Downpours And Political Hostility Won't Stop Refugees' March To North Europe

Thousands of people surged through European border crossings Friday, braving torrential rains, mud-slicked terrain and police forces as they continued their long walk seeking refuge in northern Europe.  Fleeing war, repression and extreme poverty, hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants have streamed into Europe this year. Figures released Friday by the International Organization for Migration show that a record 433,000 refugees and migrants have crossed the Mediterranean to enter Europe since the beginning of the year -- more than twice the number who did so in all of 2014. The majority of those who came this year first arrived on the shores of Greece, many of them after a harrowing boat crossing from Turkey. From there, they began an arduous journey north through Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary in the hopes of reaching more refugee-friendly and wealthy northern European countries. On each leg of the journey, the refugees have faced border closures and extreme hardships. Yet still they come. "I'm not going to be afraid of anything," Waseem Absi, a 30-year-old Syrian man, told the Associated Press on Thursday as he trekked up a muddy slope near Greece's northern border with Macedonia. A record 7,000 people crossed the border out of crisis-stricken Greece on Thursday despite the lashing rain. An Associated Press reporter described the scene: > Children stumbled into mud-filled potholes and had to be pulled back > out, bawling, into their mothers' arms. People struggled to find > anything -- plastic sheets, garbage bags, even a beach umbrella -- > to shield themselves from an unrelenting deluge.  Conditions were similarly chaotic for those who made it through Macedonia and reached the Serbian border with Hungary. Some 3,000 people crossed into Hungary on Thursday. Humanitarian workers have warned that the lack of shelter and the cold, wet conditions along that route could lead to an outbreak of disease. In an effort to lock down its border with Serbia, the Hungarian government is using prison labor to build a massive fence and is preparing to deploy thousands of troops to the area. In the meantime, people caught entering the country are being forced into overcrowded temporary detention centers for registration. On Thursday, volunteers posted a shocking video of police hurling food at a crowd of refugees in one of the centers.  Most refugees are trying to pass through Hungary as quickly as possible. But the country's tough response to migrants -- both those entering and those leaving -- has created a series of bottlenecks. Last week, Hungary lifted a ban on migrants trying to travel by train to Austria as thousands of people camped out at Budapest's Keleti station. But on Thursday, confusion reigned again. Hungarian police briefly blocked refugees and migrants from boarding trains to Austria, and some cross-border rail and bus services were suspended.  Amid the confusion and delays, thousands of people decided to keep going on foot, breaking through police lines on the Austrian border on Friday. Many started the 40-mile march along the highway to Vienna. Others collapsed in exhaustion, or decided to wait for buses and taxis north. A BBC correspondent described the scene in the Austrian border town of NICKELSDORF: > EXISTING SHELTERS IN THE AREA ARE FULL AND THE ARMY IS PUTTING UP > TENTS, THE BBC'S BETHANY BELL REPORTS. EXHAUSTED MEN, WOMEN AND > CHILDREN ARE EVERYWHERE, SOME EVEN SLEEPING ON THE MANICURED GARDENS > OF NICKELSDORF'S NEAT HOUSES. Meanwhile, European leaders remain deadlocked over how to distribute the massive flow of refugees among their countries.  While Austria and Germany have opened their borders to refugees, several European nations, including Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, have rejected a European Union plan to share 160,000 refugees among 23 of the member states. EU President Donald Tusk said on Friday that he will call an emergency summit if leaders can't agree on how resolve the crisis.  Other European countries, like Britain and Denmark, already have loopholes that make them exempt from the scheme. Britain has volunteered to take in 20,000 Syrian refugees -- but only over the course of five years. Denmark's integration minister announced on Friday that the country will not accept any of the 160,000 refugees in question, saying they have already "taken our share."  _CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article mistakenly said that Hungary shares a border with Siberia. This likely came as a surprise to some readers. In fact, Hungary shares a border with Serbia._    _ALSO ON THE WORLDPOST:_ -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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The Real Story Behind Europe's Refugee Crisis

