:00:00. > :00:19.Hello and welcome to this special edition of Reporters,
:00:20. > :00:22.focusing on Europe's migration crisis.
:00:23. > :00:25.I am Chris Morris on the Greek island of Lesbos.
:00:26. > :00:29.In a range of reports we will be focusing on a year which saw
:00:30. > :00:32.the biggest influx of people into Europe since the Second World
:00:33. > :00:44.Matthew Price follows thousands of refugees as they arrive
:00:45. > :00:47.here in Lesbos in search of a better life.
:00:48. > :00:51.Crossing the Mediterranean as a migrant, Gabriel Gatehouse gets
:00:52. > :00:54.a close-up view of the rescue operation off the Italian coast.
:00:55. > :01:20.Jeremy Bowen reports from Syria on how the war is driving the migrant
:01:21. > :01:23.crisis. The immense amount of people will continue to pose Europe big
:01:24. > :01:29.challenges perhaps for years because this war has a lot of killing left
:01:30. > :01:34.in it. Stateless and at sea. Jonathan Head reports on south-east
:01:35. > :01:38.Asia's migrant crisis, as thousands of Muslims were left stranded in the
:01:39. > :01:42.Bay of Bengal. They've been cast adrift. They've told people on the
:01:43. > :01:44.phone they had no food and water and they are in just terrible shape at
:01:45. > :01:47.the moment, begging for help. Fergal Keane meets a 16-year-old
:01:48. > :01:51.girl who has made the three and a half thousand kilometre
:01:52. > :01:54.journey from Syria to Germany. I want to be an astronaut,
:01:55. > :02:09.to go out and find an alien! The world changed in 2015
:02:10. > :02:12.as long-running conflicts in Syria, Eritrea and Afghanistan,
:02:13. > :02:15.and other parts of the world forced thousands of people to flee
:02:16. > :02:19.their homes in search Nearly 1 million people
:02:20. > :02:25.entered Europe by sea, creating the worst refugee crisis
:02:26. > :02:28.since the Second World War. EU ministers agreed a plan
:02:29. > :02:32.to relocate around 120,000 refugees Greece became a focal point
:02:33. > :02:40.for migrants fleeing from the Middle East
:02:41. > :02:43.and North Africa as they made and thousands more arrived
:02:44. > :02:54.here in Lesbos. This is what it feels
:02:55. > :03:08.like to survive. And some were just in shock.
:03:09. > :03:21.then overwhelmed with relief. It is the scale of this crisis
:03:22. > :03:24.which has so far outwitted The remains of this great migration
:03:25. > :03:31.litter the coastline here. A life jacket left behind
:03:32. > :03:35.by every person who has made Six drown in these waters every day
:03:36. > :03:57.and now the weather has turned. But it did chill them to the bone.
:03:58. > :04:08.or something? There are two things fuelling this,
:04:09. > :04:11.one is the instability, the war is on the other side
:04:12. > :04:14.of the water in places like Syria and Iraq which is pushing people,
:04:15. > :04:19.but what is drawing them and helping them come is an increasingly complex
:04:20. > :04:24.smuggling network that gets them And Europe's politicians
:04:25. > :04:44.have not so far came up The strain is also showing on this
:04:45. > :04:48.Greek island. In less boss, on the worst days, part of this upmarket
:04:49. > :04:53.holiday destination become a stinking, sprawling refugee camp.
:04:54. > :05:04.Almost all of them tell us they are leaving war
:05:05. > :05:12.Some say they just want a better life.
:05:13. > :05:18.Where do they want to go? Germany. Germany. Germany.
:05:19. > :05:21.But today the deal done in Brussels will see them distributed
:05:22. > :05:24.Some in Europe will be angered by that.
:05:25. > :05:29.Others will think it the right thing to do.
:05:30. > :05:32.It does not though bring an end to this mass movement.
:05:33. > :05:33.Matthew Price, BBC News, Lesbos.
:05:34. > :05:36.The sheer number of life jackets abandoned on this beach gives
:05:37. > :05:40.you some idea of the scale of what has been happening here.
:05:41. > :05:44.But the migration crisis is not just about the Greek islands.
:05:45. > :05:48.Tens of thousands of people have crossed the dangerous waters
:05:49. > :05:51.of the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy.
:05:52. > :05:53.It is about eight times the width of the English channel
:05:54. > :05:59.Fine, if you are in a luxury liner, but not if you are packed
:06:00. > :06:03.What happens on those vessels is usually kept well away
:06:04. > :06:08.Gabriel Gatehouse has spent time on a boat owned by a private
:06:09. > :06:12.American charity to get some idea of what it is like to cross
:06:13. > :06:19.It is mid-morning when the search and rescue team aboard the Phoenix
:06:20. > :06:21.catches sight of the first boat, a blue smudge on the horizon.
