As conflict in the Middle East and other world regions continues to drive record numbers of people to seek refuge in Europe, the United Nations refugee agency, the International Organisation for Migration, and some 65 other organisations on Tuesday appealed for $550 million in aid.
Approximately half the funds are earmarked for Greece where some 850,000 people arrived by boat from Turkey last year, with most continuing their journey to northern Europe via the Balkans, UNHCR said.
"Operations will include aid and protection activities where people are arriving, including identifying those at heightened risk, registration, shelter, water and sanitation," UNHCR stated.
The funds will also go towards 'front-line' services such as coast and border guards, police and support for local communities hosting the refugees and migrants and their relocation and resettlement, said UNHCR.
In the first 13 days of January, a total of 22,895 people arrived in Greece and 260 in Italy, despite perilous seas and cold winter weather, the IOM reported.
Over a million asylum seekers reached Europe in 2015, most of them from war-torn Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, according to the UN and IOM.
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