Migrants freezing to death in Greece, UN says

Refugees and migrants are dyingin Europe's cold snap and governments must do more to help themrather than pushing them back from borders and subjecting themto violence, the UNrefugee agency said on Friday.

"Children are particularly prone to respiratory illnesses ata time like this. It's about saving lives, not about red tapeand keeping to bureaucratic arrangements," Sarah Crowe, aspokeswoman for the UNchildren's agency UNICEF told a UNbriefing in Geneva. "The dire situation right now is Greece."

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CecilePouilly, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),cited five deaths so farfrom cold and said about 1,000 people including children were inunheated tents and dormitories on the Greek island ofSamos,calling for them to be transferred to shelter on themainland.

Hundreds of others had been moved to better accommodation onthe islands ofLesbosandChiosin the past few days.

In Serbia, about 80 per cent of the 7,300 refugees, asylumseekers and migrants are staying in heated government shelters,but 1,200 men were sleeping rough in informal sites in Belgrade.

The bodies of two Iraqi men and a young Somali woman werefound close to the Turkish border in Bulgaria and two Somaliteenagers were hospitalised with frostbite after five days in aforest, Pouilly said. The body of a young Pakistani man wasfound along the same border in late December.

A 20-year-old Afghan man died after crossing the Evros Riveron the Greece-Turkey land border at night when temperatures werebelow 10 C. The body of a young Pakistani man wasfound on the Turkish side of the border with Bulgaria.

"Given the harsh winter conditions, we are particularlyconcerned by reports that authorities in all countries along theWestern Balkans route continue to push back refugees andmigrants from inside their territory to neighbouring countries,"Pouilly said.

Phones confiscated, destroyed

Some refugees and migrants said police subjected them toviolence and many said their phones were confiscated ordestroyed, preventing them from calling for help, she said.

"Some even reported items of clothing being confiscated thusfurther exposing them to the harsh winter conditions," she said."These practices are simply unacceptable and must be stopped."

Joel Millman, spokesman for the International Organizationfor Migration (IOM), said migrant movements across theMediterranean had "started out in a big way" in 2017, and thedeath toll for the year was already 27.

The World Meteorological Organization said a movement ofcold Siberian air into southeastern Europe had driventemperatures in Greece, Italy, Turkey and Romania fiveto 10 degreeslower than normal. Such cold outbreaks happen about oncein 35 years on average, the WMO said.