"The arrivals in Greece which were down to literally zero some days
this month, are beginning to creep back up," IOM spokesman Joel Millman
told a Geneva news briefing.
A
Turkish Coast Guard fast rigid-hulled inflatable boat tows a dinghy
filled with refugees and migrants in the Turkish territorial waters of
the North Aegean Sea, following a failed attempt at crossing to the
Greek island of Chios, off the shores of Izmir, Turkey, in this February
28, 2016 file photo. TURKEY
The numbers of migrants landing in Greece from Turkey is starting to creep up again, showing efforts to close off the route are coming under strain, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.
Around
150 people a day had arrived over the last three days, still way off
the numbers seen a month ago, the organisation added, but showing an
increase since an EU deal with Turkey deal to stem the flow.
"The arrivals in Greece which were down to literally zero some days this month, are beginning to creep back up," IOM spokesman Joel Millman told a Geneva news briefing.
"It could be the weather, it could be any number of things, it could be that smugglers are getting more creative."
Europe
signed an agreement with Turkey last month to close off the main route
into Europe for more than a million people, most fleeing war and poverty
in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
NATO sent
ships into Greek and Turkish waters in the Aegean in March, though Greek
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Friday that Turkish demands were
hampering the mission.
"It could be that there
is just still a lot of demand in Turkey ... people have already spent
months to get to Turkey and where there is a will and where there is
means, people will try to satisfy them," Millman told the briefing.
"It still shows that hermetic sealing that seemed to be happening a month ago isn't anymore."
There
were also signs of increased numbers of people from sub-Saharan Africa
taking the perilous route across the Mediterranean to Europe, he said.
More
than 3 million people have been displaced in the Lake Chad basin - in
Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad - by violence by the militant group Boko Haram, he added.
An
estimated 180,245 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea so
far this year, the bulk of 154,227 to Greece, while at least 1,232 have
died, the IOM said.
Victims include an estimated
500 people who drowned in a shipwreck off Libya this week, mainly from
the Horn of Africa, which 41 people survived.
For
the first three months of the year, an average of nearly 1,500 migrants
or refugees arrived by sea each day in Europe, according to the agency.
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