United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Over a dozen migrant boats landed on Greece's Lesbos island within minutes of each other on Thursday in the first such mass arrival from neighbouring Turkey in three years, officials said, prompting Greece to summon Turkey's ambassador.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is seriously concerned by the Italian Government's decision to approve by law the imposition of fines on ships rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean.

The number of refugees in Turkey has reached 4.9 million, reported NOVA TV. 

Today we mark World Refugee Day. According to the UNHCR, to date, nearly 71 million people have left their homes because of military conflicts or persecution.

80% of them go to neighbouring countries.

The number of people who were forced to leave their homes and countries due to wars and persecutions, has reached 70.8 million.
This is the highest level since the creation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1950, United Nations said in a report released for the news agencies.

The US agency said that the nighttime deportation is "very unusual" and witnessed by UN refugee agency representatives.

The number of migrants waiting for their asylum application to be processed in the notorious reception and processing center in Moria, Lesvos, dropped below 6,000, based on data from the Migration Policy Ministry on Thursday.

The United Nations refugee agency on Tuesday pressed Greek authorities to take urgent action to improve conditions at migrant reception facilities on the Aegean islands, particularly on Lesvos and Samos.

Describing living conditions at the camps as "abhorrent," UNHCR spokesperson Charlie Yaxley expressed fears that they would only worsen.

Some 1,000 people in the Bosnian town of Bihac, on the border with Croatia, staged their third consecutive evening protest on Monday, demanding that state-level officials find a proper solution to the rise in the number of migrants and refugees arriving in the area.

  People of Bihac gathered in the town centre, demanding the relocation of migrants and refugees Photo: Courtesy of N1

Women in Greek migrant camps are too scared to leave their tents at night or use communal showers, and many pregnant women have to sleep on the floor in unsanitary conditions, Amnesty International said on Friday.

More than half of refugees and migrants arriving in Greece are women and children, according to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.