German officials have expressed regret over the lackluster response from other EU states on resettling unaccompanied minors. Rights groups have described the children as some of the "most vulnerable people in the world."
Image: Reuters/C. Baltas
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German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Wednesday said Germany would move forward with plans to resettle hundreds of unaccompanied minors stranded in squalid refugee camps in Greece.
"Apart from Luxembourg, we are the only country that is at all willing to take in children," Maas told German broadcaster RTL. "But we do not want to wait longer for others to act and are starting now."
By next week, up to 50 children could arrive in Germany, where they would be held in quarantine in Lower Saxony for two weeks to ensure they do not pose a risk of spreading the novel coronavirus.
In an interview with DW, EU lawmaker Erik Marquardt of Germany's Green Party criticized the decision as insufficient, describing the resettlement of 50 unaccompanied minors in the first group as "very shameful."
"When there are 80,000 people being brought in from Romania to harvest asparagus, when they are flying back 200,000 tourists to Germany, then nobody can tell me that the maximum capacity is 50 unaccompanied minors — especially in a country like Germany with 82 million people," Marquardt said.
The Germany government has spearheaded a project to resettle up to 1,500 unaccompanied minors from Greece. Berlin agreed to take in around 500 of them, while Luxembourg pledged to accept 12 by next week.
The vast majority of unaccompanied minors are located on Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. Refugee camps on the Greek islands are much more overcrowded than their mainland counterparts.
Earlier this year, human rights groups called on EU member states to take decisive action and resettle vulnerable unaccompanied minors, especially those under the age of 14 and struggling with illnesses.
"Unaccompanied migrant children are some of the most vulnerable people in the world," said Eva Cosse, who researches Greece for Human Rights Watch. "Yet lone children on the Greek islands are being deprived of the most basic necessities of life and living in inhuman conditions."
At the peak of the migration crisis of 2015, Greece served as the main gateway into the EU for hundreds of thousands of migrants, many of them refugees fleeing war and extreme poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
ls/aw(AFP, dpa)
How did Europe's refugee crisis start?
From escalating violence in the Middle East and Africa to incoherent asylum policy at home - DW looks at how the EU has found itself in the midst of a refugee crisis.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Fleeing war and poverty
In late 2014, with the war in Syria approaching its fourth year and Islamic State making gains in the north of the country, the exodus of Syrians intensified. At the same time, others were fleeing violence and poverty in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia, Niger and Kosovo.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Seeking refuge over the border
Vast numbers of Syrian refugees had been gathering in border-town camps in neighboring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan since 2011. By 2015, with the camps full to bursting and residents often unable to find work or educate their children, more and more people decided to seek asylum further afield.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
A long journey on foot
In 2015 an estimated 1.5 million people made their way on foot from Greece towards western Europe via the "Balkan route". The Schengen Agreement, which allows passport-free travel within much of the EU, was called into question as refugees headed towards the wealthier European nations.
Image: Getty Images/M. Cardy
Desperate sea crossings
Tens of thousands of refugees were also attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean on overcrowded boats. In April 2015, 800 people of various nationalities drowned when a boat traveling from Libya capsized off the Italian coast. This was to be just one of many similar tragedies - by the end of the year, nearly 4,000 refugees were reported to have died attempting the crossing.
Image: Reuters/D. Zammit Lupi
Pressure on the borders
Countries along the EU's external border struggled to cope with the sheer number of arrivals. Fences were erected in Hungary, Slovenia, Macedonia and Austria. Asylum laws were tightened and several Schengen area countries introduced temporary border controls.
Image: picture-alliance/epa/B. Mohai
Closing the open door
Critics of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's "open-door" refugee policy claimed it had made the situation worse by encouraging more people to embark on the dangerous journey to Europe. By September 2016, Germany had also introduced temporary checks on its border with Austria.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
Striking a deal with Turkey
In early 2016, the EU and Turkey signed an agreement under which refugees arriving in Greece could be sent back to Turkey. The deal has been criticized by human rights groups and came under new strain following a vote by the European Parliament in November to freeze talks on Turkey's potential accession to the EU.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Altan
No end in sight
With anti-immigration sentiment in Europe growing, governments are still struggling to reach a consensus on how to handle the continuing refugee crisis. Attempts to introduce quotas for the distribution of refugees among EU member states have largely failed. Conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere show no signs coming to an end, and the death toll from refugee sea crossings is on the rise.
