02/01/2016 Reporters


02/01/2016

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Hello and welcome to this special edition of Reporters,

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focusing on Europe's migration crisis.

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I am Chris Morris on the Greek island of Lesbos.

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In a range of reports we will be focusing on a year which saw

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the biggest influx of people into Europe since the Second World

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Matthew Price follows thousands of refugees as they arrive

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here in Lesbos in search of a better life.

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Crossing the Mediterranean as a migrant, Gabriel Gatehouse gets

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a close-up view of the rescue operation off the Italian coast.

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Jeremy Bowen reports from Syria on how the war is driving the migrant

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crisis. The immense amount of people will continue to pose Europe big

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challenges perhaps for years because this war has a lot of killing left

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in it. Stateless and at sea. Jonathan Head reports on south-east

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Asia's migrant crisis, as thousands of Muslims were left stranded in the

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Bay of Bengal. They've been cast adrift. They've told people on the

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phone they had no food and water and they are in just terrible shape at

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the moment, begging for help. Fergal Keane meets a 16-year-old

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girl who has made the three and a half thousand kilometre

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journey from Syria to Germany. I want to be an astronaut,

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to go out and find an alien! The world changed in 2015

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as long-running conflicts in Syria, Eritrea and Afghanistan,

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and other parts of the world forced thousands of people to flee

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their homes in search Nearly 1 million people

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entered Europe by sea, creating the worst refugee crisis

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since the Second World War. EU ministers agreed a plan

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to relocate around 120,000 refugees Greece became a focal point

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for migrants fleeing from the Middle East

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and North Africa as they made and thousands more arrived

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here in Lesbos. This is what it feels

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like to survive. And some were just in shock.

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then overwhelmed with relief. It is the scale of this crisis

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which has so far outwitted The remains of this great migration

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litter the coastline here. A life jacket left behind

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by every person who has made Six drown in these waters every day

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and now the weather has turned. But it did chill them to the bone.

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or something? There are two things fuelling this,

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one is the instability, the war is on the other side

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of the water in places like Syria and Iraq which is pushing people,

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but what is drawing them and helping them come is an increasingly complex

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smuggling network that gets them And Europe's politicians

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have not so far came up The strain is also showing on this

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Greek island. In less boss, on the worst days, part of this upmarket

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holiday destination become a stinking, sprawling refugee camp.

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Almost all of them tell us they are leaving war

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Some say they just want a better life.

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Where do they want to go? Germany. Germany. Germany.

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But today the deal done in Brussels will see them distributed

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Some in Europe will be angered by that.

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Others will think it the right thing to do.

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It does not though bring an end to this mass movement.

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Matthew Price, BBC News, Lesbos.

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The sheer number of life jackets abandoned on this beach gives

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you some idea of the scale of what has been happening here.

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But the migration crisis is not just about the Greek islands.

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Tens of thousands of people have crossed the dangerous waters

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of the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy.

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It is about eight times the width of the English channel

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Fine, if you are in a luxury liner, but not if you are packed

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What happens on those vessels is usually kept well away

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Gabriel Gatehouse has spent time on a boat owned by a private

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American charity to get some idea of what it is like to cross

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It is mid-morning when the search and rescue team aboard the Phoenix

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catches sight of the first boat, a blue smudge on the horizon.

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It is a wooden vessel designed to carry about a dozen fishermen,

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but there are 560 migrants on board here, half of them crammed below

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I think what we are doing is we are deliberately

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approaching the boat, not from the side, but from behind

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and that is to stop everyone from rushing over to one side

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The boat is so overpacked and one false movement could capsize it.

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Most are from Eritrea. Some can't swim. The Zodiac ferries the

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migrants back to the safety of the Phoenix. With hundreds aboard, the

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operation takes hours. On the deck of the migrant boat,

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the last remaining men are still waiting anxiously

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amid the few abandoned belongings of those who have

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already been rescued. Below deck, conditions

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were far worse. There were 250 people crammed down

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here and you can see that there is water coming

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into the boat here. You can imagine people

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here for hours, crammed together, As the day wears on,

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more boats appear, by noon there are more than two and a half

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thousand people adrift around us. Ships from various European navies

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are coordinating their The migrants themselves will all be

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taken back to Sicily. What happens to them then

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is a matter of heated political debate and of huge uncertainty

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for those desperate to make Gabriel Gatehouse, BBC News,

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off the coast of Libya. Some European nations took drastic

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action to prevent people arriving. Hungary built a huge fence while

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other countries decided later in the year that only refugees from Syria,

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Iraq and Afghanistan, would be allowed to cross their borders.