:06:22. > :06:24.It is a wooden vessel designed to carry about a dozen fishermen,
:06:25. > :06:30.but there are 560 migrants on board here, half of them crammed below
:06:31. > :06:40.I think what we are doing is we are deliberately
:06:41. > :06:43.approaching the boat, not from the side, but from behind
:06:44. > :06:47.and that is to stop everyone from rushing over to one side
:06:48. > :06:55.The boat is so overpacked and one false movement could capsize it.
:06:56. > :07:13.Most are from Eritrea. Some can't swim. The Zodiac ferries the
:07:14. > :07:16.migrants back to the safety of the Phoenix. With hundreds aboard, the
:07:17. > :07:18.operation takes hours. On the deck of the migrant boat,
:07:19. > :07:23.the last remaining men are still waiting anxiously
:07:24. > :07:25.amid the few abandoned belongings of those who have
:07:26. > :07:28.already been rescued. Below deck, conditions
:07:29. > :07:38.were far worse. There were 250 people crammed down
:07:39. > :07:45.here and you can see that there is water coming
:07:46. > :07:47.into the boat here. You can imagine people
:07:48. > :07:53.here for hours, crammed together, As the day wears on,
:07:54. > :08:00.more boats appear, by noon there are more than two and a half
:08:01. > :08:03.thousand people adrift around us. Ships from various European navies
:08:04. > :08:09.are coordinating their The migrants themselves will all be
:08:10. > :08:17.taken back to Sicily. What happens to them then
:08:18. > :08:20.is a matter of heated political debate and of huge uncertainty
:08:21. > :08:24.for those desperate to make Gabriel Gatehouse, BBC News,
:08:25. > :08:46.off the coast of Libya. Some European nations took drastic
:08:47. > :08:50.action to prevent people arriving. Hungary built a huge fence while
:08:51. > :08:54.other countries decided later in the year that only refugees from Syria,
:08:55. > :08:58.Iraq and Afghanistan, would be allowed to cross their borders.
:08:59. > :09:01.There were angry protests in northern Greece at the Macedonian
:09:02. > :09:07.border as thousands tried to head north. I was at a border crossing as
:09:08. > :09:13.Greek police fired tear gas into the crowd. Another border, another
:09:14. > :09:19.damning indictment of Europe's failing migration policy.
:09:20. > :09:23.Macedonia's only been letting Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans enter
:09:24. > :09:26.from Greece. In response, migrants from other
:09:27. > :09:37.countries have blocked the border crossing. There's tension. And then
:09:38. > :09:40.this. Confusion. Screams. Tear gas. Police have fired tear gas and, as
:09:41. > :09:42.you can see, they are pulling people out of the crowd next to the border,
:09:43. > :09:50.one by one. They seem determined to clear this area come what may.
:09:51. > :09:56.They've come this far and refuse to go back. Even if the EU wants to
:09:57. > :10:01.deport them. When the dust settles, the police back off.
:10:02. > :10:08.With one group, mainly from Iran, still refusing to move. Please help
:10:09. > :10:12.us. We have nobody, please help us. Not far away, Syrian refugees
:10:13. > :10:16.fleeing from the Civil War now stranded in a field unable to
:10:17. > :10:22.continue their journey. The strain is showing. They're
:10:23. > :10:27.exhausted. More than 40 bus loads have arrived since the border was
:10:28. > :10:33.blocked. We sleep here in cold and without water and food. We have
:10:34. > :10:39.children, we feel afraid, so, so afraid. There's anger and
:10:40. > :10:46.frustration everywhere here and there's tragedy. They've gathered
:10:47. > :10:50.round a bodybag, a man electric yewed by a high voltage wire on the
:10:51. > :10:57.railway line. No-one even knows his name. For some, it's too much --
:10:58. > :11:03.electrocuted. We are dying here, we are freezing, I have my wife here,
:11:04. > :11:08.my family here. The UN is struggling to provide for thousands stuck here.
:11:09. > :11:14.It's hardly safe to distribute food. Greece has asked for more help from
:11:15. > :11:19.the EU. But European policy has come to this, stalemate in the border
:11:20. > :11:26.lands, recriminations and yet more arrivals every day. So where are all
:11:27. > :11:30.the refugees coming from? Many are fleeing conflict and persecution in
:11:31. > :11:35.places like Afghanistan, Iran and Eritrea, but the majority come from
:11:36. > :11:39.Syria. The UN has described Syria as the biggest exporter of refugees in
:11:40. > :11:44.the world, more than four million people have fled from the country's
:11:45. > :11:47.Civil War. Jeremy Bowen sent this report from inside Syria on how the
:11:48. > :11:56.war is fuelling the migrant crisis. You may find some of the images in
:11:57. > :11:59.this report distressing. This is Yamouk skeleton. It was a
:12:00. > :12:04.Palestinian refugee camp for families who were forced out of
:12:05. > :12:09.Israel in another war. No civilians are left on this site, controlled by
:12:10. > :12:15.Palestinian fighters and the Syrian Army. Some families, the fighters
:12:16. > :12:20.said, are heading to Europe. 400 metres away, a Jihadist from
:12:21. > :12:26.Al-Qaeda and Islamic state and thousands of trapped civilians.
