Macedonia expects fresh wave of refugees
Date
9/17/2015 7:37:37 AM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Macedonian authorities expect another wave of refugees to arrive in the next few days saying they are doing everything in their power to help their transit through the country.
"We expect 5000 to 7000 new arrivals maybe more to reach our border soon from Greece" the police told BIRN.
Experts and human rights organizations say that while conditions for refugees in Macedonia are improving the authorities are still not doing enough.
"Some local institutions have slept through the crisis" migrations expert Trpe Stojanovski told a panel discussion organized in Skopje by the Open Society Foundation - Macedonia.
Over the past 24 hours Macedonian police say over 2100 refugees from Middle-Eastern countries have crossed the southern border with Greece. This is a slight fall on the numbers from previous days that reached up to 7000 a day.
What is alarming is that 92 of the newly registered refugees were children whose parents were not with them the authorities said.
Observers and humanitarian activists call for greater engagement of the Social Affairs Ministry and Health Ministry on the ground complaining that until now the bulk of the burden of the relief effort has fallen onto the civil sector.
Similar criticism is contained in the new quarterly report by the Macedonian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights which says refugees entering Macedonia are often "victims of inhumane treatment crime and hatred".
Activists complain of low hygiene and lack of sanitation and social services in refugee centresamong other problems.
One of the focal points for new arrivals is the refugee transit centre near the southern town of Gevgelija where the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations have set up facilities where refugees can sleep eat and get medical attention.
They then continue their journey north towards Serbia and then towards Western EU countries.
Most travel by train while some use buses or taxis.
Macedonia's authoritiesdo not expect the wave of refugees from countries like Syria or Iraq to stop soon. They estimate that by the end of this year some 200000 people will have transited through the country.
Data show that since mid June when the number of refugees rose drastically some 80000 people have crossed the Macedonian border. Since the start of the crisis Macedonia has recorded 28 refugee deaths.
Seelive updates on the refugee crisis.
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