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Doctors of the World calls for the drawbridge of Fortress Europe to be lifted

Refugees battle the cold in Belgrade (Credit: MSF)

(B2) With the great cold coming, facing " the urgency of the situation Doctors of the World asked the European Union to open its doors.

Open the doors!

The NGO encourages the EU to show itself solidary "with Serbia and Bulgaria" who are today experiencing a serious humanitarian and solidarity crisis with these people stuck at the gates of this fortress Europe ". She accuses the European authorities [to] keep its borders closed instead of meeting its protection obligations ».

Extremely difficult conditions in the extreme cold

For nearly two weeks, continental Europe has been experiencing a particularly severe winter episode. " With temperatures averaging -10°C, the Balkan region is the most exposed. It is in these extremely difficult conditions that nearly 15.000 migrants divided between Bulgaria and Serbia must survive today. argues the NGO which is present in these two countries.

In Serbia as in Bulgaria

En Serbia, 4 mobile clinics spread throughout the territory provide medical care to more than 8.000 migrants stuck at the gates of Europe. " 4.400 people for the month of December alone were treated in our centres. Even if the majority of migrants are housed in camps, the concern is very great for the 2.000 migrants living in squats in Belgrade ».

En Bulgaria, a new gateway for the thousands of people fleeing the horror of war or misery, the medical findings are the same ". Faced with "the lack of care offered by the Bulgarian health system", the NGO decided to intervene and to come to the aid of unaccompanied minors, who are ever more numerous. But she appeals: Inhuman conditions now threaten thousands of families and make them even more vulnerable »

(NGV)

Read also on the Doctors of the World website: Refugees caught in the cold snap affecting Europe: “The...

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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