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There were angry protests in northern Greece at the Macedonian

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border as thousands tried to head north. I was at a border crossing as

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Greek police fired tear gas into the crowd. Another border, another

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damning indictment of Europe's failing migration policy.

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Macedonia's only been letting Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans enter

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from Greece. In response, migrants from other

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countries have blocked the border crossing. There's tension. And then

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this. Confusion. Screams. Tear gas. Police have fired tear gas and, as

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you can see, they are pulling people out of the crowd next to the border,

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one by one. They seem determined to clear this area come what may.

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They've come this far and refuse to go back. Even if the EU wants to

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deport them. When the dust settles, the police back off.

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With one group, mainly from Iran, still refusing to move. Please help

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us. We have nobody, please help us. Not far away, Syrian refugees

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fleeing from the Civil War now stranded in a field unable to

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continue their journey. The strain is showing. They're

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exhausted. More than 40 bus loads have arrived since the border was

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blocked. We sleep here in cold and without water and food. We have

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children, we feel afraid, so, so afraid. There's anger and

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frustration everywhere here and there's tragedy. They've gathered

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round a bodybag, a man electric yewed by a high voltage wire on the

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railway line. No-one even knows his name. For some, it's too much --

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electrocuted. We are dying here, we are freezing, I have my wife here,

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my family here. The UN is struggling to provide for thousands stuck here.

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It's hardly safe to distribute food. Greece has asked for more help from

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the EU. But European policy has come to this, stalemate in the border

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lands, recriminations and yet more arrivals every day. So where are all

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the refugees coming from? Many are fleeing conflict and persecution in

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places like Afghanistan, Iran and Eritrea, but the majority come from

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Syria. The UN has described Syria as the biggest exporter of refugees in

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the world, more than four million people have fled from the country's

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Civil War. Jeremy Bowen sent this report from inside Syria on how the

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war is fuelling the migrant crisis. You may find some of the images in

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this report distressing. This is Yamouk skeleton. It was a

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Palestinian refugee camp for families who were forced out of

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Israel in another war. No civilians are left on this site, controlled by

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Palestinian fighters and the Syrian Army. Some families, the fighters

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said, are heading to Europe. 400 metres away, a Jihadist from

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Al-Qaeda and Islamic state and thousands of trapped civilians.

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Europe is waking up belatedly to the consequences of having a major war,

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a series of wars, right on its doorstep. The immense movement of

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people caused by war will continue to pose Europe big challenges,

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perhaps for years, because this war has a lot of killing left in it. The

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Middle East is knocking on Europe's doors and it's not going to go away.

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The beaches in la tack ya on Syria's Mediterranean coast could be on a

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# # Latakia. Children still play in

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the waves here instead of dying in them. For the welloff, the sea is

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for fun, not escape. Latakia is the provincial capital and a regime

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stronghold. Because it's relatively safe, its population's more than

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doubled, as it's absorbed 1.6 million Syrians who're refugees in

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their own country. That's twice as many as Germany's taking.

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7,000 are at a camp at the sports centre, they're well looked after.

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The refugee crisis is created and driven by war.

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Uma fled here after Idlib, another provincial capital, fell to the

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rebels in March. Her eldest son was killed fighting for the Syrian Army

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and another son was badly wounded. She escaped with her husband and

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five youngest children. TRANSLATION: We started running. We

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past groups but thank God they didn't recognise us. I saw them in

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my own eyes. They were butchering a man and playing with his head. I ran

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away with my children and for a week they couldn't stop crying and had

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nightmares. At the military hospital in Latakia, they judge the ferocity

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of the fighting by the number of Syrian Army casualties they receive.

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It's a difficult time. Difficult time. Because there is a huge number

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and we are underfunded at the same time. Amongst hundreds of thousands

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of wounded, one estimate is that 80,000 Syrian Army soldiers have

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been killed. That's more than the regular fighting strength of the

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British Army. This soldier didn't want to be identified. He lost his

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arm when Idlib fell. TRANSLATION: I am in pain and my

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mother can't know that. I don't want her to worry about me. Once I've got

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a new arm, I will go to see her. In the village, everyone turned out

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after a killing on the front Ryan. -- frontline. The Alawites are from

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the same religious sect as the President. Syrian attacks often

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create more refugees and so do advances by Jihadists. War makes

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people flee for their lives. After this, they report back to their

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units. Jeremy Bowen, BBC News in Syria. Far away from this European

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crisis came news of a humanitarian disaster in South East Asia.

