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STORY: GREECE / REFUGEES NEW ARRIVALS
TRT: 2:32
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 19 MAY 2018, DIAVATA REFUGEE SITE, GREECE
19 MAY 2018, DIAVATA REFUGEE SITE, GREECE
1. Med shot, Mahmoud’s wife wiping their son’s face
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mahmoud Mustafa Atar, Syrian refugee:
“It was hard for my children to see the scenes [of war]. This one is not aware but this son of mine sometimes gets paralyzed from what he saw in the city of Afrin. We just prayed to save ourselves from death.”
3. Wide shots, Mahmoud walking with family
4. Wide shot, refugees folding sheet
5. Med shot, refugees at site
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mahmoud Mustafa Atar, Syrian refugee:
“You look behind, you see destruction. You look ahead, there are risks and challenges. Our feelings are totally indescribable.”
7. Wide shot, refugees setting tent
8. Med shot, boys sitting in tent
9. Med shot, refugees building shelter
10. Wide shot, refugees building shelter
11. UPSOUND (English) Leo Dobbs, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“Greece needs continuing support and I think that’s clear to everyone.”
12. Wide shot, girl sitting in tent
13. Wide shot, Dobbs speaking to refugees
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Leo Dobbs, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“We at UNHCR continue to recommend that people in need of help should be able to leave the country by legal means. There should be more legal pathways, resettlements, and relocations. We think that this is the way forward.”
15. Wide shots, refugee sweeping ground
16. Wide shot, tents by basketball rim
17. Med shot, Mahmoud’s son
18. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mahmoud Mustafa Atar, Syrian refugee:
“Imagine your own city, the country where you were born and raised, is being destroyed and burnt in front of your eyes and there is nothing you can do about it. You can only pray to save yourself, your life and your family. I don’t wish to even remember those days.”
19. Wide shot, mother and children sitting in tent
20. Wide shot, tents
Increasing numbers of desperate refugees are trying to reach Greece not by crossing the Mediterranean but by travelling in the north from Turkey across the Evros River. The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said facilities to receive and support the refugees, many of them from war-torn Syria, are in short supply.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mahmoud Mustafa Atar, Syrian refugee:
“It was hard for my children to see the scenes [of war]. This one is not aware but this son of mine sometimes gets paralyzed from what he saw in the city of Afrin. We just prayed to save ourselves from death.”
Mahmoud, an electrician from Syria, crossed the Evros River with his family a few months ago.
Desperate refugees choose the dangerous crossing from Turkey across the Evros River, which forms a natural border between Greece and Turkey. Between January and mid-May, 12 bodies were recovered on the Greek side of the river. It was high, and compared to the nine found in all of 2017. More are expected as people have been reported missing in the Evros, including children. But many families are still deciding that the dangers home outweighed the risks of the journey.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mahmoud Mustafa Atar, Syrian refugee:
“You look behind, you see destruction. You look ahead, there are risks and challenges. Our feelings are totally indescribable.”
More than 8,000 others crossed the Evros to Greece in the first half of 2018, far more than the estimated 5,600 in all of 2017. But accommodations are limited and centres like this are stretched. Diavata is a former military base near Thessaloniki which shelters some 1,500 people, double its capacity.
UPSOUND (English) Leo Dobbs, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“Greece needs continuing support and I think that’s clear to everyone.”
UNHCR, which offers support to the Evros authorities, has proposed the implementation of short and long-term measures to enhance the government’s response capacity in Evros. The agency is also proposing setting up mobile registration units, identifying open transit sites where arrivals from Evros can be directed and undergo registration and identification procedures.
SOUNDBITE (English) Leo Dobbs, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“We at UNHCR continue to recommend that people in need of help should be able to leave the country by legal means. There should be more legal pathways, resettlements, and relocations. We think that this is the way forward.”
Mahmoud lives with his family in a container they share with other families from Afrin. He said the way forward is not clear for him, but there is no going back.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mahmoud Mustafa Atar, Syrian refugee:
“Imagine your own city, the country where you were born and raised, is being destroyed and burnt in front of your eyes and there is nothing you can do about it. You can only pray to save yourself, your life and your family. I don’t wish to even remember those days.”
UNHCR said it supports efforts to provide dignity, shelter and safety to all those fleeing war.
