Jordan Steps Up Deportations of Syrian Refugees
Jordan is deporting an increasing number of refugees to Syria, including families and large numbers of children, the Associated Press reports.
Aid officials told the news agency that more than one-third of several thousand refugees who returned to Syria in the first four months of the year were forcibly returned. They believe the increase in deportations is linked to a security crackdown after attacks by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) in Jordan in December.
Human Rights Watch also said it had documented “numerous” deportations of Syrian refugees from Jordan since 2014, noting that Turkey and Lebanon have also deported Syrians.
A Jordanian government official declined to confirm the number of deportations, but said Syrians were returned only on security grounds and denied that entire families have been sent back.
The Associated Press spoke to eight Syrians deported from Jordan who said they were sent back without being given a reason or because they spoke to family in ISIS-controlled areas. Two of the Syrians – a 40-year-old woman and a 30-year-old woman with multiple sclerosis – said they had already been approved for resettlement in the U.S. before they were deported.
There are some 660,000 registered Syrian refugees in Jordan, with official estimates of both registered and unregistered Syrian refugees at around 1.3 million.
Serbia Evicts More Than 1,000 People Sheltering in Belgrade Warehouses
Serbian authorities evacuated more than 1,000 refugees and migrants who had been living in a derelict barracks in the Serbian capital Belgrade before demolishing the makeshift shelter.
Hundreds of people had been taking shelter in squalid conditions at the warehouses for months, with many avoiding official shelters due to fear of expulsions amid tightening borders along the Balkan route.
Serbian officials said the warehouses were unsafe, could spread disease and left migrants vulnerable to traffickers. A video taken the day before the eviction showed authorities spraying the warehouse, apparently with insecticide.
Officials said the May 11 eviction had been orderly and that refugees and migrants had been moved to reception centers, yet the Independent reported that 400 refugees went missing during the operation, including unaccompanied children.
The International Rescue Committee’s Balkan director Gordana Ivkovic-Grujic said the eviction is a “reminder that there continues to be a refugee crisis on the E.U.’s borders.”
Nearly 500 People Rescued at Sea
Ships saved some 484 people stranded at sea and found the bodies of seven men in the Mediterranean.
The four rescue operations on May 13 were conducted by the Italian coast guard and navy, as well as an NGO boat and mercantile ship.
Around 45,000 people have been rescued at sea while trying to reach Italy this year, while more than 1,200 people have died on the Mediterranean passage.
European authorities are trying to halt the growing number of migrants traveling over the sea from North Africa.
The Italian and German interior ministers sent a letter on May 11 asking the European Union to deploy a mission to Libya’s southern border to help stem the passage of migrants in the chaotic country, Reuters reported.
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