In a case highlighting the risks people take when fleeing conflict in their countries to seek refuge in Europe, the authorities of Lesvos continue their search for the bodies of asylum-seekers who had attempted to reach the Greek island.

Since last Friday, they have found the bodies of six Syrian nationals including a 17-year-old pregnant woman and a mother with her young children. They are now searching for the bodies of three more Syrian nationals whose families had reported missing to the island authorities after the nine attempted to cross from Turkey on 6 March 2013.

By Deepa Babington and Lefteris Papadimas

ATHENS, March 10 (Reuters) - Syrian shopkeeper Osama fled the fighting in Aleppo convinced he would be welcomed in Europe. Five months later, he is stuck in near-bankrupt Greece, where money and sympathy are scarce.

Read the full report on AlertNet.

Greece is seriously failing to respect the rights of asylum-seekers and migrants, Amnesty International warned in a briefing published today.

Every year, tens of thousands of irregular migrants and asylum-seekers from the Middle East, Asia and Africa cross the Greek land and sea border with Turkey in search of shelter, refuge or just a better life within the European Union (EU). Few of them find it in Greece.

12/16/2012 14:59 GMT

ATHENS, Dec 16, 2012 (AFP) - The death toll in the sinking of a makeshift boat carrying migrants off a Greek island near the Turkish coast rose to 21 Sunday after another body was found on a beach, police said.

Six people are still missing, a press officer with the Lesbos island police told AFP.

The latest victim, a man, was found on the island's Thermi beach like all others before him.

Police continued to search for those missing on Sunday.

EEA Grants, a funding mechanism supported by European Economic Area (EEA) members Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, has signed an agreement with IOM that will provide EUR 4 million to support NGOs in Greece that run reception centres for vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers, especially unaccompanied minors.

ATHENS/LESBOS, 17 October 2012 (IRIN) - By early evening, Alexandra Park in central Athens starts to fill up with young, male migrants. They gather on benches, and some even kick a ball around, but they are not here for recreation - this is where they sleep, hoping their numbers will provide some protection from sexual predation and racist attacks.

10/11/2012 15:47 GMT

ATHENS, Oct 11, 2012 (AFP) - Plans are underway to provide shelter on two Greek islands for 20,000 Syrian refugees, Greece's public order ministry said on Thursday, while other officials said EU-level talks on the issue are ongoing.

The Conservative-led government of Antonis Samaras, "foresees, if necessary, providing hospitality to 20,000 refugees from Syria who will be accommodated in special facilities on the island of Crete and Rhodes," the ministry said in a written answer to a request by AFP.

From August 30 to September 4, a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) team visited the Aegean Islands of Samos, Leros, and Simi to respond to reports of a recent influx of Syrian and Afghan migrants and asylum-seekers.

Discriminatory Police Sweeps Violate Rights

(London) - The Greek authorities’ ongoing sweeps targeting suspected migrants based on little more than their physical appearance violate international standards, Human Rights Watch said today. Since August 4, 2012, more than 6,000 foreigners presumed to be undocumented migrants have been taken into police stations for questioning, and more than 1,500 arrested for illegal entry and residence with a view to deportation to their countries of origin.