Aid agencies say desperation is rising at the muddy makeshift Idomeni camp on Greece's border with Macedonia and call on the European leaders to step up their efforts and come up with a concrete plan at the summit on the migrant crisis. SHOWS: IDOMENI, GREECE (MARCH 17, 2016) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (NIGHT SHOTS) 1. CLOSED CHECKPOINT GATE AT BORDER BETWEEN GREECE AND MACEDONIA WITH CLOTHES DRYING ON BORDER FENCE 2. CHECKPOINT SIGN ON GATE 3. MACEDONIAN SECURITY FORCES SEEN THROUGH FENCE 4. TENTS PITCHED BY FENCE 5. VARIOUS OF MACEDONIAN FORCES SPEAKING WITH MIGRANTS ON GREEK SIDE THROUGH FENCE 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE (IRC) SPOKESPERSON, LUCY CARRIGAN, SAYING: "I think if you look around at this campsite here at Idomeni, it's an informal site, the services here are minimal, to say the least, all of the responders are over stretched. This can't go on. This cannot be part of any solution. So it really is on European Union leaders to really take a hold of themselves and move towards a solution to this crisis that involves resettlement from the region, relocation from Greece and from Italy and something needs to give very, very soon." 7. BIG WHITE TENTS IN CAMP BEHIND SMALL TENTS BY LAKE 8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE (IRC) SPOKESPERSON, LUCY CARRIGAN, SAYING: "It's become increasingly clear that the borders are not going to open. And for everybody who is here, they need to know that there are options for them that are legal and safe, that involve moving forward into Europe. Relocation is one of the solutions on the table, it's one that could work it just needs the force and the enthusiasm and the rigour of the European Union behind it." 9. BOY WASHING SOCCER BALL IN MUDDY LAKE 10. WOMAN ROCKING BABY 11. VARIOUS OF WOMAN WASHING LITTLE GIRL'S HAIR OVER PLASTIC CONTAINER 12. ONE LITTLE GIRL GIVING FOOD TO ANOTHER LITTLE GIRL, PIECE OF FOOD DROPPING ON GROUND 13. PEOPLE WALKING BY TENTS 14. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNITED NATION HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES SPOKESPERSON, BABAR BALOCH, SAYING: "We hope that they will realize why these people are here, why desperate refugees are coming to Europe trying to seek international protection and safety, and they want nothing else, according to international rules and obligations on EU, that's not a hard task to do, I think. Whatever the leadership decides to do, they need to keep in mind the desperation is on the rise hour by hour here in this Idomeni site and they need to come out with a plan that helps Greece to deal with this issue but also to find a solution for the plight of these people." 15. WOMEN WASHING CLOTHES IN PLASTIC BUCKETS 16. MAN WHEELING CHILD IN STROLLER THROUGH THE MUD 17. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AND TENTS STORY: Aid agencies on Thursday (March 17) called on EU leaders debating the Turkey migration deal in Brussels to build up efforts and arrange for resettlement of thousands of migrants stranded on Greece's border with Macedonia. Some 10,000 people have been living in deplorable conditions at the makeshift border camp of Idomeni since countries along the Balkan migration route shut their border gates. The stranded migrants have braved cold temperatures, relentless downpours, food and drinking water shortages. Aid workers have said the makeshift 'tent city' is a petri dish of filth and festering infections. International Rescue Committee spokesperson, Lucy Carrigan said the facilities at the campsite were minimal. "I think if you look around at this campsite here at Idomeni, it's an informal site, the services here are minimal, to say the least, all of the responders are over stretched. This can't go on. This cannot be part of any solution. So it really is on European Union leaders to really take a hold of themselves and move towards a solution to this crisis that involves resettlement from the region, relocation from Greece and from Italy and something needs to give very, very soon," Carrigan said. "It's become increasingly clear that the borders are not going to open. And for everybody who is here, they need to know that there are options for them that are legal and safe that involve moving forward into Europe. Relocation is one of the solutions on the table, it's one that could work it just needs the force and the enthusiasm and the rigour of the European Union behind it," she added. Spokesman for another aid agency, UNHCR, said the situation in Idomeni was becoming more and more desperate 'by the hour'. EU leaders are meeting to try to agree on financial and political rewards to offer Turkey in return for a commitment to take back all migrants who cross from its shores to Greece. After a year in which more than a million people have arrived in Europe fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond, EU countries are looking desperately to Turkey to seal its coastline and stem the flow.

• published: 19 Mar 2016
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