a better life in England. This hope drives many to endure squalid, miserable conditions in makeshift camps, lack of food and freezing temperatures. Some stay for months waiting for an opportunity to stow away on a vehicle making the ferry crossing.

Many of the town's temporary inhabitants are fleeing persecution or conflict in countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Sudan and Syria. And although these people are entitled to seek asylum in France, the country's lack of accommodation, administrative hurdles and language barrier, compel many to travel on to England where many already have family waiting.

With the arrival of winter, the crisis in Calais intensifies. To help address the problem, French authorities have opened a day centre as well as housing facilities for women and children. UNHCR is concerned with respect to the situation of male migrants who will remain without shelter solutions. Photographer Julien Pebrel recently went to Calais to document their lives in dire sites such as the Vandamme squat and next to the Tioxide factory.

Cold, Uncomfortable and Hungry in Calais

Abdu finds his voice in Germany

When bombs started raining down on Aleppo, Syria, in 2012, the Khawan family had to flee. According to Ahmad, the husband of Najwa and father of their two children, the town was in ruins within 24 hours.

The family fled to Lebanon where they shared a small flat with Ahmad's two brothers and sisters and their children. Ahmad found sporadic work which kept them going, but he knew that in Lebanon his six-year-old son, Abdu, who was born deaf, would have little chance for help.

The family was accepted by Germany's Humanitarian Assistance Programme and resettled into the small central German town of Wächtersbach, near Frankfurt am Main. Nestled in a valley between two mountain ranges and a forest, the village has an idyllic feel.

A year on, Abdu has undergone cochlear implant surgery for the second time. He now sports two new hearing aids which, when worn together, allow him to hear 90 per cent. He has also joined a regular nursery class, where he is learning for the first time to speak - German in school and now Arabic at home. Ahmed is likewise studying German in a nearby village, and in two months he will graduate with a language certificate and start looking for work. He says that he is proud at how quickly Abdu is learning and integrating.

Abdu finds his voice in Germany

Za'atari oldest man

At 113, Yousef is a very old man. Until conflict forced him to flee Syria two years ago, his life was spent peacefully with his farm, his shop, his three children and 160 descendants nearby. Now, he is perhaps the oldest resident of Za'aatri refugee camp in Jordan. "He was sad when we told him we wanted to leave," says his daughter Nejmeh. "He tells me he wants to go back to Syria…He made me promise, if he dies, to bury him in Syria."

United Kingdom: High Commissioner calls for more funding for Syrian Refugees

Speaking at the London Syria Conference, the head of the UN Refugee Agency Filippo Grandi called for a significant increase in pledges to offer much-needed stability, opportunities and hope to Syrian refugees, who are becoming more vulnerable as a brutal war has raged for five years

Lebanon: Newborn Boy Spends First Winter In A Warehouse

Just ten days old, Syrian infant Mohammed is already experiencing the harshness of refugee life. Living with his family in a warehouse without furniture, natural light or permanent heat, he is already battling his first cold.