Greece needs international help to manage the continuing influx of migrants across the Mediterranean, especially after the recent Moria camp fire that left thousands of migrants without shelter, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Friday in a prerecorded video address to the UN General Assembly
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th September, 2020) Greece needs international help to manage the continuing influx of migrants across the Mediterranean, especially after the recent Moria camp fire that left thousands of migrants without shelter, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Friday in a prerecorded video address to the UN General Assembly.
"The terrible fire at the Moria camp, on Lesbos, earlier this month, has highlighted the huge challenge posed by mass migration, in particular on Europe's southern borders. Greece cannot manage this issue alone. We've received invaluable support from the UNHCR and the IOM, but we need to be honest. Whilst our migrant numbers are down, our coastguard is still saving thousands of desperate men, women and children in the waters of the Mediterranean every year," Mitsotakis said.
He went on to call for an international effort to tackle the root causes of migration and alleviate poverty and wars in migrants' countries of origin.
"This is a collective failure of the international community and we must all share the blame for that failure. That is why we must do more together to tackle the root causes of migration: poverty, deprivation, economic uncertainty, exploitation, violence and war. Unless we tackle these inequalities, the problem will never be fully resolved," he said.
The overcrowded Moria facility was destroyed by a huge blaze in the early hours of September 9, leaving nearly 13,000 migrants without shelter. According to Greek media, the fire could have been caused by arson. The fire broke out after reports emerged that 35 residents of the camp had been diagnosed with COVID-19.
