UN refugee agency concerned at conditions in new refugee sites in north Greece

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Friday voiced its serious concerns about sub-standard conditions at several sites in northern Greece where refugees and migrants were evacuated this week from the makeshift site at Idomeni, a UN spokesman said here.

The UN agency "is urging the Greek authorities, with the financial support provided by the European Union, to find better alternatives quickly," Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, said at a daily news briefing here.

"UNHCR says it agrees that the makeshift site at Idomeni where refugees had been staying in abysmal conditions, needed to be evacuated but adds that the conditions of some of the sites to which the refugees and migrants were transferred fall well below minimum standards," Haq said.

UNHCR will continue to assist the Greek authorities to provide emergency assistance and urgently improve conditions at these sites where possible, he said. "But it says that where it is not possible to bring conditions up to minimal humanitarian standards, alternatives need to be found and made ready to accommodate refugees."

Some 22,000 children are among the 55,000 migrants and refugees currently stranded in Greece, hosted in 35 camps and sites on the mainland and islands.

Each day, some 1,000 refugees are arriving on Greece's shores. Most of the refugees have fled the unrelenting civil war in Syria, now in its sixth year.

The rising number of people entering Europe in search of safety and in search of a better life has captured the world's attention with scenes of heartbreaking tragedy. Enditem