Greek islanders protest in Athens against overcrowding refugee camps

Residents and officials from the north Aegean Sea islands demonstrated outside the Ministry of Immigration in Athens on Tuesday demanding the government to take measures to decongest the islands from the overcrowded refugee camps.

UN grants this year's Nansen Refugee Award to Greek volunteers

The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR on Tuesday announced that a 2,000-strong volunteer sea rescue team and a human rights activist are the joint 2016 winners of the Nansen Refugee Award.

Turkey demanded that the Minister of defence of Germany not to visit the Island by helicopter

Turkish authorities demanded that the Minister of defence of Germany Ursula von der Leyen did not visit the Greek island of Lesbos on a military helicopter (Grreek media).

Greece, Italy witness drop in refugee, migrant arrivals (IOM)

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday that a significant decrease in the number of refugees and migrants reaching Greek soil over the weekend had been observed, with only 155 people arriving to the Greek islands by sea on Sunday.

Debt-laden Greece struggles to tackle record number of illegal immigrants

In the dark shadow of the debt crisis that has brought Greece to the brink of default, the country struggles to tackle another major challenge this summer -- a record number of undocumented migrants and refugees.

Nearly 21,000 migrants arrived in Greece last week (UN)

Nearly 21,000 refugees and migrants arrived in crisis-hit Greece last week - nearly half the total number in all of 2014 - the United Nations said Tuesday.

Migrant crisis ‘surpasses’ Greek abilities

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Aug. 7 said a huge influx of migrants and refugees “surpassed” his debt-hit country’s abilities as he announced a raft of measures and asked for EU help to handle the crisis.

Greek islands under ‘tremendous strain’ as hundreds of refugees arrive daily (UN)

UN, 16 June 2015 – More than 55,000 refugees have arrived in the Greek islands so far this year, with hundreds arriving every day in inflatable dinghies and wooden boats, putting a “tremendous strain” on the communities that receive them and worsening conditions for the new arrivals, the United Nations refugee agency said today.

As refugees flood Greek island, UN agency warns of strained resources

UN, 9 June 2015 – The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) is reporting the arrival of record numbers of refugees on the Greek island of Lesvos, severely straining local reception capacities and the island’s limited resources.