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- Switzerland wants to host about 20 unaccompanied children and young people from the burned-out Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.
- According to the Federal Council, the focus is on local aid. That’s why a plane from the federal air transport service flew to Athens with a ton of relief supplies on Friday afternoon.
- The main thing is to ensure that migrants are housed and cared for without delay. The distribution of those affected in the EU countries is not in the foreground.
Switzerland is ready to accept 20 out of a total of around 400 unaccompanied minors from the Moria refugee camp. This was the perspective of the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) after an informal request from Germany. The EU, currently under the German Presidency of the Council, has started to organize the evacuation of children and young people to other EU countries.
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told the Bundestag that so far a total of ten countries have agreed to participate in the reception of unaccompanied minors from Moria. France and Germany want to accept between 100 and 150 of them each.
This year Switzerland has already accepted 52 unaccompanied minor asylum seekers from Greece.
Auxiliary material delivery is on the way
The Federal Council writes in a communication that Switzerland has been supporting activities for years to improve the situation of migrants on the Greek islands. In April, an additional 1.1 million Swiss francs was made available for aid organization projects that primarily benefit children and youth in the camps.
On Friday afternoon, a plane of the Federal Air Transport Service (LTB) flew to Athens with about a ton of material. On board were sleeping bags, mats, cans of water, kitchen utensils and other relief items requested by the Greek government.
First aid for people in the refugee camp.
Two specialists from the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Corps (SHA) flew to Greece to provide support. The FDFA dispatch department has provided up to one million francs in humanitarian aid to meet the most urgent needs of those affected by the refugee camp fire.
The Federal Council announced that it was primarily a matter of immediately guaranteeing the accommodation, care and protection of migrants. The distribution of affected immigrants to EU countries is not in the foreground, according to him.
The Moria refugee camp was almost completely destroyed by fire on Wednesday night. Instead of the nearly 3,000 expected migrants, more than 12,000 people live there. Some of them are said to have started fires after a quarantine was ordered for the camp’s residents due to corona infections.