:12:27. > :12:31.Europe is waking up belatedly to the consequences of having a major war,
:12:32. > :12:39.a series of wars, right on its doorstep. The immense movement of
:12:40. > :12:42.people caused by war will continue to pose Europe big challenges,
:12:43. > :12:47.perhaps for years, because this war has a lot of killing left in it. The
:12:48. > :12:58.Middle East is knocking on Europe's doors and it's not going to go away.
:12:59. > :13:02.The beaches in la tack ya on Syria's Mediterranean coast could be on a
:13:03. > :13:08.# # Latakia. Children still play in
:13:09. > :13:20.the waves here instead of dying in them. For the welloff, the sea is
:13:21. > :13:24.for fun, not escape. Latakia is the provincial capital and a regime
:13:25. > :13:29.stronghold. Because it's relatively safe, its population's more than
:13:30. > :13:32.doubled, as it's absorbed 1.6 million Syrians who're refugees in
:13:33. > :13:40.their own country. That's twice as many as Germany's taking.
:13:41. > :13:49.7,000 are at a camp at the sports centre, they're well looked after.
:13:50. > :14:00.The refugee crisis is created and driven by war.
:14:01. > :14:04.Uma fled here after Idlib, another provincial capital, fell to the
:14:05. > :14:09.rebels in March. Her eldest son was killed fighting for the Syrian Army
:14:10. > :14:16.and another son was badly wounded. She escaped with her husband and
:14:17. > :14:22.five youngest children. TRANSLATION: We started running. We
:14:23. > :14:26.past groups but thank God they didn't recognise us. I saw them in
:14:27. > :14:34.my own eyes. They were butchering a man and playing with his head. I ran
:14:35. > :14:44.away with my children and for a week they couldn't stop crying and had
:14:45. > :14:48.nightmares. At the military hospital in Latakia, they judge the ferocity
:14:49. > :14:54.of the fighting by the number of Syrian Army casualties they receive.
:14:55. > :15:03.It's a difficult time. Difficult time. Because there is a huge number
:15:04. > :15:08.and we are underfunded at the same time. Amongst hundreds of thousands
:15:09. > :15:11.of wounded, one estimate is that 80,000 Syrian Army soldiers have
:15:12. > :15:16.been killed. That's more than the regular fighting strength of the
:15:17. > :15:23.British Army. This soldier didn't want to be identified. He lost his
:15:24. > :15:26.arm when Idlib fell. TRANSLATION: I am in pain and my
:15:27. > :15:36.mother can't know that. I don't want her to worry about me. Once I've got
:15:37. > :15:43.a new arm, I will go to see her. In the village, everyone turned out
:15:44. > :15:48.after a killing on the front Ryan. -- frontline. The Alawites are from
:15:49. > :15:53.the same religious sect as the President. Syrian attacks often
:15:54. > :16:06.create more refugees and so do advances by Jihadists. War makes
:16:07. > :16:10.people flee for their lives. After this, they report back to their
:16:11. > :16:18.units. Jeremy Bowen, BBC News in Syria. Far away from this European
:16:19. > :16:22.crisis came news of a humanitarian disaster in South East Asia.
:16:23. > :16:26.Thousands of people fleeing persecution in Bangladesh and
:16:27. > :16:33.Myanmar were trapped on boats in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea,
:16:34. > :16:36.they were trying to reach safety in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, but
:16:37. > :16:41.those countries refused to let them in. Jonathan Head tracked down one
:16:42. > :16:47.boat in Thai waters packed with refugees.
:16:48. > :16:52.As we approach the stricken vessel, cries of desperation and distress
:16:53. > :16:57.carried across the water. We'd heard there were boats packed with
:16:58. > :17:01.migrants out here on the Andaman Sea, but finding them was a real
:17:02. > :17:04.challenge. Finally we'd tracked one down.
