02/01/2016 Reporters

We should warn you that the programme contains some

Hello and welcome to a special edition of Reporters.

I'm Chris Morris on the Greek island of Lesbos.

In a range of reports, we will be focusing on a year that

saw the biggest influx of people into Europe since World War II.

Matthew Price follows thousands of refugees arriving here in Lesbos

Gabriel Gatehouse gets a close-up view of the rescue

There are 250 people crammed down here.

The world's dissed exporters of refugees. Jeremy Brown reports from

Syria on having that is driving the migrant crisis. The immense movement

of people caused by war will continue to pose challenges for

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

Jonathan head reports on south-east Asia's migrant crisis as thousands

of Muslims were left stranded. They have been cast adrift. They have

told people on the phone they had no food or water and are in terrible

shape at the moment. They are begging for help.

And Fergal Keane meets one 16-year-old who has made

the 3,500 kilometre journey from Syria to Germany.

I want to find William and meet the Queen!

The world changed in 2015, as long-running conflicts in Syria,

Eritrea, Afghanistan and other parts of the world forced

thousands of people to flee their homes in search of a better life.

Nearly one million people entered Europe by sea,

creating the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.

EU ministers agreed a plan to relocate around 120,000

refugees across Europe in September but it has not had much impact yet.

Greece became a focal point for migrants fleeing from the Middle

East and North Africa as they made their way towards Central Europe.

Matthew Price sent this report as the EU deal was agreed and thousands

This is what it feels like to survive.

Almost overwhelmed by the waves and then overwhelmed with relief.

It is the scale of this crisis that has

The remains of this great migration litter the coastline here.

A life jacket left behind by every person who has made this dangerous

Six drown in these waters every day and now the weather has turned.

That did not slow them today, but it did chill them to the bone.

One is the instability, the wars on the other side of the water

But what is drawing them and helping them is an increasingly complex

smuggling network that gets them across this short stretch of water.

European politicians have not so far come up with a response to that.

On the worst days, parts of Lesbos become a stinking, sprawling refugee

camp. Almost all of them tell us they're

leaving war and violence behind. Some say they just want

a better life. Where do they want to go? Germany.

Germany. Germany. Today's deal

in Brussels will see them Some in Europe will be angered

by that. Others will think it is

the right thing to do. But it will not bring

an end to this mass movement. The sheer number of lifejackets

abandoned on this beach gives you some idea of the scale

of what has been happening here, but the migration crisis has not

just been about the Greek islands. Tens of thousands

of people have crossed the dangerous waters of the Mediterranean

between Libya and Italy. It is about eight times the width

of the English Channel Fine if you're on a luxury liner

but not if you are packed onto What happens on those vessels is

usually kept well away from the Gabriel Gatehouse has spent time

on a boat owned by a private American charity to get some idea

of what it is like to cross It is mid-morning when

the search and rescue team aboard the Phoenix catch sight of the first

boat, a blue smudge on the horizon. It is a wooden vessel designed to

carry around one dozen fishermen but there are 560 migrants

on board here, half of them crammed What we are doing is deliberately

approaching the boat not That is to stop everyone

from rushing over to one side The boat is so overpacked that one

false movement could capsize it. Sitdown! Most of these people are

from Eritrea. Most of them can't swim. With hundreds of bird is very,

the operation takes hours. -- about this ferry.

On the deck of the migrant boat, the last remaining men are still

waiting anxiously amid the few abandoned belongings of those who

But below deck, conditions were far worse.

There were 250 people crammed down here and you can see that there

You can imagine people here for hours on end crammed in together

As the day wears on, more vessels appear.

By noon, there are more than 2,500 people adrift around us.

Ships from various European navies are

The migrants themselves will all be taken back to Sicily.

What happens to them then is a matter of heated political debate

and of huge uncertainty for those desperate to make Europe their home.

Some European nations to tougher action to stem the flow of migrants

and refugees arriving on beaches like this. Hungary built a huge

border fence, while while others decided that only those from Syria,

Iraq and Afghanistan would be able to cross their borders. There were

angry protests in Greece at the Macedonian border as hundreds of

people tried to cross North. I was there as Greek riot police fired

tear gas into the crowd. Motherboard, another damning

indictment Europe's migration to see. Macedonia has only been

allowing Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans enter from Greece. In response,

migrants other countries have blocked the border crossing. There

is tension and then this, confusion, screams, tear gas. Police

have fired tear gas and as you can see, they are pulling people out of

the crowd right next to the border one by one. They seem determined to

clear this area, come what may. They have come this far and refused to go

back. Even if the EU wants to deport have come this far and refused to go

back. Even if the EU wants to them. When the dust settles, the police

from Iran, refusing to move. Please from Iran, refusing to move. Please

help us. Please help us. Not far away, Syrian refugees fleeing from

the civil war are now stranded in a field, unable to continue their

journey. The strain is showing. They are exhausted. More than 40 busloads

have arrived since the border was blocked. Week 's league here in cold

and without water, without food. We have children. We feel afraid, so

afraid. We are dying here. We are freezing. We have family here. I

have my wife here. The UN is now struggling to provide for thousands

of people stop here. Is hardly safe to distribute food. Greece has asked

for more from the EU but European policy has come to this. Stalemate

in the borderlands, recriminations and yet more arrivals every day. So

where are all the refugees coming from? Many are fleeing conflict and

persecution in places like Afghanistan, Iran, Eritrea, but the

majority come from Syria. The UN has described Assyria as the biggest

exporter of refugees in the world. -- has described Syria. Are only

going sent this report from inside Syria and how the war is fuelling

the migrant crisis. You may find some of the images in this report

distressing. This is Yarmouk's skeleton. It was a Palestinian

refugee camp for families forced out of Israel in another Road. No

civilians are left on the side. Is -- 400m away, a jihadist from

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

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

a series of wars, right on its doorstep. The men's movement of

people caused by war will continue to pose big challenges. -- the

immense movement of people. And this war has a lot of killing left in it.