Over the past few weeks, major news outlets like the New York Times, the BBC and the Associated Press have featured haunting images of Syrian families--mainly women and children--seeking refuge in Europe. People worldwide are horrified, and they should be. As journalist Nick Kristof put it in an op-ed published today, "If you have a heart, you're moved by the refugees." So what's driving this massive influx of refugees into Europe? The answer, of course, is a complicated one. But as Kristof and the New York Times Editorial Board have recently pointed out, deteriorating conditions in refugee camps across the Middle East have played a major role. Faced with swelling demand and dwindling budgets, United Nations agencies on the ground are struggling to provide enough food, water and medical care for the number of Syrians in need. The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), for example, has been working to feed families in Syria and neighboring countries like Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey since the conflict began in 2011. Since then, more than half of the country's population has been displaced by warfare. After five years of fighting, the agency now finds itself providing food assistance to nearly 6 million Syrian refugees each month with no end in sight. Meanwhile, severe funding shortfalls have led to dramatic cuts to its program. In July, the agency was forced to halve the value of its electronic food vouchers in Lebanon to just $13.50 per person per month. And the refugee crisis is not just confined to the Syria conflict. Right now, the U.N. is facing five large-scale humanitarian catastrophes at the same time, four of which are manmade. Violence in nations like Yemen, South Sudan and the Central African Republic, among others, has left millions of families hungry and homeless. According to UNHCR's annual Global Trends Report, global displacement is at an all-time high. A staggering 59.5 million men, women and children are living as refugees or internally displaced people. If the total number of refugees were its own country, it would be the 24th largest in the world, just behind Italy. These disasters have put incredible strain on the U.N. and its humanitarian agencies. Last year, the U.N. requested a total of $19.5 billion to adequately address global needs--the highest estimate in its 70-year history--yet received just 60% of that amount. But to be clear, it's not that governments, private companies, religious institutions or citizens don't care. In fact, it's quite the opposite. In 2014, total international humanitarian aid rose for the second year in a row. But the reality is that need continues to outpace resources--despite a record increase in contributions. No doubt these cuts have helped drive many to flee to safer, more resource-rich regions like Europe. Given the choice between eking out an existence in makeshift tents, overcrowded camps, and substandard housing, where adequate assistance, employment and education for their children seem increasingly out-of-reach, or risking life and limb to reach the shores of Europe in the hope of a better future, Syrian refugees are increasingly choosing the latter. Case in point: Over the past two years, Syrians have accounted for the largest percentage of asylum-seekers in Europe and their numbers are rising--63% of the 160,000 people who have arrived in Greece so far this year came from Syria. It's not just refugees who are being affected by this "new normal" either. These funding challenges have forced agencies like WFP to make excruciating choices about who to feed and who must fend for themselves. Over the last year, WFP has been forced to reduce food rations to the hungry in places such as Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. As more resources have been shifted toward addressing refugees, impoverished communities across the globe have suffered. This includes small-scale farmers in developing nations like Tanzania who need assistance--in the form of better seeds, soil nutrients, planting advice and financial credit--to successfully grow enough food to feed themselves and their neighbors. The same can be said of students in the world's poorest classrooms who rely on school meals from organizations like WFP as their sole source of steady nutrition. Those programs are getting cut too. Hunger is being used as a weapon of war. In Syria, fighters have deliberately blocked humanitarian aid from WFP to starve communities into submission. Graffiti in Yarmouk, a neighborhood in the country's capital, warns civilians to "Kneel or Starve." The relationship between hunger and conflict is symbiotic: One feeds off the other. Chronic hunger destroys the mind, the body and, over time, the very fabric of society. Food, on the other hand, is humanity's common denominator. As the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger, WFP serves as a lifeline on the frontlines, delivering hope to as many people as possible. But WFP and its U.N. partners in the field can't carry out their missions without sufficient support.​ Here at World Food Program USA, we believe food is a tool of peace. Join us and help deliver hope to millions of children and families in crisis. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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7 Ways You Can Help Syrian Refugees

