Greece - The first group of asylum applicants from Greece was assisted by IOM to leave for Luxembourg Wednesday morning. This first relocation group consisted of six families - two from Iraq and four from Syria.

The Hellenic Asylum Service, in close cooperation with IOM Greece and IOM Brussels, organized the transport of the 30 asylum seekers from Greece to Luxembourg as part of a pilot under a two-year European Union (EU)-funded relocation scheme.
Staff from the Asylum Service and IOM Greece were on hand at the Elaionas reception facility in Athens to assist the group. They escorted the group to Athens International Airport on buses supplied by the Hellenic Police. 

At 08.30 a.m. the group departed on an Aegean Airlines flights to Brussels, accompanied by an IOM Athens staffer. On arrival in Brussels, IOM Brussels staff accompanied them to Luxembourg by bus. The day before their departure, IOM Greece met with the group to explain the details of their journey and what they could expect in Luxembourg.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, Luxembourg Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn, Greek Alternate Minister of Migration Policy  Ioannis Mouzalas and European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Avramopoulos Dimitris were in Athens to witness the operation and met the group.

Mediterranean Developments

Arrivals by sea and deaths in the Mediterranean: 1 January – 5 November, 2015

Data on deaths of migrants compiled by IOM Research Division. All numbers are minimum estimates. Arrivals estimates based on data from respective governments and IOM field offices.

Data on deaths on the Eastern Mediterranean route are estimates based on confirmed number of victims of Friday’s shipwreck.  Data for Greece are derived by the new and updated data collected by IOM staff in Greece and Greek authorities (1/1/2015 – 04/11/2015).

Arrivals BY SEA TO Italy

Data for Italy as of 30 October are based on the information circulated by the Italian Minitstry of Interior (MoI). Arrivals from 1 November onwards are IOM estimates.

• One landing took place since our last report. Some 514 migrants were brought this morning to Lampedusa.
• September 2015: Total 15,922 (Source: Italian MoI)
• October 2015: Total 8,916 (Source: Italian MoI).
• Main countries of origin: Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Gambia, Mali, Senegal, Bangladesh, Ghana.
• Main departure country: Libya  (few departures from Egypt, Greece, and Turkey)
• 2014 Totals: 170,100 arrived in Italy.

Arrivals BY SEA TO GREECE

* Unofficial data regarding exclusively the so-called “blue” borders, as derived by the data collected by IOM staff in Greece and the Greek authorities (1/1/2015-04/11/2015).
                                             

• 6,379 arrivals were registered on 4 November. (Numbers are not the actual daily arrivals but the number of migrants who have officially been recorded by the Greek authorities after their arrival. This procedure may take a few days.)
• Main countries of origin: Syria and Afghanistan.
• Main departure country: Turkey
• Main landing points: Lesvos, Kos, Samos, Rhodes, Kalymnos, Megisti, Leros and Chios.
• IOM staff is present in the islands of Crete, Samos, Kos and Lesvos, working closely with authorities to identify vulnerable migrants, including unaccompanied minors, elderly migrants, migrants with medical needs and families with children. Vulnerable groups are referred to the authorities in order to be provided with the necessary care.
• 2014 Totals: 34,442 arrived by sea in Greece between 1 January and 31 December 2014.
• September 2015 total: 147,671
• October 2015 total: 214,781

For further information, please contact Flavio Di Giacomo at IOM Italy, Tel: +39 347 089 8996, Email: fdigiacomo@iom.intor IOM Greece. Daniel Esdras, Tel: +30 210 9912174, Email: iomathens@iom.int or
Kelly Namia, Tel: +302109919040, +302109912174, Email: Knamia@iom.int or Ryan Schroeder at IOM RO Europe, Tel:  +32 2 287 71 16, Email: rschroeder@iom.int