EUROPE-MIGRANTS/MACEDONIA-UNICEF Number of women and children crossing Macedonian border has tripled, UNICEF says

Record ID: 140537

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/MACEDONIA-UNICEF Number of women and children crossing Macedonian border has tripled, UNICEF says
  • Date: 1st September 2015
  • Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (SEPTEMBER 1, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS NEWS BRIEFING ONGOING (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNICEF SPOKESMAN, CHRISTOPHE BOULIERAC, SAYING: "The number of women and children fleeing violence in countries of origin and who are passing through the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in order to seek refuge in Europe, has tripled in the past three months. So today we think that everyday, there are 3,000 people who are there, in Gevgelija, at the border between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, 3,000 people everyday, and we think that among them 30 percent of them are children and women." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNICEF SPOKESMAN, CHRISTOPHE BOULIERAC, SAYING: "Some of them are suffering from dehydration, blisters, cold, diarrhoea and sun burn. We were very worried at some point about babies, you know, who are breast fed, and some mothers were not able to feed them correctly due to this terrible journey, and some babies were dehydrated." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNICEF SPOKESMAN, CHRISTOPHE BOULIERAC, SAYING: "UNICEF is closely monitoring the situation on the ground and we are working with local authorities to ensure that children are protected in this difficult situation. UNICEF continues to advocate that all actions for children on the move must be guided by the best interest of every child, every step on the way." EXTERIOR OF UNITED NATIONS BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 16th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Switzerland
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAGKWH3ULUNW7LN1EJ9W3OQP3F
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The number of women and children migrants crossing the border of Macedonia and Greece to seek refuge in Europe has tripled in the last three months, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said on Tuesday (September 1).
    "The number of women and children fleeing violence in countries of origin and who are passing through the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in order to seek refuge in Europe, has tripled in the past three months. So today we think that everyday, there are 3,000 people who are there, in Gevgelija, at the border between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, 3,000 people everyday, and we think that among them 30 percent of them are children and women," UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac told reporters at a news briefing in Geneva, adding that 12 percent of the women were pregnant.
    According to numbers given by Macedonian authorities, 80 percent of migrants now crossing this border are from Syria, five percent from Afghanistan and five percent from Iraq.
    Boulierac said the women and children were exhausted by their long and endless journey, with many of the children traumatised by the horrors they witnessed before fleeing and on the way, some of them unable to speak.
    "Some of them are suffering from dehydration, blisters, cold, diarrhoea and sun burn. We were very worried at some point about babies, you know, who are breast fed, and some mothers were not able to feed them correctly due to this terrible journey, and some babies were dehydrated," Boulierac further said.
    Boulierac said UNICEF was monitoring the situation on the ground and working with local authorities to ensure that children are protected.
    "UNICEF continues to advocate that all actions for children on the move must be guided by the best interest of every child, every step on the way," he said.
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