The Middle East is knocking on Europe's doors and it is not going

to go away. The beaches in Latakia, on Syria's Mediterranean coast,

could be in a different country. Children still play in the waves

here, instead of dying in them. For the well-off, the sea is for fun,

not escape. Latakia is the provincial capital and the regime

stronghold. Because it is relatively safe, its population is more than

doubled as it has absorbed 1.6 million Syrians who are refugees in

their own country. That is twice as many as Germany is taking. 7000 are

at account in the sports centre. -- a camp. They are well looked after.

The refugee crisis is created and driven by war. This woman fled here

after Idlib, another provincial capital, fell to the rebels in

March. Her eldest son was killed fighting for the Syrian army and

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

youngest children. TRANSLATION: We started running. We passed by armed

groups but thank God, they did not recognise us. I saw with my own eyes

that they were butchering a man and playing with his head. And ran away

with my children and for a week they could not stop crying and had

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

of the fighting by the number of Syrian army casualties they

receive. Among hundreds of thousands of wounded, one estimate is 80,000

Syrian army soldiers have been killed. That is more than the

regular fighting strength of the British Army. This soldier did not

want to be identified. He lost his arm when Idlib fell. TRANSLATION:

I'm in pain and my mother cannot know that. I do not want her to

worry about the. One revenue and I will go to see her. -- once I have

got a new arm. In this village, everyone turned out for the funeral

of a man killed on the frontline. They are Alawites from the same

religious background as the President. Syrian army attacks often

create more refugees and so do advances from jihadist. War makes

people flee for their lives. After the last fusillade, they reported

back to their units. Faraway from this European crisis

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

people fleeing persecution in Bangladesh and Myanmar were trapped

on boats in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. They were trying to

reach safety in neighbouring countries. Indonesia, Malaysia,

Thailand. Of those countries were refusing to let them in. Our

correspondent tracked down one boat in Thai waters which was packed with

refugees. As we approach the stricken vessel, cries of

desperation and distress carry across the water. We had heard there

were boats packed with migrants out here on the Andaman Sea but fighting

-- finding them was a real challenge. Finally, we had tracked

on down. This is incredible. We have heard about this boat for the last

five or six days. They had been cast adrift. They have told people on the

phone they have no food and water and they are in terrible shape at

the moment. They are begging for help. They are in Thai waters but

they have had no help, no supplies, but close to a week. There are

plenty of women and children on board. These people may have been at

sea for close to three months and they are begging for help and we

believe there are many more vessels like this out on the sea at the

moment. 15-year-old Mohammed shouted his story from the stern. They had

been abandoned by the crew six days ago, they told us. The engine no

longer work properly. These are Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar,

unwanted and persecuted in their own country, and they're not wanted

anywhere else either. The Thai navy is offering to help and to find

other last vessels but will they let the Rohingya stay? In the past, they

have simply pushed them back out to accurately, a hard-line approach

shared by neighbouring countries. We still have no idea what will become

of these people. We gave them everything we had but after so long

that sea, they need a lot more. They need proper shelter, medical care,

and they need somewhere they can call home. Back in Europe and back

on Lesbos, many of the people arriving here want to go to Germany.

Fergal Keane followed the story of a 16-year-old girl, Noujaine, who

travelled more than 3,000 kilometres from Syria to Germany, where she

There are big plans being made now but nobody really knows how or

when this will end or if any EU plan can prevent

the arrival of tens of thousands seeking a new life in Europe.

Like Noujaine, who we first met on the Hungarian border, trying to find

You should fight for what you want in this world, so it is a journey

for a new life. A disabled

16-year-old with big dreams. But Europe, including Britain,

would prefer Syrian refugees That is why one billion euros have

been pledged to help countries like Turkey, from where Noujaine set out

to try and reach Germany with her In Turkey, everybody wants to kick

you out of the country. I don't feel welcome. By the time we met her

again three days later, she and her sister had been detained in

Slovenia. I'm a prisoner, so it is not good. Europe is struggling to

find a coherent response to the crisis. People were pushed from

border to border or held in centres like this. This is another way

station on the long, long journey that so many of these people have

made and that is the way station on Europe's trail of failure to deal

with this crisis. Desperate to get to Germany, there is one simple

problem. Any government that says yes to her coming will be faced with

questions from many other people demanding why not them. That same

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

other refugees and migrants. Do you know where you are going? No. Where

will they send you after this? I don't know. Don't ask me. But human

rights activists pressure the government and she was released.

And here she is at the end of her nearly 4,000-mile journey on a train

I have heard a lot from refugees and migrants about what Europe can give

to them but let me ask you, what can your family give to Europe?

TRANSLATION: The most important thing that we can give here is to

Here in northern Germany, Noujaine is on her way to apply for asylum.

As a Syrian refugee, she has a good chance.

Noujaine was born with cerebral palsy.

She believes that advanced medical help here could enable her to walk.

I came to the right place and hopefully they will help me.

When you look into the future, do you ever see a day

when you might bring your gifts, the great gift of inspiration that

you have, you might bring that back to Syria, to your people?

It will take a long, long time before Syria gets back up.

Yes, she will. I'm sure of that.

But many millions have already abandoned Syria,

and a nation that loses a child like Noujaine is losing its best.

That is all from the special edition of Reporters, focusing

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