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GREECE / GRANDI REFUGEE RELOCATIONS
STORY: GREECE / GRANDI UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN
TRT: 01:47
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 25 AUGUST 2016, LAGKADIKIA, VASILIKA / RAIDESTOS, NORTHERN GREECE
25 AUGUST 2016, LAGKADIKIA CAMP, NORTHERN GREECE
1. Various shots, refugees in camp
2. Pan right, Syrian refugee boy Adel and his brother walking up the stairs
3. Various shots, Adel and his brother looking at pictures on his camera in their tent
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Adel Sheikh, Ogli Syrian Asylum Seeker:
“I want to go to Europe to continue my study and also renew my dream, playing basketball or football.”
5. Various shots, UN High Commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi talking with Adel’s father, Bashar Sheikh Ogli
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bahsar Sheikh Ogli, Syrian Asylum Seeker:
“The waiting is very difficult. We are waiting and we don’t know what will happen.”
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees:
“Yes, yes. I agree with you totally on this. This is not good.”
8. Various shots, refugees in camp
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees:
“It is really frustrating for the people waiting.”
10. Wide shot, Grandi walking in camp
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees:
“Mine is a very strong appeal to all those concerned, Greek asylum institutions and EU member states, who are participating in the programme. We need to expand it and we need to accelerate it.”
VASILIKA / RAIDESTOS, NORTHERN GREECE
10. Various shots of refugees inside the warehouse
11. Pan left, Brivan Mustafa walking with one of her daughters
12. Various shots, Brivan Mustafa brushing her daughter’s hair
13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Brivan Mustafa, Syrian Asylum Seeker:
“Every day my daughter asks me why we are not going to see her father. What can I say?”
25 AUGUST 2016, LAGKADIKIA CAMP, NORTHERN GREECE
14. Various shots, refugees in refugee site
15. Various shots, Adel Sheikh Ogli walking with his younger brother into their tent
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Adel Sheikh Ogli, Syrian Asylum Seeker:
“I wait here a long time. So now I don’t care if I can wait more or I can’t wait, I don’t care about this, but I care about if I can go to a country that I love it.”
17. Wide shot, refugees resting in refugee site
18. Wide shot, Bashar and his family looking on
There are over 10,308 places allocated to candidates seeking relocation to other European countries and asylum seekers currently in Greece.
The uncertainty and lengthy wait is a frustration the asylum seekers find difficult to bear. For them, their futures are on hold.
These spaces include relocation sites, hotels, apartments and shelters for the more vulnerable.
For these asylum seekers at the Lagkadikia relocation site, this will just be another day of waiting.
Adel is 20 years old. His young brother Amir is 8. They have been living in tents for almost nine months now.
In Syria, Adel was studying science and math.
SOUNDBITE (English) Adel Sheikh, Ogli Syrian Asylum Seeker:
“I want to go to Europe to continue my study and also renew my dream, playing basketball or football.”
Adel’s father Bahsar Sheikh Ogli, met Filippo Grandi, the High Commissioner for Refugees.
He spoke of the family’s frustration and of just not knowing when and where they might be able to relocate.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bahsar Sheikh Ogli, Syrian Asylum Seeker:
“The waiting is very difficult. We are waiting and we don’t know what will happen.”
SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees:
“Yes, yes. I agree with you totally on this. This is not good.”
Just over 3,200 people have been relocated from Greece.
That’s only 4 percent of the initial commitment of 66,400 set for autumn 2017.
The process needs to be faster.
SOUNDBITE (English) Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees:
“It is really frustrating for the people waiting. Mine is a very strong appeal to all those concerned, Greek asylum institutions and EU member states, who are participating in the programme. We need to expand it and we need to accelerate it.”
Many of the asylum seekers spent months at a border site in Northern Greece.
In May, they were moved to this warehouse.
Brivan Mustafa came from Aleppo with her two children last February. Her husband has been in Germany for over a year.
She is waiting for reunification.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Brivan Mustafa, Syrian Asylum Seeker:
“Every day my daughter asks me why we are not going to see her father. What can I say?”
Everyone says they miss their usual lives. But the uncertainty is harder.
Adel and his family have had one interview and are waiting to hear which European country will take them.
SOUNDBITE (English) Adel Sheikh Ogli, Syrian Asylum Seeker:
“I wait here a long time. So now I don’t care if I can wait more or I can’t wait, I don’t care about this, but I care about if I can go to a country that I love it.”
The relocation and family reunion programmes are active, but require a push.
Less uncertainty for refugees and quicker placement from EU states are urgently needed.
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