As the refugee and migrant crisis grows in Europe, Catholic Relief Services and our partners like Caritas are there on the ground, providing assistance to families in need. As the difficult images fill the news, many people and parishes have asked what they can do to help. Here are seven tangible actions you can take to make a difference in the lives of people who have left their homes behind due to violent and difficult situations. 1. LEARN MORE The more you learn about this crisis, the more you'll understand its underlying causes and can spread the word. Continued warfare in Syria, and violence in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, has contributed to the surge of refugees from those countries, while deteriorating economic conditions in places like Sub-Saharan Africa has led people to Europe in search of a better life. Here are some good resources for you. CRS' SUPPORT OF SYRIAN REFUGEES THE WASHINGTON POST FEATURES 6 SYRIANS MAKING THE JOURNEY TO EUROPE REFUGEE OR MIGRANT? (From the United Nations High Commission on Refugees) 2. DONATE One of the best ways to help is through donating to accredited nonprofit organizations that are responding to the crisis. More than 90 percent of money donated to CRS goes directly to people in need. DONATE NOW. _CRS partner Caritas distributes hygiene kits to refugees passing through Belgrade, Serbia. Photo by Kari Horvath for CRS_ 3. FUNDRAISE You can provide direct assistance by setting up a page to raise money to support our emergency efforts. Your support will ensure that we can provide immediate assice, including food, water, access to sanitation, legal services and medical care. SET UP YOUR OWN FUNDRAISING PAGE. 4. ADVOCATE CRS is calling on the United States to continue and expand humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees, especially to countries in the Middle East, that have for years been sheltering the largest number of Syrians and Iraqis, as well as to countries burdened by this new migration. Most importantly, the United States should lead concerted diplomatic efforts to end the fighting in Syria. READ MORE about how our nation's leaders can respond to the crisis, and WRITE A LETTER urging them to take up the cause. 5. USE SOCIAL MEDIA Follow and retweet @CATHOLICRELIEF and @CRSNEWS on Twitter for the latest updates on the #REFUGEECRISIS that's reached Europe. Also, SHARE THIS IMAGE on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or any other social media to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters. 6. PRAY Pray for protection for refugees--particularly those fleeing Northern Africa for Europe--as well as for personal transformation as we face the needs of refugees everywhere, by using this PRAYER FOR REFUGEES. 7. SUPPORT REFUGEES IN THE UNITED STATES Although CRS works exclusively overseas, there are many ways to help refugees in the United States through organizations such as MIGRATION AND REFUGEE SERVICES, your local CATHOLIC CHARITIES or by volunteering to help refugees in your own area through local refugee resettlement centers. _In northern Greece, refugees make their way to Macedonian border. Photo courtesy of Matthieu Alexandre/Caritas Internationalis_ -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Family Members Of Syrian Refugees Abused By Hungarian Journalist Tell Their Story

  ISTANBUL -- Sitting in a rented apartment in Turkey, not too far from his hometown Deir ez-Zor, in eastern Syria, 19-year-old Mohanad could not believe what he saw on TV: His father, Osama Abdul Mohsen, and youngest brother, Zeid, were being kicked and tripped by a Hungarian journalist, Petra László. The video was broadcast on numerous Arab and international TV channels. László’s attack apparently intended to keep Mohanad’s family, and many other refugees, from escaping the police, who were attempting to stop them from crossing the border toward the promised land: Germany. Mohanad told HuffPost Arabi in a phone conversation that since being shot in September 2012, he hadn’t experienced such a profound moment of weakness. He was distraught to see the fear on his brother’s face, and to hear his father’s cries of agony, as László, who was there to cover the fleeing of hundreds of refugees from the police, assaulted him. A German journalist caught László's attack on video. Her behavior was met with worldwide outrage. The Hungarian Internet-based channel, N1TV, which employed László, fired her, despite its close ties to Hungary’s far-right Jobbik party, which is known for its anti-immigration views. "An N1TV colleague today behaved in an unacceptable