:17:05. > :17:09.This is incredible. We have heard about this boat for the last five or
:17:10. > :17:13.six days. They've been cast adrift. They've told people on the phone
:17:14. > :17:16.they had no food and water and they are in just terrible shape at the
:17:17. > :17:20.moment begging for help. They are in Thai waters but have had absolutely
:17:21. > :17:23.no help, no supplies, for close to a week. There are plenty of women and
:17:24. > :17:29.children on board. These are people who may have been at sea for close
:17:30. > :17:34.to three months. They're begging for help. We think there are many more
:17:35. > :17:42.boats like this out in the sea at the moment. 15-year-old Mohammed
:17:43. > :17:47.shouted his story from the stern. He'd been abandoned by the crew six
:17:48. > :17:55.days ago, he told us. The engine no longer worked properly. These are
:17:56. > :17:59.Rahinja Muslims from Myanmar and unwanted and persecuted in their
:18:00. > :18:03.country, they are not wanted anywhere else either. The Thai Navy
:18:04. > :18:10.is offering to help and to find other lost boats. But will they let
:18:11. > :18:15.the Rahinja stay? In the past, they have pushed them back out to sea. A
:18:16. > :18:20.hardline approach shared by naturing countries. -- neighbouring
:18:21. > :18:25.countries. We still have no idea what will become of these people. We
:18:26. > :18:31.threw them everything we had. But after so long at sea, they need a
:18:32. > :18:33.lot more. They need proper shelter, medical care and they need somewhere
:18:34. > :18:38.they can call home. Back in Europe, back on Lesbos,
:18:39. > :18:41.and many of the people arriving here want to head for Germany,
:18:42. > :18:44.it is the most popular destination. Fergal Keane followed the story
:18:45. > :18:52.of a 16-year-old girl, Noujain Mustaffa who travelled more
:18:53. > :18:56.than 3000 kilometres from Syria to Germany where she wants
:18:57. > :19:00.to apply for asylum. There are big plans being made now,
:19:01. > :19:08.but nobody really knows how If any EU plan can stop the arrival
:19:09. > :19:15.of tens of thousands seeking Like Noujain, who we first met
:19:16. > :19:20.on Hungary 's border, trying to reach her brother already
:19:21. > :19:23.seeking asylum in Germany. You should fight to get
:19:24. > :19:28.what you want in this world. A disabled 16-year-old
:19:29. > :19:33.with big dreams. I would like to be an astronaut,
:19:34. > :19:39.to go out and find an alien! But Europe, including Britain
:19:40. > :19:51.would prefer Syrian refugees stayed That is why 1 billion euros has been
:19:52. > :19:59.pledged to help From where Noujain set out to try
:20:00. > :20:18.and reach Germany with her sister, In Turkey everyone wants to kick you
:20:19. > :20:23.out. I don't feel welcome. By the time we met her again three days
:20:24. > :20:29.later, she and her sister had been detained in Slovenia. I'm OK. It's
:20:30. > :20:32.not good. Europe is struggling to find a coherent response to the
:20:33. > :20:39.crisis. People were pushed from border to border or held this
:20:40. > :20:42.centres like this. This is another wait station on the long, long
:20:43. > :20:49.journey that so many of these people have made. It's a a wait station on
:20:50. > :20:55.Europe's trail of failure to deal with this crisis. For Noujain, there
:20:56. > :21:00.is a simple problem. Any government that says yes to her coming will be
:21:01. > :21:06.faced with questions from many other people demanding why not them. That
:21:07. > :21:10.same day, she and her sister were moved to another camp in Slovenia
:21:11. > :21:13.with other migrants and refugees. Do you know where you are going or
:21:14. > :21:22.where they are going to send you after this? I don't know. I'm lost
:21:23. > :21:24.here. But human rights activists pressured the government. Noujain
:21:25. > :21:25.was released. And here she is, at the end
:21:26. > :21:28.of the nearly 4000 mile journey on a train to meet her
:21:29. > :21:30.brother in Germany. I have heard a lot from refugees
:21:31. > :21:47.and migrants about what Europe can give to them, but let me ask you,
:21:48. > :21:53.what can your family give to Europe? TRANSLATION: The most important
:21:54. > :21:58.thing that you can give here is to give a good example
:21:59. > :22:02.about our people and about Here in northern Germany,
:22:03. > :22:08.Noujain is on her way As a Syrian refugee,
:22:09. > :22:14.she has a good chance. Noujain was born with cerebral palsy
:22:15. > :22:19.and she believes advanced medical I came to the right place
:22:20. > :22:28.and hopefully they will help me. When you look into the future do
:22:29. > :22:34.you ever see a day when you might bring your gifts, the great gift
:22:35. > :22:37.of inspiration that you have, that you might bring that back
:22:38. > :22:41.to Syria, to your people? It is going to take a long,
:22:42. > :22:48.long time before Syria gets back up. But many millions have
:22:49. > :23:02.already abandoned Syria. A nation that loses a child
:23:03. > :23:08.like Noujain is losing its best. Fergal Keane, BBC News,
:23:09. > :23:13.northern Germany. And that is all from this special
:23:14. > :23:16.edition of Reporters, focusing on Europe's
:23:17. > :23:20.migration crisis. I am Chris Morris on the Greek
:23:21. > :23:46.island of Lesbos, goodbye for now. Good evening. More wind and rain at
:23:47. > :23:47.times through the rest of the weekend. Our weather dominated by