Greece was hit by a huge new surge in migrants as the United Nations
approved a European seize-and-destroy military operation against people
smugglers in the Mediterranean.
The backing for EU navies to take action against traffickers in
international waters came as the first asylum seekers were flown from
Italy to Sweden under a hotly disputed relocation scheme to share the
burden of Europe's migrant crisis.
As the 19 Eritreans made their trip, new data emerged showing a
massive surge in the number of migrants arriving in Greece to 7,000 from
4,500 a day at the end of September.
With 570,000 people having already arrived in the EU so far this
year, the figures from the International Organization for Migration
(IOM) underlined the limited scope of the relocation scheme, which seeks
to move 160,000 refugees from Italy and Greece over the next two years.
Sweden alone expects to process 150,000 asylum applications this
year, Prime Minister Stefan Loven said Friday, adding it may have to
house some of them in heated tents.
The IOM said the surge in numbers arriving in Greece "may be due to expected worsening weather conditions".
And the head of the UN's refugee agency warned of a humanitarian
disaster this winter unless Greece was given much more help to house the
new arrivals.
"We know how to organise a camp, a tent or buildings for the winter
but what we are not able to cope with is a massive wave of people moving
every day. It is impossible. And with the (severe) winter weather in
the Balkans there could be a tragedy at any moment," UNHCR chief Antonio
Guterres said.
Smiles and hugs
Grinning shyly before the media, the young Eritreans waved and blew
kisses as they boarded a small propeller plane at Rome's Ciampino
airport after hugging members of the Red Cross and UNHCR.
Nearly seven hours after leaving balmy Rome, they touched down in
temperatures of two degrees Celsius roughly 100 kilometres (60 miles)
south of the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden before boarding a bus
bound for an asylum seeker's centre in Ostersund.
Another of their countrymen was not so lucky: a 17-year-old was
seriously injured after he apparently jumped on a Eurotunnel shuttle
from France to Britain.
"Today is an important day for the European Union, it is a day of
victory... for those who believe in Europe, for those who believed in
saving human lives," Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano had
earlier told journalists in Rome.
The scheme launched on Friday was pushed through against the
objections of several eastern European countries after France and
Germany threw their weight behind it.
EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said: "This is a
tangible example of what we can do when we work together. We are nations
of immigrants and we've made an important step forward."
Alfano said Italy was ready to send 100 more asylum seekers to
Germany and the Netherlands, and UNHCR said further relocations would
take place at the beginning of next week.
UNHCR southern Europe spokeswoman, Carlotta Sami, told AFP that
Friday's first flight was a significant moment. "But we know more must
be done."
Perilous boat crossings in the Mediterranean have cost over 3,000 people their lives this year.
A baby thought to be about a year old was the latest victim, drowning
off the Greek island of Lesbos when a dinghy carrying about 55 Syrians
from Turkey sank in the dark, Greece's ministry of shipping said Friday.
Crackdown on economic migrants
The EU's scheme provides for the relocation of individuals
thought to have a good chance of being granted asylum and it has been
accompanied by moves to speed up repatriations of those deemed to be
economic migrants.
Eritreans almost automatically fall into the first category because
of the repressive nature of Isaias Afwerki's regime in the east African
state.
Those relocated Friday had been rescued on the high seas recently and
taken to an experimental migrant screening centre or "hotspot" on
Lampedusa island, where they were registered.
The centre, which was visited by Avramopoulos and Luxembourg's
Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn on Friday, is one of a number due to be
operational across Italy and Greece by the end of November.
On Thursday, EU nations agreed to speed up the deportation of failed
asylum seekers and crack down on so-called "economic migrants" -- who
are largely from poor African nations and not refugees from conflict
zones.
Separately in Washington, Secretary of State John Kerry defended the
decision to increase the number of refugees the United States will admit
next year to 100,000, including 10,000 Syrians.
"Immigrants built America and immigrants continue to make America what it is today," he said.