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Thousands of people fleeing persecution in Bangladesh and

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Myanmar were trapped on boats in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea,

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they were trying to reach safety in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, but

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those countries refused to let them in. Jonathan Head tracked down one

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boat in Thai waters packed with refugees.

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As we approach the stricken vessel, cries of desperation and distress

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carried across the water. We'd heard there were boats packed with

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migrants out here on the Andaman Sea, but finding them was a real

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challenge. Finally we'd tracked one down.

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This is incredible. We have heard about this boat for the last five or

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six days. They've been cast adrift. They've told people on the phone

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they had no food and water and they are in just terrible shape at the

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moment begging for help. They are in Thai waters but have had absolutely

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no help, no supplies, for close to a week. There are plenty of women and

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children on board. These are people who may have been at sea for close

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to three months. They're begging for help. We think there are many more

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boats like this out in the sea at the moment. 15-year-old Mohammed

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shouted his story from the stern. He'd been abandoned by the crew six

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days ago, he told us. The engine no longer worked properly. These are

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Rahinja Muslims from Myanmar and unwanted and persecuted in their

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country, they are not wanted anywhere else either. The Thai Navy

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is offering to help and to find other lost boats. But will they let

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the Rahinja stay? In the past, they have pushed them back out to sea. A

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hardline approach shared by naturing countries. -- neighbouring

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countries. We still have no idea what will become of these people. We

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threw them everything we had. But after so long at sea, they need a

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lot more. They need proper shelter, medical care and they need somewhere

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they can call home. Back in Europe, back on Lesbos,

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and many of the people arriving here want to head for Germany,

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it is the most popular destination. Fergal Keane followed the story

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of a 16-year-old girl, Noujain Mustaffa who travelled more

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than 3000 kilometres from Syria to Germany where she wants

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to apply for asylum. There are big plans being made now,

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but nobody really knows how If any EU plan can stop the arrival

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of tens of thousands seeking Like Noujain, who we first met

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on Hungary 's border, trying to reach her brother already

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seeking asylum in Germany. You should fight to get

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what you want in this world. A disabled 16-year-old

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with big dreams. I would like to be an astronaut,

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to go out and find an alien! But Europe, including Britain

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would prefer Syrian refugees stayed That is why 1 billion euros has been

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pledged to help From where Noujain set out to try

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and reach Germany with her sister, In Turkey everyone wants to kick you

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out. I don't feel welcome. By the time we met her again three days

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later, she and her sister had been detained in Slovenia. I'm OK. It's

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not good. Europe is struggling to find a coherent response to the

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crisis. People were pushed from border to border or held this

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centres like this. This is another wait station on the long, long

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journey that so many of these people have made. It's a a wait station on

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Europe's trail of failure to deal with this crisis. For Noujain, there

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is a simple problem. Any government that says yes to her coming will be

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faced with questions from many other people demanding why not them. That

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same day, she and her sister were moved to another camp in Slovenia

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with other migrants and refugees. Do you know where you are going or

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where they are going to send you after this? I don't know. I'm lost

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here. But human rights activists pressured the government. Noujain

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was released. And here she is, at the end

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of the nearly 4000 mile journey on a train to meet her

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brother in Germany. I have heard a lot from refugees

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and migrants about what Europe can give to them, but let me ask you,

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what can your family give to Europe? TRANSLATION: The most important

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thing that you can give here is to give a good example

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about our people and about Here in northern Germany,

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Noujain is on her way As a Syrian refugee,

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she has a good chance. Noujain was born with cerebral palsy

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and she believes advanced medical I came to the right place

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and hopefully they will help me. When you look into the future do

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you ever see a day when you might bring your gifts, the great gift

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of inspiration that you have, that you might bring that back

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to Syria, to your people? It is going to take a long,

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long time before Syria gets back up. But many millions have

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already abandoned Syria. A nation that loses a child

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like Noujain is losing its best. Fergal Keane, BBC News,

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northern Germany. And that is all from this special

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edition of Reporters, focusing on Europe's

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migration crisis. I am Chris Morris on the Greek

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island of Lesbos, goodbye for now. Good evening. More wind and rain at

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times through the rest of the weekend. Our weather dominated by

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