LESVOS, Greece, April 4 (UNHCR) – It was in the early hours of a March morning when Monzir's rubber dinghy bumped against the shores of Lesvos, but it was already too late. At midnight that day (March 20), the status of arrivals like Monzir, who have fled war and spent their life savings to chanc...

Yesterday's violence at the Greece-Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia border near Eidomeni and the extensive scenes we have all seen of teargas in use are a matter of great worry to UNHCR. It should be too for all who are concerned with Europe's response to the situation of refugees and migrants....

Geneva, 16 April 2016 UNHCR lauds Pope's solidarity with refugees UNHCR welcomes the Pope's demonstration of solidarity with the world's refugees today on his visit to the Greek island of Lesvos and by offering a home to three Syrian families. Pope Francis travelled back to Rome from Lesv...

Press Releases, 20 April 2016 On Tuesday, a UNHCR team interviewed survivors of what could be one of the worst tragedies involving refugees and migrants in the last 12 months. If confirmed, as many as 500 people may have lost their lives when a large ship went down in the Mediterranean Sea at an ...

Athens, 23 April 2016 PRESS RELEASE The Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction (Alternate Minister for Migration Policy) and UNHCR are strengthening their collaboration for the provision of accommodation and assistance to the refugees who are currently in Greece. On Wednesday, 2...

ATHENS, Greece, April 26 (UNHCR) – Syrian refugee Ibrahim Al-Hussein carried the Olympic flame through an Athens centre for refugees on Tuesday evening as part of the torch relay for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. The symbolic gesture was intended to show solidarity with the world's refugees a...

ATHENS, Greece, May 2 (UNHCR) – All Yasin Osman Ibrahim and his three-year-old son Abdulrahman could do was watch in horror as more than 500 migrants and refugees drowned two weeks ago, in one of the Mediterranean's worst shipwrecks in modern history. Clutching Abdulrahman to his chest, Yasin sto...

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 13 May 2016, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Approximately 1,000 people of various nationalities, including refugee families and unaccompanied childre...

Athens, 14/05/2016 The Asylum Service will conduct a pre-registration exercise for international protection in the mainland from end of May to end of July with the financial support of the European Commission (DG Home). The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the European As...

The UN Refugee Agency kicked off a series of training workshops this week in Greece to provide additional tools on how to strengthen coordination among many partners. This will help ensure their collective efforts in support of national and local authorities deliver improved living conditions for th...