Slovenia recently declared it would only allow migrants from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to enter the country and would send all other “economic migrants” back to their country of origin.
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That prompted Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia – countries on what is known as the Balkan corridor – to do the same.
A stranded Iranian migrant has his lips sewn as he sits on rail tracks at the border between Greece and Macedonia near the Greek village of Idomeni November 23, 2015.
According to Euronews, the United Nations has condemned the countries’ policy, with a spokesman for the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) Adrian Edwards telling reporters: “All people have the right to seek asylum, irrespective of their nationality and to have their individual cases heard”. But nationals of other countries are being stopped, leaving about 1,000 people stuck at the main entry point into the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia from Greece.
Poland’s new Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said the country is not ready to take in 7,000 refugees, a figure accepted by the previous government.
The latest on the mass movement of asylum seekers and others seeking refuge in Europe.
“The status quo is untenable and short-term recommendations do nothing to solve the problem”.
“We live in the same conditions as Afghanistan, ‘ said Iftikhar Ahmed (not pictured) from Pakistan”.
“Macedonia can not open its doors for those who can not be accommodated in the European Union, mostly due to the fact that they do not arrive in Macedonia with the goal of staying here, instead they want to travel to European Union member states”.
A group of refugees stranded on the Greece-Macedonia border have launched a hunger strike to protest a filtering system by some Balkan countries which began days ago, rejecting those classed as economic migrants.
“It’s hard to communicate with them”, Gemma Gillie, a representative of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) said to The Guardian.
“If [the government] knew what I was doing, they would stop my business and put me in jail”, Derakhshan asked. Traditional refugee haven Sweden has also tightened asylum rules while a popular backlash against refugees is growing in their most favoured destination, Germany.
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The Interior Ministry in August forecast 800,000 would arrive this year.
