UNHCR: Human emergency for refugees in Bulgaria

The UN refugee agency chief for Europe urged Bulgaria on Tuesday to respond swiftly to what he called a human emergency in shelters struggling with an influx of Syrians. "It is a human emergency for the people in these centers. There will be no Christmas for them. Things need to happen in the next couple of weeks," Vincent Cochetel of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told journalists in Sofia. "The situation is critical... The conditions are sub-standard but we are here to help." The European Union's poorest country has found itself completely unprepared to handle an influx of over 11,100 refugees -- many of them Syrians fleeing civil war at home -- crossing from Turkey this year. Severe overcrowding, lack of sanitation and food shortages in the shelters together with administrative delays have already prompted the government to demand international help. The UNHCR is distributing one hot meal per day in the biggest and most crowded camp -- in Harmanli in the south-east -- where hundreds of Syrian and Afghan refugees lived crammed in metal containers and tents at the start of winter. It is also helping get the centers prepared for winter, setting up sanitation brigades and offering expertise in processing asylum claims and assistance finding accommodation for people granted the right to stay. Cochetel also condemned a rising number of xenophobic attacks against asylum seekers in recent days that were also slammed by rights group Amnesty International on Monday. He also criticized Bulgaria's plans to erect a 33-kilometer (21-mile) fence on the Turkish border, saying this would only "increase the price for people going through the border". "We are still calling on the authorities to manage their border in a way which lets people in need of international protection to access international protection," he urged.