United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Greek authorities found 84 migrants arriving by sea and arrested four individuals, accusing them of being the traffickers that transported them, the coast guard said Sunday.

Both incidents occurred early Saturday, it said.

Greece's coastguard rescued 18 migrants and recovered the body of one dead woman on Friday after their boat capsized off an island in the Aegean Sea.

Coastguard vessels and a military helicopter carried out the rescue operation off the island of Agathonissi after the migrants sent a distress signal earlier on Friday, a coastguard official said.

GENEVA - Serbian FM Ivica Dacic said in Geneva on Monday evening his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto had conveyed to him a message from PM Viktor Orban that there were growing demands from those supporting Pristina's calls for imposing sanctions against Serbia but that Hungary would definitely not allow that to happen.

GENEVA - Serbian FM Ivica Dacic said in Geneva on Monday 210,284 people - mostly Serbs, but also other non-Albanians like Roma, Ashkali and Gorani - had been forced to leave their homes in Kosovo-Metohija due to ethnic hatred.

Addressing the UNHCR Executive Committee, Dacic said that, according to UNHCR figures, only 12,707 IDPs had returned to Kosovo-Metohija.

An umbrella group comprising 55 non-governmental organizations and civil society bodies across Greece has condemned recent incidents involving civilian self-proclaimed "militia" groups engaging in unlawful acts of violence against refugees and migrants.

The number of refugees and migrants arriving in Greece by sea has more than doubled in 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, according to updated data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The United Nations refugee agency said Friday it was "extremely concerned" over the return of more than 100 Syrian nationals from Cyprus to Lebanon without being screened to determine whether they need legal protection and who may be deported back to their war-wracked homeland.

Ensuring the safe and dignified return of Syrian refugees to their country remains a priority for the United Nations, but the current situation in Syria means that the conditions needed for voluntary return will require some additional time, according to the Türkiye representative to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

The National Palace of Culture (NDK), in Sofia will be lit in the colour blue on the evening of 20 June to mark World Refugee Day. The initiative is part of UNHCR's, the UN Refugee Agency, marking of the international day to honour people who have been forced to flee.

Greece on Thursday pursued a grim search for survivors a day after a fishing boat overloaded with migrants capsized and sank in the Ionian Sea, with the number of victims feared to reach into the hundreds.

As relatives in the migrants' home countries frantically sought details of their loved ones, the coastguard said 78 bodies had been recovered so far.