way at the Roszke collection point," N1TV's Editor-in-Chief Szabolcs Kisberk said in a statement shortly after the incident. "The camerawoman's employment contract has been terminated with immediate effect as of today, we consider the matter closed." "I believe we have done what we what we had to do in this situation. We don’t understand how could this happen, it is shocking and unacceptable," Kisberk added. Hungarian prosecutors announced on Thursday that a criminal case for breach of peace has been opened against László. _ Osama Abdul Mohsen and his son Zeid were tripped by Hungarian journalist Petra László while attempting to flee from police at the Roszke collection point. _ Mohanad mourns his inability to be by his father’s side during such difficult times. He remembers fleeing to Damascus years earlier when Deir ez-Zor was bombed and besieged by the regime. When Mohanad moved to Damascus with his family, Osama stayed in Deir ez-Zor. “He used to visit us every fortnight, to make sure we were okay. Then he would go back to Deir ez-Zor, facing all kinds of challenges along the way, since he was wanted by security forces,” Mohanad said. Mohanad said his father worked as a facilities manager in Deir ez-Zor, before he was forced to resign, following clashes that broke out between the Syrian regime and the opposition. After receiving treatment in Damascus for his leg wound, Mohanad left with his family to the city of Al-Raqqah. They stayed there for three months before leaving for Turkey. Osama joined his family in Turkey after Islamic State militants took Deir ez-Zor. “My father gave up on everything. He couldn’t find a job in Turkey, and his financial situation worsened, especially since the cost of living here is very high,” Mohanad said, remembering the events that led his father to embark on the dangerous journey to Germany. “He wanted us to keep getting an education.” _ Mohanad and Zeid arm wrestle for fun._ Mohanad, who lives with his mother in Turkey, is the eldest of three siblings. His brother Mohammed is 17 and seven-year-old Zeid is the youngest. Mohammed was the first in the family to embark on the dangerous journey from Turkey across Europe. Eight months ago, he traveled to Italy on a ferry, and then took a train to Germany. Osama and Zeid started on their journey earlier this month. Osama believed that traveling with his youngest son would help speed up requests for family unification once they made it to Germany. They left from the Turkish city, Bodrum, and after three failed attempts, they arrived in Greece. Then they continued to Macedonia, and then on to Serbia. Mohanad spoke to his father before his trek to the Hungarian border. “Then, we didn’t hear from him at all,” he said. The family was concerned and tried to contact members of the group that the father traveled with. “It had been two days since we heard from him,” Mohanad said. “My mother, sister and I were greatly appalled by the video, and the cruel incident my father and younger brother had to endure.” The Hungarian police announced on its website that it had closed off the M5 highway, after a large group of refugees broke through a police cordon at Roszke, at the border with Serbia, and set off on foot towards the highway. Others set off toward a peripheral road leading to the city of Szeged. The news failed to console their mother, who could not get the images out of her head of her son hitting the ground, and of her husband being surrounded by police officers. The mother regrets giving in to her husband’s insistence on taking their youngest son with him on that grueling journey. “It’s not like any other journey. It is a journey of death,” she told HuffPost Arabi. She also remembers her young son’s reassurances. “I am going to Germany to see Mohammed, don’t you worry,” Zeid told her. He was very excited to see his brother, she said. _ Seven-year-old Zeid's father was tripped by Hungarian journalist Petra László._ Mohanad, who actively participated in protests in Deir ez-Zor, against the Syrian regime, until he was shot, couldn’t help but wonder what prompted the journalist to exhibit such “hostility and hatred” towards his father and brother. He predicts that his father will not silently accept what has happened to him. “But we don’t know what his situation is now,” he said, referring to the possibilities of taking legal action against the Hungarian journalist. Now, Mohanad can think about nothing other than pursuing his education, which was interrupted when war broke out in Syria. He insists that, while he was the victim of a “dictatorship” that may have impaired his body, his soul is alive, urging him to keep living and studying. His eyes are set toward the promised land: Germany. _This article first appeared on HuffPost Arabi and was translated into English. It has been edited and condensed. _ -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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