International Organization for Migration

The world's leading inter-governmental organisation dealing with migration has warned in a document released on Wednesday that the COVID-19 panic is adding to existing strains between host communities and migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

About 1,000 migrants and refugees who have lingered at the site of the burned camp will now over-winter in what was formerly the largest migrant centre in Bosnia.

The decision concludes a several-day search for solutions to the emergency situation that arose after migrants torched the Lipa camp as it was about to close.

The International Organization for Migration, IOM, has acted on warnings that it would close a migrant camp, saying Bosnian authorities had ignored its repeated appeals to help supply basic services.

The International Organization for Migration, IOM, has warned that it will cease to provide services at the Lipa camp for migrants and refugees by Wednesday if authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to fail to meet their commitments.

The Migration Ministry said Friday that it had "no knowledge" of a report by an international organization castigating its policy on and handling of migration, responding to a news story published in Kathimerini, though it failed to respond to the issues raised in the document.

Greece's Migration Ministry said on Friday it had "no knowledge" of a report by an international organization castigating its policy on and handling of migration, responding to a news story published in Kathimerini.

It said the same applied to the UΝ refugee agency (UNHCR), and the International Organisation for migration (IOM).

The US government will provide 2.9 million dollars in financial assistance to Greece to improve the living conditions of unaccompanied minors and support the islands against the Covid-19 pandemic, it was announced by Alternate Minister for Citizens' Protection Giorgos Koumoutsakos and US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt following a meeting on Thursday.

An accommodation facility in the town of Kranidi, in southern Greece, was placed in lockdown for two weeks on Tuesday after three more migrants tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Greek health authorities said Tuesday.

The only people who will be allowed in the hotel are its employees, healthcare professionals and police and military officials.

A total of 150 people in an accommodation facility in the town of Kranidi, in southern Greece, have tested positive for the new coronavirus, Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias told jousnalists after visiting the site on Tuesday.

Hardalias said 148 of these are refugees, one is an employee, and one is an aid worker. All patients are asymptomatic, he said.

A dozen unaccompanied refugee and migrant minors were flown from Greece to Luxembourg on Wednesday as part of a European Union initiative to expedite the relocation of some 1,600 over the next few months to EU member-states.